The next ten days might witness a presidential “surprise” amid behind-the-scenes political contacts, political sources told the al-Anbaa news portal of the Progressive Socialist Party.

Informed sources meanwhile told ad-Diyar newspaper that the past seven days witnessed the emergence of a new presidential initiative.

Clutching overstuffed suitcases, bleary-eyed civilians including Lebanese described a harrowing escape from violence-wracked Sudan across the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia, sobbing at memories of air strikes and urban combat.

Elderly women in wheelchairs and babies asleep in their parents' arms were among nearly 200 people from 14 countries who disembarked from a naval frigate in the coastal city of Jeddah on Monday night after daring –- and draining –- journeys to safety.

Saudis are still taking their time before giving a final decision regarding the election of Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh, ad-Diyar newspaper said.

The daily added Tuesday that the Americans, for their part, do not prefer the election of Franjieh, and are not supportive of the French deal involving the election of Franjieh as president and the appointment of Nawaf Salam as premier.

According to media reports, Marada Movement chief and presidential candidate Suleiman Franjieh submitted “written guarantees” to French presidential advisor Patrick Durel during their latest meeting in Paris.

Below is the list of “guarantees” as published by Asharq al-Awsat newspaper on Tuesday:

Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh is at the top of the presidential candidates list of French President Emmanuel Macron, a political source said.

As for Franjieh’s recent meeting with French presidential advisor Patrick Durel, the Marada leader told the latter that he prefers to leave the naming of the premier to the binding parliamentary consultations that the president would conduct upon his election, the source told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in remarks published Tuesday.

Amnesty International has called on Lebanon to "immediately stop forcibly deporting refugees back to Syria" after dozens were returned to the war-torn country amid growing anti-Syrian sentiment.

On Friday security officials and a humanitarian source said Lebanese authorities sent dozens of Syrians back to the country, despite warnings they faced grave danger there.

Central bank chief Riad Salameh's brother, Raja, failed Tuesday to appear before a European judicial delegation as his lawyer submitted a medical report.

Last month, his brother appeared for two consecutive days and for the first time, before European investigators including French Judge Aude Buresi, through Judge Abu Samra, acting as a go-between. The judges were probing his personal wealth and allegedly suspicious financial transfers abroad.

Israel's army early Monday shelled a position belonging to a pro-Iran group in southern Syria near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, a war monitor said, the second such bombardment in days.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said "Israeli ground forces" bombarded a location on the outskirts of Quneitra where fighters from the Syrian Resistance to Liberate the Golan are located, without reporting any casualties.

The French policy toward Lebanon has not changed and Paris is still carrying on with its proposal for resolving the Lebanese crisis: the election of Suleiman Franjieh as president and the appointment of Nawaf Salam as premier, multiple sources said.

A Paris court has sentenced a Lebanese-Canadian sociology professor to life in prison in absentia for the 1980 bombing of a synagogue in the French capital that left four people dead.

The court followed the prosecutors' request for the maximum possible punishment against Hassan Diab, now 69 and a resident of Canada, a decision that was met with silence in court.