U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea, Dr. Fadi Sanan representing Health Minister Firass Abiad and Dr. Souha Kanj of the American University of Beirut who represented AUB President Fadlo Khuri on Thursday launched the Moderna Covid-19 vaccination campaign at Haykel Hospital in Tripoli.

The United States, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has recently donated over 600,000 vaccine doses to support the Lebanese government's National Vaccination Strategy against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said Wednesday that he highly values the Kuwaiti paper and considers it "a real opportunity to pull Lebanon out of hell."

He added that the paper shows the keenness of the Gulf on Lebanon's interests by wanting it to become a state that offers its people decent living conditions, within Arab support and international legitimacy.

Prime minister Najib Miqati chaired Wednesday a Cabinet session to continue studying the draft law of the 2022 state budget.

Cabinet will reconvene on Thursday morning, the National News Agency said.

The central bank on Wednesday extended until the end of February the implementation of Circular 161.

President Michel Aoun informed Wednesday U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka that Lebanon has launched an investigation into an attack on a UNIFIL patrol that took place Tuesday, west of the southern village of Ramyah.

UNIFIL Spokesperson Andrea Tenenti had called on the Lebanese authorities to investigate the attack.

President Michel Aoun informed, Wednesday, U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka that the Lebanese response to the Kuwaiti paper will be given by the end of the week.

Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib will give Beirut's response during a meeting of Arab foreign ministers on January 30 in Kuwait, Aoun said.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement officials and supporters have launched vehement verbal attacks on former ally Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, accusing him of betraying ex-PM Saad Hariri and seeking to capitalize on his withdrawal from politics in the upcoming elections.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi said Wednesday he was surprised by ex-Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s decision.

The Lebanese authorities have seized a large quantity of Captagon hidden in a tea shipment bound for Saudi Arabia, the interior minister announced.

Human Rights Watch said Wednesday that one of its senior staff members was targeted last year with spyware designed by the Israeli hacker-for hire company NSO Group.

The New York-based rights group said the software was used against Lama Fakih, the director of its Beirut office who also oversees its crisis response in several countries, including Syria, Myanmar, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, and the United States.