Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi held talks Wednesday with Prime Minister Saad Hariri on the latest local and regional developments.

“I was honored to meet with the premier to congratulate him on his safe return and on the statement that was issued by the government,” al-Rahi added after the Grand Serail meeting, referring to a statement in which Hariri's government reaffirmed its commitment to distancing Lebanon from regional conflicts.

Israeli Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz on Wednesday issued a fresh warning to Lebanon and Hizbullah.

Israel and Hezbollah fought a war in 2006 and often trade warnings.

French prosecutors have called for a Lebanese-Canadian academic suspected of the deadly 1980 bombing of a Paris synagogue to be put on trial, sources close to the investigation told the AFP news agency on Wednesday.

President Michel Aoun on Wednesday called on the international community to recognize Palestine as a state and urged Muslim nations to penalize any state that recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Muslim nations “should file an urgent complaint with the Security Council and the U.N. in the name of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in order to block the United States' decision and oblige the U.S. to annul it,” Aoun told an emergency OIC summit in Istanbul that was called to discuss U.S. leader Donald Trump's controversial recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

The United States on Wednesday announced new assistance to the Lebanese military including helicopters and other advanced military equipment.

The new assistance package was disclosed during a visit by the head of U.S. Central Command Gen. Joseph Votel to Lebanon on Wednesday during which he met with Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Defense Minister Yaacoub el-Sarraf and Army chief General Joseph Aoun.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri emphasized on Tuesday that political parties must commit to the country's dissociation policy for stability's sake stressing that "Hizbullah issue is bigger than Lebanon”, as he announced alliance with President Michel Aoun for the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil emphasized on Tuesday that world leaders must take practical decisions measuring with the magnitude of danger threatening Jerusalem after a US decision to recognize it as the capital of Israel, the National News Agency reported Tuesday.

Bassil, who accompanied President Michel Aoun and a high-ranking delegation to Istanbul, spoke at an emergency Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit on Jerusalem on the move by US President Donald Trump.

Pernille Dahler Kardel arrived in Beirut to take up her new position as Acting United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL), a press release said on Tuesday.

Kardel was received by an official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Beirut Rafik Hariri international airport.

Hizbullah has been reportedly “taking all positive steps towards Prime Minister Saad Hariri” and “giving him a push” to practice his role as premier in response to Saudi Arabia's latest stance when “it tried to impose a “fait accompli” and force the PM to resign,” Ad Diyar daily reported Tuesday.

State institutions are “our axis of resistance,” Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has stressed, in response to remarks by Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

“Lebanese territory has sovereignty, and this sovereignty is exclusively for the Lebanese state. We are not concerned with any plans and confrontations except for those devised by the Lebanese state,” Geagea said in excerpts of an interview with Asharq al-Awsat newspaper that will be published in full on Wednesday.