KSA and UAE urged Lebanon, in a joint statement, "to make political and economical reforms and to limit the possession of arms to the legitimate state institutions."

"Lebanon shouldn't be an incubator for organizations and groups that target the security and stability of the region, such as terrorist Hizbullah," the statement said.

Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar has told the families of the detainees in the case that he will issue the indictment within three months, a media report said on Thursday.

An old water pipe burst Thursday in Mohammad al-Hout street in Ras al-Nabaa, Beirut, causing major material damage.

The burst submerged 13 cars in a building's parking in water, and damaged the main road. A car fell into the sinkhole caused by the road's subsidence.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati still doesn't want to call for a Cabinet session, if the standoff continues over Judge Tarek Bitar's investigations, ministerial sources said.

The sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper, in remarks published Thursday, that the prime minister "fears that such a step would cause more negative repercussions on the government’s situation.”

Prime Minister Najib Miqati arrived Thursday in Cairo on an official visit to Egypt.

He met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli.

Lebanese authorities have freed a freelance American journalist who was detained in Beirut last month. The release came just hours after two international human rights groups called her detention arbitrary and demanded that she be set free.

Nada Homsi, the journalist, said after her release that her arrest was part of an intimidation campaign used by Lebanon's security agencies against foreign journalists.

The U.S. State Department on Wednesday announced that al-Jadeed TV investigative journalist Riad Kobeissi is one of the winners of its 2021 International Anticorruption Champions Award.

“At least seven years prior to the horrific August 4, 2020, Beirut port explosion, Mr. Kobeissi began exposing rampant bribery and smuggling at the port through a bold blend of investigative and ‘accountability journalism,’” the U.S. embassy in Lebanon said in a tweet.

The lead judicial investigator into the Beirut port blast, Judge Tarek Bitar, resumed his work Wednesday at his office at the Justice Palace, the National News Agency said, following a monthlong suspension that was prompted by recusal requests.

The Court of Appeals had on Tuesday cleared for Bitar to resume his investigations, after dismissing a recusal request by ex-minister Youssef Fenianos.

President Michel Aoun said Wednesday that “the arrangements for the Spring parliamentary elections are ongoing,” stressing that “any attempt to interfere in the elections will be strongly confronted.”

Energy Minister Walid Fayyad affirmed, after meeting President Michel Aoun Wednesday, that he will visit France to discuss issues related to electricity and gas exploration.

“I am invited to an official visit to France to discuss gas exploration with (French multinational oil and gas company) Total (Energies) and other firms,” Fayyad said in a press conference.