The top diplomats of Lebanon and neighboring island nation Cyprus said Thursday they were working together towards a deal over adjacent oil and gas exploration zones in the Mediterranean.

Both countries hope to exploit resources on either side of their shared maritime border, and Lebanon this month opened tenders for three of its four blocks along that frontier.

Interior Minister Raya al-Hasan criticized the lawsuit filed by Military Prosecutor Peter Germanos against the Information Branch of the Internal Security Forces, describing it as a “big mistake,” al-Joumhouria daily reported on Thursday.

President Michel Aoun on Thursday said he told visiting Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos that Lebanon will not accept to join any Mediterranean gas consortium comprising Israel.

“I thanked the president for his country's stance on Jerusalem and its stance on the Syrian Golan. I also stressed that the U.S. president's decision to recognize Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights and his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital represented a blatant violation of the foundations of international legitimacy and the U.N. Charter,” Aoun said at a joint press conference.

Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil affirms “perseverance to follow an approach that develops a balanced and reformative budget that includes reduced figures for the deficit we suffer,” al-Joumhouria daily reported on Thursday.

MP Ibrahim Kanaan, the head of the Lebanese finance parliamentary committee, announced Wednesday that he held “good and constructive” talks with U.S. officials.

“Building the state and its institutions is what leads to political stability and not sanctions,” Kanaan told MTV after meeting U.S. lawmaker Eliot Engel at the U.S. Congress.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday warned that the U.S. sanctions and measures against Iran and its allies in the region “will not remain without a response,” as he dismissed reports about possible sanctions against Speaker Nabih Berri and other Hizbullah allies as “mere intimidation.”

“Our choices are open but we will act calmly, with a cool head and at the right time, in all battlefields and arenas,” Nasrallah said in a televised address marking Hizbullah's 'Day of the Wounded'.

A trilateral meeting was held on Wednesday at Lebanon’s foreign ministry between Foreign Ministers of Lebanon, Greece and Cyprus.

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil met with his Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulides and Greek minister Giorgos Katrougalos where discussions focused on “laying the foundation for improving cooperation in the sectors of tourism, education, economy, trade and energy.”

An accountability session chaired by Speaker Nabih Berri and in the presence of PM Saad Hariri and ministers was held at the Parliament on Wednesday with 13 questions listed on the agenda.

A question and answer session will be held at the parliament on Wednesday to question the government performance, and the country’s 2019 State Budget will be discussed by Cabinet before passing it to Parliament for approval, media reports said.

The Q&A session can become an “interrogation if the government’s answers turn unconvincing,” said the reports.

Lebanon has voiced fears that the U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights undermines Lebanon’s claim to disputed territory also annexed by Israel.