Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has decried what he described as “political blackmail” and “presidential blackmail” in the current controversy related to the army’s Military Council.

“The Defense Minister is making an excuse that extending the term of the incumbent Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Amin al-Orm would not be legal, although the term of former Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Walid Salman had been extended,” Jumblat said in an interview with Annahar newspaper.

The Internal Security Forces on Thursday denied claims by MP Paula Yacoubian alleging that the newly-formed hardline Christian group Soldiers of God had intervened following an alleged robbery in Ashrafieh.

In a video circulated on social media, Yacoubian had said that a woman in Ashrafieh had called the relevant police station to report a robbery, after which young men from the Soldiers of God group arrived and told her that they had been "informed by the police station" about the incident.

Arab League chief Ahmed Abul Gheit said Thursday that Lebanon can not bear a presidential vacuum and that the league is willing to play its role in a Lebanese dialogue.

During the Arab Economic Forum in Beirut, Abul Gheit considered that the way to recovery is by electing a new president and making reforms, urging parties to rise above the divisions and to prioritize Lebanon's interests.

The Judicial Council on Thursday dismissed the electoral appeals filed by Jad Ghosn in Northern Metn and Haidar Issa in Akkar.

The rulings mean that MP Ahmed Rustom of Akkar and MPs Razi al-Hajj and Hagop Pakradounian of Northern Metn will keep their parliamentary seats.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Thursday that sweeping reforms remain vital to rescue the stricken economy, despite a return to modest growth this year.

Mikati said the economy had grown by nearly two percent in 2022 after two straight years of severe recession that saw Gross Domestic Product fall by 25.9 percent in 2020 and by 10.5 percent in 2021, according to World Bank figures.

The head of the Order of Pharmacists of Lebanon, Joe Salloum, warned Wednesday that the dramatic surge in the dollar exchange rate on the black market has led to “a near-complete halt of the delivery of medicines and baby milk to pharmacies.”

Pharmacies are “gradually running out” of medicines and baby milk, Salloum cautioned.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has said that the FPM’s relation with Hezbollah has not been severed while noting that “there is no dialogue at the moment.”

Adding that he does not want a divorce with the longtime ally, Bassil told al-Akhbar newspaper that the 2006 memorandum of understanding between the two parties is “no longer sufficient.”

Former president Michel Aoun on Tuesday presided over the weekly meeting of the Free Patriotic Movement-led Strong Lebanon bloc for the first time since leaving office.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna on Tuesday urged the "speedy election" of a president in Lebanon and the formation of a new government to "carry out badly needed reforms."

Lebanon's cabinet is acting in a caretaker capacity, and the country has been without a head of state for more than a month.

The Israeli army on Tuesday said it downed a small suspected Hezbollah drone as it crossed from Lebanon into northern Israel.

“Troops identified and downed a drone crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory a short while ago,” the Israeli army said on its English-language Twitter account, adding that the drone “most likely” belongs to Hezbollah.