Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said Monday Lebanon has received from Russia satellite pictures of the Port of Beirut on the day of last year's devastating blast. The imagery would be the first made available by a foreign government to the Lebanese probe marred by legal challenges and political disputes.

Bou Habib said he hoped the images would help figure out what happened that tragic day. He is visiting Moscow and was speaking after a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

On behalf of the United States, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday extended his “heartfelt best wishes to the people of Lebanon on their Independence Day.”

President Michel Aoun, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Miqati held a meeting Monday at the Baabda Palace after overseeing a military parade marking Lebanon’s Independence Day.

President Michel Aoun on Sunday noted that the solution for the country's governmental paralysis is "not implausible."

The Beirut Bar Association elected a new head Sunday in a vote that saw major losses for opposition candidates and big wins for representatives of the country's ruling elite.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri on Sunday lamented that Lebanon is nowadays “standing on the brink of hell” after it once was “the paradise of the Levant and the Arabs’ forum for civilization, dialogue, culture and democracy.”

Nearly 245,000 Lebanese living abroad have signed up to vote in next year's parliamentary polls, the Foreign Ministry said Sunday, after it closed the window for registration.

President Michel Aoun is holding contacts with local and regional leaders to secure the resumption of Cabinet session and resolve the crisis with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries, Baabda Palace sources said.

A group of U.S. congressmen held meetings Saturday with Lebanon's top leaders during a fact-finding mission to a country roiled by an unprecedented economic crisis.

The delegation is to report to President Joe Biden and the Congress and propose ways to help the Lebanese. Lebanon's new government, in place since September, has struggled to kick off reforms and negotiations with the International Monetary Fund.

The Lebanese Army has stopped a boatload of 91 people including Syrian and Palestinian refugees from departing Lebanon illegally.