Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Friday criticized U.S. President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, saying it posed a new challenge to the already tense Middle East.

"It complicates the peace process even more (between Israel and the Palestinians) and creates a new challenge to regional security," he said at a meeting in Paris.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Friday said the meeting of the International Support Group for Lebanon is an important gesture that requires the introduction of reforms in order to make it “successful.”

“The Paris conference to support Lebanon is extremely important, but to make it succeed we need reforms, we need to stop the squandering (of public funds) and end deficit,” Jumblat said in a tweet.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday warned regional powers against meddling in Lebanon at a international meeting aimed at fending off pressure on the fragile country from rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson attended the talks in Paris with Prime Minister Saad Hariri, whose shock resignation last month -- which he has since rescinded -- sparked fears of a new crisis in the Middle East.

President Michel Aoun has announced that Hizbullah does not use its controversial arsenal of arms inside Lebanon.

“There are political rather than security concerns, because everyone knows that Hizbullah does not use its arms inside Lebanon, and up until now, this has only happened once, when the then Lebanese government took measures against the party,” Aoun said in an interview with RT television, referring to the May 2008 clashes.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri arrived Thursday in Paris to take part in a meeting for the International Support Group for Lebanon, which will be held on Friday.

He described the meeting as “an important juncture for supporting the Lebanese economy and strengthening its resilience in the face of the refugee crisis.”

Nine children were killed and 14 others were injured when a huge fire gutted a Syrian refugee encampment Thursday in the western Bekaa town of Ghazze, the National News Agency said.

The blaze turned dozens of tents into ashes, the agency added, noting that the fire resulted from the explosion of a gas cylinder inside one of the tents.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday slammed U.S. President Donald Trump's declaration on Jerusalem as a “new Balfour Declaration,” urging Arab states to sever “public and secret” ties with Israel.

“Trump's decision on Jerusalem is a new Balfour Declaration and we will soon hear Arab voices trying to downplay its importance,” Nasrallah warned in a televised address dedicated to commenting on the U.S. president's move.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea hit back Thursday at Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil over accusations that the LF has violated the rapprochement agreement with the FPM.

“Though I sensed a positive aspect in Minister Bassil's remarks in terms of his adherence to the Maarab Agreement, I cannot but highlight a host of fallacies that he mentioned in his interview. An agreement means partnership and does not mean one party being at the disposal of the other,” Geagea said in an interview with al-Markazia news agency.

A private French school in Lebanon has issued an apology following complaints from the parents of a fourth grader that a map in geography class shows Israel— and not Palestine— as the country's southern neighbor, violating the law.

Lebanon is technically at war with Israel, and Lebanese laws ban dealing with or recognizing Israel, including showing it on maps.

Hizbullah said Thursday that the U.S. declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel has closed all paths to negotiations, calling it a "treacherous and malicious aggression" against the rights of Palestinians.

U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement reaffirms that the only way to restore rights is through armed "resistance," Hizbullah's Loyalty to Resistance parliamentary bloc said in a statement issued after its weekly meeting.