Samer and his family thought they had found safety in Lebanon after fleeing Syria's war nearly a decade ago, but amid growing anti-refugee sentiment, Beirut handed his brother to the Syrian army.

Syrians poured into Lebanon after civil war broke out in 2011, with Damascus's brutal suppression of peaceful protests. With the regime now back in control of most of the country, calls have intensified in crisis-hit Lebanon for Syrians to go home.

Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh’s former assistant Marianne Hoayek appeared Thursday before a European investigators delegation at the Justice Palace in Beirut.

Salameh faces allegations of crimes including embezzlement, money laundering and tax evasion in separate probes in Lebanon and Europe. His brother Raja and his associate Hoayek are accused of complicity.

The Lebanese Forces on Thursday said that it knows that “the election of the president can only occur through consensus.”

“But Hezbollah is asking us to choose between its candidate and vacuum, and we will maintain our stance until they back down from their stance,” LF spokesman Charles Jabbour told al-Jadeed TV.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat asked which Arab or international side would secure a safe return to the Syrian refugees, and if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad wants them back.

In an interview with MTV, Jumblat urged for the establishment of "decent camps" for the displaced Syrians in Lebanon.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Thursday tasked acting General Security chief Brig. Gen. Elias Baissari with following up on the issue of returning the displaced Syrians to their country.

In the memo sent to Baissari, Mikati said that his decision is related to the ministerial meeting that was held on Wednesday, in which it was decided to take stricter measures in the file.

The Free Patriotic Movement on Thursday stressed that its chief Jebran Bassil does not have “any role or link to the Beirut port deal,” denying accusations in this regard by Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh.

“How can this happen in a ministry and file that the FPM has nothing to do with at all, and accordingly what can be hoped from a presidential candidate who launches false accusations against his political rivals other than his reinforcement of the impunity policy?” the FPM said in a statement.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri considered that France was just softening its stance, when it said in a statement that it doesn't support any presidential candidate.

"The statement does not necessarily deny" France's support to Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh, Berri told al-Akhbar, in remarks published Thursday.

Iran's foreign minister called on Lebanon Thursday to overcome political deadlock and elect a president, urging foreign governments not to interfere in the choice.

"We encourage all sides in Lebanon to expedite the election of a president," Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told a press conference, after he met with caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib in the capital Beirut.

Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh on Wednesday said that he prefers to wait for Saudi support for his presidential nomination.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Wednesday warned against any “violent expulsion” of Syrian refugees from Lebanon, amid an uproar over the army’s recent expulsion of dozens of Syrians from the country.

“The chaotic influx of displaced Syrians was a conspiracy that we confronted alone and expelling them through violence is a conspiracy that we will also confront,” Bassil said in a tweet.