Israel’s internal security agency, the Shin Bet, has said that four Arab Israeli citizens have been arrested in a joint operation with the police and the Israeli army over the possession of a large amount of "high quality" Iranian-made weapons including two explosive devices.

One of the men had been in contact with an operative of Lebanon-based Hezbollah, the agency said.

A Monaco investigation into caretaker PM Najib Mikati and his family has been concluded, resulting in the dismissal of all allegations and closure of the case, a press release issued by the Mikati family said.

Following a comprehensive investigation, Monaco’s Judicial Police confirmed on August 23 that there was no evidence of any wrongdoing regarding money laundering allegations made more than three years ago, the press release said.

Latvia turned its first FIBA World Cup game into an easy 109-70 win over Lebanon on Friday despite a late-game surge by the Lebanese team.

Rolands Smits had 17 points for Latvia, which had a 10-point lead midway through the first quarter and kept pulling away.

Former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has lamented that “no one today wants a settlement” in the country.

“But it is the thing we need the most. A settlement for the sake of the country and not for the sake of any party in this or that camp,” Jumblat added, in an interview with al-Akhbar newspaper published Friday.

The latest French proposal for dialogue among the Lebanese parties is still unchanged, but Paris does not mind receiving objections and suggestions to discuss them and clarify them, especially if some parties are dismayed or have concerns, a French diplomatic source said.

“The previous package, which stood for a president in return for a premier, is no longer on the table, because it did not lead to a result,” the source told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Friday.

Interim Central Bank Governor Wassim Mansouri on Friday announced that the bank will not print Lebanese currency to cover for the state's deficit, stressing that financial regularity cannot be achieved without “passing the reforms.”

“I urge all political forces to keep the monetary authority out of political bickering, seeing as the current stalemate would negatively affect the economy and contribute to the isolation of Lebanon internationally,” Mansouri added at a press conference.

Rights activists have condemned a hardline Christian group's assault on a bar hosting a drag show in a Beirut nightlife district as the result of escalating anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.

On Wednesday evening, more than a dozen people from the "Soldiers of God" group converged on the drag show venue in the capital's Mar Mikhail district, witnesses told AFP, requesting anonymity due to security concerns.

Air traffic controllers at the Rafik Hariri International Airport announced on Thursday they would go on strike next month over severe staffing shortages, partially closing the Beirut hub.

The announcement by the team of 13 air traffic controllers follows a report last week by the European Union’s aviation safety watchdog that raised concerns after inspecting the airport, just south of the Lebanese capital.

Caretaker Energy Minister Walid Fayyad on Thursday announced that a reconnaissance permit has been granted to a consortium of international companies to conduct a 3D seismic survey of Lebanon’s offshore Block 8.

“Today is a historic day in a journey that had started in the year 2010,” Fayyad said at a press conference.

Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib has said that he is not going to New York to “confront anyone or be a reason for obstructing any agreement related to the extension of UNIFIL’s mandate.”

“What concerns Lebanon is lowering the tensions that sometimes result from clashes between residents and some UNIFIL members as well as the tensions caused by Israel,” Bou Habib said in an interview with the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper published Thursday.