The director of the Security and Safety Dept. at Beirut’s port, who was released from detention Wednesday at State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat’s order, has arrived in the United States.

A dual American-Lebanese citizen, the director, Mohammed Ziad al-Ouf, was among 17 port case detainees freed on Wednesday in a move disputed by the lead investigative judge in the case Judge Tarek Bitar.

Marada leader chief Suleiman Franjieh met Thursday with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi in Bkerki.

"I'm not Hezbollah's candidate, I'm seeking to be a consensual candidate," Franjieh said.

The UK Defense Senior Advisor to the Middle East and North Africa (DSAME) Air Marshal Martin Sampson conducted a three-day visit to Lebanon from 23 to 25 January.

Chaos ensued Thursday inside the Justice Palace, after over a dozen legislators from reformist and traditional opposition parties met with caretaker Justice Minister Henri Khoury.

The heated meeting about the recent developments in the Beirut port probe led to scuffles with the minister’s guards who allegedly tried to snatch their phones as they filmed the meeting. Some of them say they were attacked, and have called for Khoury to resign.

State Prosecutor Judge Ghassan Oueidat has denied that the Higher Judicial Council would discuss removing Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar from his post in the meeting that it will hold on Thursday.

In remarks to Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, Oueidat also said that he does not rule out that Bitar might “commit a lot of legal violations in the coming days, including the issuance of an in-absentia arrest warrant” against him and other judges.

Scores of protesters Thursday scuffled with riot police in Beirut as they tried to break into the Justice Palace.

Security was tight at the palace of justice in Beirut as activists and families of the port blast victims rallied in front of the Justice Palace ahead of a Higher Judicial Council to support the judge investigating the disaster.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil met with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Wednesday evening after which he warned against “bypassing the Christian component” in the presidential vote.

All detainees in the Beirut port blast case were released on Wednesday after State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat ordered their release in a move disputed by the lead investigator in the case Judge Tarek Bitar.

A picture circulated by media outlets showed Customs chief Badri Daher smiling in his home following his release. He had been detained on August 7, 2020, three days after the catastrophic blast which killed over 215 people, injured more than 6,500 and destroyed entire neighborhoods.

State Prosecutor Judge Ghassan Oueidat on Wednesday charged Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar for "rebelling against the judiciary" and slapped him with a travel ban, a judicial official told AFP.

Oueidat said that he charged Bitar in order to "prevent sedition."

Hezbollah and the Amal Movement are willing to push for Suleiman Franjieh’s election as president with 65 votes even if he does not win the support of any of the two main Christian blocs – the Free Patriotic Movement and the Lebanese Forces, MP Ali Hassan Khalil said overnight.

“If Suleiman Franjieh gathers 65 votes without the two Christian blocs, we will push for his election, seeing as our priority is consensus, but when the battle becomes a battle of numbers, each side would do what its interest dictates,” Khalil said in an interview with MTV.