President Michel Aoun on Thursday launched the work of a French ship that will drill for oil and gas in block 4 of Lebanon’s Exclusive Economic Zone.

“Today is a happy day for us and for all Lebanese. We hope the dream which we sought to achieve will be realized. Today is a historic day,” Aoun said at the ceremony.

The Lebanese Embassy in Iran urged Lebanese nationals there to take “caution” against Coronavirus risks and to book tickets back to Lebanon “as soon as possible.”

Health Minister Hamad Hassan stressed on Thursday that strict measures have been imposed on Lebanon’s land borders to counter the deadly Coronavirus threat that killed thousands globally.

Lebanon plans to request a seven-day grace period to decide on restructuring a plan for it Eurobond debt maturing on March 9, media reports said on Thursday.

Democratic Gathering Parliamentary Bloc MP Faysal al-Sayegh downplayed what he said are “exaggerations” that Lebanon can be listed among oil- producing countries, saying it is still early to know that.

President Michel Aoun met with Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh at Baabda Palace where discussions focused on the monetary situation in Lebanon, the National News Agency reported on Thursday.

President Michel Aoun has announced that Lebanon will witness a “historic day” Thursday with the official launch of offshore oil and gas drilling.

“This event should have been launched in 2013, but domestic and political difficulties prevented that,” Aoun said in an address to the nation.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday said “people’s deposits are the most sacred thing,” as Lebanon mulls whether or not to pay $1.2 billion in Eurobond debt in March.

“The hopes are pinned on our oil fortune and we are hoping for good things, but these hopes must be accompanied with utilizing all the mechanisms that can rescue Lebanon and its economy, finances and people from their crises,” Berri told MPs during the weekly Ain el-Tineh meeting.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Wednesday designated as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs) three Lebanon-based individuals and 12 Lebanon-based entities allegedly linked to Hizbullah’s Martyrs Foundation.

“Specifically, OFAC designated Atlas Holding for being owned or controlled by the Martyrs Foundation, as well as senior Atlas official Kassem Mohamad Ali Bazzi, and ten Atlas-affiliated companies. Jawad Nur-al-Din and Sheikh Yusuf Aasi were also designated, pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13224, as amended, for being leaders or officials of the Lebanon-based Martyrs Foundation, which was designated for supporting terrorism in July 2007. Mirath S.A.L., which is owned or controlled by Jawad Nur-al-Din, was also designated today,” the Treasury said in a statement.

A second infection with the novel coronavirus was confirmed Wednesday in Lebanon, the Health Ministry said.

“The second case is epidemiologically linked to the first case. She was on a seven-day religious trip to Iran and returned to Lebanon on Feb. 20, 2020 on the same plane that carried the first infected person,” a Health Ministry statement said.