A New York-based firm contracted by the Lebanese government is to resume its audit of the central bank Thursday in line with creditors' demands, the Lebanese presidency and a top official said.

The Higher Judicial Council rejects "the intimidation and treason accusations campaign against the judiciary," a Council source has said.

The judge leading Lebanon's probe into last year's massive port explosion has renewed his summonses of two former ministers for questioning, a judicial official said.

The decision by Judge Tarek Bitar came despite intense criticism from the country's powerful Hizbullah of the direction of the long-running investigation.

A boast by Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah that he commands 100,000 fighters came as a surprise to many Lebanese, not least because it was addressed to a domestic audience rather than the group's archenemy Israel.

Experts say the figure, which exceeds the size of Lebanon's army by about 15,000 troops, is an exaggeration. But Nasrallah's brag is likely to further ratchet up anxiety about a return to sectarian fighting in the small country roiled by a series of devastating crises.

By challenging Lebanon's national passion for automobile ownership, and driving growing numbers towards greener or more collective transport, the economic crisis is succeeding where everything else failed.

Syrian refugees returning to their war-battered country have faced alleged torture, arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial killings, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Wednesday.

He was only a year old when his panicked father picked him up and they fled with his mother from the gunfire rattling their neighborhood. It was the day Lebanon's civil war started 46 years ago. His family's apartment building in Beirut was on the frontline.

Now 47, Bahij Dana did the same thing last week. He evacuated his wife and two of his kids as gun battles raged for hours outside the same building. Civil defense rescuers came to help his father and mother, stuck in the lower floors.

The U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka said Tuesday that she encourages “the discussion in Parliament of a gender quota in the upcoming elections.”

“Women’s representation in politics is critical for an effective and well-functioning democracy, and ensures that those in elected leadership are more representative of the people they serve. The discussion of a gender quota in the Lebanese Parliament is in line with Lebanon’s commitment to the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, as articulated in the 2019-2022 National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security,” she said in a statement.

Armed clashes have been ongoing since morning in the Akkar town of Wadi al-Jamous, state-run National News Agency reported.

Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil on Tuesday lamented what he called “a legislative massacre against the electoral law,” after parliament voted to cancel six parliamentary seats for expats stipulated by the 2018 electoral law.