Cabinet began a highly-anticipated session at 3:00 pm Tuesday at the Baabda Palace, in the absence of Finance Minister Yassine Jaber of the Amal Movement and Labor Minister Mohammad Haidar of Hezbollah, who are both outside the country.

The session had the thorny issue of Hezbollah's disarmament as the first article on its agenda, but it was postponed to the end of the session as the meeting got underway. TV networks meanwhile said that there is an inclination to postpone the final decision on the clause related to arms to another cabinet session.

The British Embassy in Beirut announced Tuesday that applications for the UK Government’s flagship Chevening Scholarships program are now open. Applicants should apply online via www.chevening.org/apply by 7 October 2025.

Lebanese citizens (and Palestinians residing in Lebanon) are eligible to apply under the Lebanon scheme in any subject area, the embassy said in a statement.

Hezbollah and the Amal Movement do not want a “popular escalation” on the streets over Tuesday’s cabinet session that will tackle the thorny issue of Hezbollah’s disarmament, pro-Hezbollah journalist Qassem Qassir told Al-Jadeed TV on Tuesday.

The country’s political forces are holding intensive contacts ahead of Tuesday’s cabinet session that will discuss the thorny issue of Hezbollah’s disarmament, amid an inclination toward consensus, with some media reports suggesting that no final decision would be taken in the session and that discussions would continue in another session on Thursday.

The U.S. Embassy in Beirut on Monday said Washington stands with the people of Lebanon in “their call for accountability” in the Beirut port blast case.

On the fifth anniversary of the devastating explosion at the Port of Beirut on 4 August 2020, the European Union and its Member States have reiterated their solidarity with the families of the victims and with those whose lives, homes, and livelihoods were tragically impacted by the explosion.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said in a joint statement on Monday that "despite the resumption of the investigation" into the 2020 Beirut port blast, "the road to justice remains littered with political and legal challenges."

The statement marks the fifth anniversary of the devastating explosion, which killed more than 220 people and wounded over 6,000 others.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert on Monday said progress in the port blast case is “both necessary and long overdue.”

George Bezdjian remembers searching for his daughter, Jessica, after a massive explosion at Beirut's port five years ago. He found her at the St. Georges Hospital where she worked as a nurse.

The hospital was in the path of the blast and was heavily damaged. He found his daughter lying on the floor as her colleagues tried to revive her. They weren't able to save her. She was one of four medical staff killed there.

President Joseph Aoun on Monday vowed that "justice is coming," five years after a catastrophic explosion at Beirut's port for which nobody has been held to account.

The blast on August 4, 2020 was one of the world's largest non-nuclear explosions, devastating swathes of the Lebanese capital, killing more than 220 people and injuring over 6,500.