Serious developments have taken place in the efforts led by France in the presidential elections file, a media report said on Thursday.

“Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri received days ago a phone call from French presidential adviser Patrick Durel, who asked the parliament speaker to launch a dialogue effort that would pave the way for an agreement leading to setting a date for a presidential election session,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil slammed Thursday caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati for taking unilateral decisions by signing dozens of extraordinary approvals on his own.

"Those who are keen on the constitution and the presidency, wouldn't boycott extraordinary parliamentary sessions and attend ordinary Cabinet sessions," Bassil said in a tweet.

A solution to the presidential impasse is near and a president might be elected before June, an official told al-Joumhouria.

Diplomatic Arab sources also told the daily, in remarks published Thursday, that talks are ongoing between the five nations that took part in the latest Paris meeting and that France might send an envoy to Beirut in the coming days in an attempt to solve the presidential crisis.

Al Mawarid Bank chairman and ex-Lebanese minister Marwan Kheireddine will return to Lebanon in the weekend, a media report said.

“The French judiciary took a decision to release him on Tuesday after it turned out during his interrogation that there are no corruption suspicions over his activities,” Lebanon’s privately-run al-Markazia news agency reported.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea criticized Wednesday the parliament and the government for postponing the municipal elections for up to a year and said that the LF and the opposition forces will file an appeal against the municipalities' term extension law.

Parliament on Tuesday had passed a law that extends municipalities' term for a second time, in a session boycotted by the Lebanese Forces, Kataeb, Tajaddod and Change MPs.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Wednesday followed up with caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi on “the preparations for holding the municipal elections based on the law issued yesterday by parliament,” the National News Agency said.

“It was agreed that the Interior Minister would prepare the new and needed budget for organizing the elections so that a line of credit can be opened,” NNA added.

Kataeb Party chief Sami Gemayel felt “frustrated” after his Paris meeting with French presidential adviser Patrick Durel, after he sensed that a presidential breakthrough serving the opposition’s interest has become impossible, a media report said.

Sources close to Gemayel told al-Akhbar newspaper that Durel “was clear and decisive when he said that the only possible solution now was to endorse the candidate Suleiman Franjieh.”

A new round of Saudi-French contacts was held last week and the French managed to make a “major breakthrough” in Riyadh’s stance on the Lebanese presidential file, a media report said on Wednesday.

“We have never heard from Saudi Arabia of a veto on (Suleiman) Franjieh, but today we heard a call for an open dialogue over the details of this settlement and how to finalize it in a way that makes everyone a winner,” al-Akhbar newspaper quoted Paris as telling Lebanese political forces.

Members of Khalde’s Arab tribes blocked Wednesday the Khaldeh-Beirut highway, after the military court issued rulings overnight against detainees of the Khaldeh 2021 clashes.

In August 2021, deadly armed clashes erupted during the funeral of a Hezbollah-linked man who was killed a night before in a vendetta shooting. The clashes left at least five people including three Hezbollah members dead.

Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh held talks Tuesday in Bkirki with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi.

“What we’re seeing in the media is baseless and distorted, seeing as settlements have started in the region, rivals will reconcile, the game has changed and this matter will reflect on Lebanon,” Franjieh said after the meeting.