UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Aroldo Lázaro chaired a regular Tripartite meeting at a U.N. position in Ras al-Naqoura on Tuesday.

“Through 2023 we must prioritize maintaining the cessation of hostilities,” he said. “In all our actions we should seek to de-escalate and reduce tensions along the Blue Line.”

The Higher Judicial Council is facing a “real test” and its chief, Judge Suheil Abboud, is “still refusing that a session be held to discuss the latest developments, with the aim of protecting (Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek) Bitar,” judicial sources say.

“During deliberations yesterday with the members of the council, Abboud tried to put Bitar in the same position with (State Prosecutor Ghassan) Oueidat, arguing that both have erred and that Oueidat cannot attend the session,” the sources told al-Akhbar newspaper in remarks published Tuesday.

Army Commander General Joseph Aoun has advised Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar to “stay home and not go to the Justice Palace – neither in Beirut nor in Jdeideh -- out of concern that he might get arrested by the State Security agency under the excuse of bringing him to interrogation before the state prosecutor,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Tuesday.

“The French have also talked to Bitar on this issue and stressed to him that France is his second country, that his family can travel whenever it wants and that everything such as residence, education and other issues will be provided to them,” the daily added.

Democratic Gathering Bloc chief MP Taymour Jumblat met Tuesday with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi in Bkerki.

He was accompanied by a delegation from the bloc.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil's announcement that he might nominate himself for presidency had "a very negative resonance" for Hezbollah, informed sources said.

The sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper, in remarks published Tuesday, that Hezbollah circles were dismayed at Bassil's words.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Tuesday that he will call for a cabinet session over the educational file, this week or early next week.

"The education minister will deliver proposals regarding the educational file and the public sector teachers strike," Mikati said, adding that he will call for cabinet to convene by early next week at the latest.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat will meet with Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh on Tuesday, after Jumblat postponed a previously scheduled meeting for health reasons, al-Jadeed said.

The media outlet added that Amal and Hezbollah will not take Jumblat's presidential initiative seriously, according to sources close to the Shiite Duo.

The agenda of the upcoming Paris meeting on Lebanon has “changed” and it might last for more than one day if the need arises, an informed political source said.

“Collective and bilateral meetings will be held among the delegations of the participating countries with the aim of reconciling stances to be able to devise a politically clear work plan for resolving the Lebanese crisis,” the sources told Annahar newspaper in remarks published Monday.

The Finance and Budget Committee convened Monday to study the draft law on "restoring the balance of financial regularity."

MP Ibrahim Kanaan stated after the meeting that all the required data is still missing, asking the government, the Banking Control Commission and the Central Bank to provide the needed information and figures.

State Prosecutor Judge Ghassan Oueidat on Monday sent a memo to Financial Prosecutor Judge Ali Ibrahim asking him to “immediately” order the arrest of the money changers and speculators who are contributing to “the collapse of the national currency.”

The development comes ahead of a scheduled meeting for the central bank in which measures to improve the Lebanese pound’s value are expected to be taken.