After months of paused efforts to return the Syrian refugees back home, the committee tasked with addressing the file is expected to reactivate the plan’s mechanism this week, the Saudi Asharq el-Awsat newspaper reported on Monday.

Lebanon on Monday is to gradually ease restrictions imposed two weeks ago after a surge in coronavirus infections, in a bid to relieve its struggling economy in time for the festive season, officials said.

Lebanon’s anti-coronavirus ministerial committee on Sunday decided to reopen the country and revise curfew hours, TV networks said.

Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab on Sunday denied being “Hizbullah’s candidate” as he noted that he did not bow to Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil.

PM-designate Saad Hariri is still insisting on forming a government of specialists that is not loyal to any political party, al-Mustaqbal Movement politburo member ex-MP Mustafa Alloush said Sunday.

Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan has recommended keeping some regions locked-down over the next 15 days in order to curb the spread of coronavirus.

The resigned government is now obliged to legalize the financial audit of state institutions, although some oppose allocating this jurisdiction to a resigned government because it can only convene over emergency and extraordinary situations, parliamentary sources said.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi has held an “important and noteworthy meeting in form and content” with Pope Francis in the Vatican, An-Nahar newspaper reported on Sunday.

UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jan Kubis said Lebanon’s parliament vote in favor of a sweeping financial audit of the state institutions can only be judged when it is genuinely put into implementation.

The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday, called on Lebanon’s judiciary in a statement “to play its role in uncovering all aspects of the unfortunate accident that claimed the life of a Lebanese citizen in the town of Bsharri,” and to “put an end to incitement, racist language and the exploitation of this individual incident.”