As cabinet failed to convene to resolve a looming crisis in the army chief command, caretaker Defense Minister Maurice Slim met Friday with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi to discuss the steps that must be taken to avoid vacancy after army chief General Joseph Aoun's planned retirement in January.

Slim, who is loyal to the Free Patriotic Movement, unsurprisingly said after the meeting that extending Aoun's term does not fall under his jurisdiction.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said her country continues to be “concerned by the possibility of a further spillover of (the Israel-Hamas) conflict.”

“In particular, the United States does not want to see conflict in Lebanon, where escalation would have grave implications for regional peace and security, and for the well-being of the Lebanese people,” Thomas-Greenfield said at a U.N. Security Council briefing on the situation in the Middle East.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Thursday criticized government’s decision to pay $10 million in compensations to southern residents affected by Israeli bombardment.

The Council for South Lebanon will pay around $10 million in compensations to the south Lebanon residents affected by the Israeli bombardment that has taken place since October 8.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has stressed that Lebanon “has been and is still committed to Resolution 1701 and its implementation.”

The Israeli army said Thursday that its air defenses "successfully intercepted a suspicious aerial target" that crossed from Lebanon into Israel.

Al-Manar had earlier reported two missiles fired by Israel's Iron Dome that exploded in the air facing the border region after alert sirens were activated in the Dovev, Sa'sa' and Mattat settlements in the Upper Galilee.

French Special Presidential Envoy for Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian met Thursday with Hezbollah top MP Mohammad Raad, Free Patriotic Movement leader Jebran Bassil and Kataeb leader Sami Gemayyel.

The meeting with Raad was also attended by French Ambassador to Lebanon Herve Magro and Hezbollah’s Arab and international relations officer Ammar al-Moussawi.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil lauded Wednesday Hezbollah MP Mohammed Raad's steadfastness after the killing of his son last week in an Israeli airstrike in south Lebanon.

"We, as Lebanese, must respect each other’s martyrs,” Bassil said as he offered his condolences to Raad in Beirut's southern suburbs.

Lebanon’s Central Bank is inclined to abolish the so-called lollar, a term coined by Lebanese economist Dan Azzi in 2019 to refer to a ‘Lebanese dollar’, or a dollar that became trapped in Lebanon’s banking system in the wake of the 2019 crisis, media reports said.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati had received on the occasion of Lebanon's independence day a letter from French President Emmanuel Macron that the Grand Serail published on Tuesday, a day before the PM met with the French President's envoy in Beirut.

Before his envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian reiterated the need to elect a President in a meeting with Mikati, Macron warned in his letter that the presidential vacancy might weigh on the country's ability to overcome its crises and to prevent a security deterioration related to the war in Gaza.