Israeli Energy Minister Karen Elharrar held talks Thursday with visiting U.S. energy mediator Amos Hochstein, in the presence of the head of the Israeli delegation to the indirect negotiations with Lebanon.

“I will continue to work to create an agreement that will protect Israel's strategic and security assets,” Elharrar tweeted after her meeting with Hochstein.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati on Thursday responded to a new statement issued by the Presidency.

“Mr. Premier appreciates what was mentioned in the presidential statement’s third clause in terms of disavowing the insults that some of the president’s close associates are making… He also lauds Mr. President’s keenness on not insulting the Premiership post,” Mikati’s press office said in a statement.

President Michel Aoun announced Thursday that he is “waiting for a new approach” from PM-designate Najib Mikati in light of the observations he had voiced over the proposed cabinet line-up.

“The dire need today is for a fully constitutional government that can take executive decisions, not for statements and leaks that further complicate things,” the Presidency said in a statement.

A US firm targeted in a $250 million lawsuit over the 2020 port explosion in Beirut that killed more than 200 people has denied any wrongdoing in the tragedy.

Fires burning for days at Beirut's port, severely damaged in 2020 by an enormous explosion, have reignited trauma among Lebanese gearing up to mark the deadly blast's anniversary.

On August 4, Lebanon will mark two years since the explosion that killed more than 200 people. It was caused by a stockpile of haphazardly stored ammonium nitrate fertilizer catching fire.

President Joe Biden pledged Thursday to address Israeli concerns about Iran and its support for Hezbollah, in a security declaration signed with Israel.

"The United States further affirms the commitment to work together with other partners to confront Iran's aggression and destabilizing activities, whether advanced directly or through proxies and terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad," the declaration said.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat said Thursday that a statement by Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has put an end to the possibility of reaching a settlement over the Line 23.

Nasrallah had threatened, in a televised speech on Wednesday, to "flip the table on the entire world" if Lebanon does not get allowed to benefit from its offshore oil and gas resources.

The Finance and Budget Committee approved Thursday a $150 million World Bank wheat loan, head of the Committee MP Ibrahim Kanaan said.

Kanaan said the committee will press the Cabinet for a unified exchange rate in order to approve the 2022 state budget.

Lebanon is no longer an international priority, according to French Ambassador Anne Grillo who told al-Joumhouria newspaper that the world has changed since the start of the Russian war.

Grillo said, in remarks published Thursday, that France has no candidates for the Lebanese Presidency, stressing that the international community will be vigilant about holding the Lebanese Presidential election on time.

FPM chief Jebran Bassil said Thursday that the resistance is a strong point for Lebanon "if we know how to use it."

"We want to preserve national dignity and sovereignty," Bassil said in a short recorded video that he posted on his twitter account.