The UK remains “a strong partner to Lebanon investing in its future stability, security and prosperity,” British Ambassador Hugo Shorter said, during a ceremony celebrating Queen Elizabeth II’s 92nd birthday.

Shorter spoke with his heart about his three years in Lebanon as he addressed his guests in his last Queen’s Birthday Party speech, seeing as his mission as ambassador to Lebanon comes to an end this summer.

The return of Syrian refugees to their homeland can only happen in coordination with the United Nations, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday during her two-day visit to Lebanon. 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel tossed a ball with students and passed out jerseys from Germany's national soccer team Friday during a visit to a public school in the Lebanese capital, where many of the students are Syrian refugees.

There are over a million Syrian refugees living in Lebanon, representing nearly a quarter of the population. This makes Lebanon the largest host country in the region, putting a huge strain on the economy. In 2017, Germany gave Lebanon 370 million euros to help with the refugees.

The Lebanese Army on Friday dismantled an Israeli spy device on the Kfarshouba hills inside Lebanese territory, TV networks said.

Al-Jadeed TV said the device was found near the Rweissat al-Alam post and the Kfarshouba pond on the Line of Withdrawal inside Lebanese territory.

One person was killed and another was wounded as the Lebanese Army foiled an infiltration and smuggling attempt in the border region of al-Masnaa on Friday, the military said.

“An army force thwarted at dawn an attempt by a group of smugglers to infiltrate into Lebanese territory at the Masnaa area of Tallet al-Manara,” an army statement said.

President Michel Aoun stressed Friday that the Christians of the Levant are not “newcomers to this land,” as he noted that the new Lebanese government will reflect “the people's aspirations and balances.”

Aoun was speaking at the inauguration of the new headquarters of the Syriac Orthodox Church in the Metn town of al-Atshaneh.

Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri stressed Friday that “the sustainable and only solution” for Syrian refugees in Lebanon is their “safe” return to their country.

“The sustainable and only solution for Syrian refugees is their return to Syria in safety and dignity,” Hariri said at a joint press conference in Beirut with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri on Thursday denied that he is delaying the formation of the new government, revealing that he might submit a draft line-up to President Michel Aoun on Friday.

“I'm not neglecting the formation process but I have the right to have a vacation and I traveled to see my family. We have now 'pressed the turbo button' in order to form a government as soon as possible,” Hariri told reporters when asked about remarks by Speaker Nabih Berri.

Hizbullah and Iran have started withdrawing their forces from Syria's border with Jordan and the occupied Golan Heights, in line with Russian demands, a war monitor said on Thursday.

Citing “credible sources,” the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said “the forces of Iran and Lebanon's Hizbullah and militants loyal to them have started the process of pulling out from south Syria.”

Sources from the Free Patriotic Movement's Strong Lebanon bloc have denied a media report claiming that FPM chief MP Jebran Bassil's latest Paris meeting with Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri “was not positive.”

MTV had described the meeting as futile and quoted sources close to Hariri as saying that “should Hizbullah insist on representing the anti-Mustaqbal Sunni opposition, let them find someone other than Hariri to lead the government.”