Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib has said that he is not going to New York to “confront anyone or be a reason for obstructing any agreement related to the extension of UNIFIL’s mandate.”

“What concerns Lebanon is lowering the tensions that sometimes result from clashes between residents and some UNIFIL members as well as the tensions caused by Israel,” Bou Habib said in an interview with the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper published Thursday.

As French special presidential envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian arrives in Lebanon in September to resume his initiative to push for a solution to the presidential impasse, Lebanese MPs have still not responded to a letter he sent via the French embassy, in which Le Drian asks them about the required qualifications of the future president.

Al-Akhbar newspaper said Thursday that while Amal has responded to the letter, the Free Patriotic Movement and the Marada are preparing their answers, and the Progressive Socialist Party will hold a meeting monday to take a decision regarding the letter.

Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen Imad Othman has reassured that the security situation in Lebanon is “under control,” while warning over “the impact of politics on security and stability.”

“I sense that the (ISF) institution is in danger. There are parties targeting it because it is in control of security in the country. I don’t want to delve into details, but there is a direct and unjustified targeting of the ISF,” Othman added, in an interview with Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.

Members of the hardline Christian group Soldiers of God overnight attacked a pub in Beirut’s bustling Mar Mikhail area over the “presence of homosexuals” in it.

Videos posted online showed the pub’s ransacked terrace and people locking themselves inside as a Soldier of God militant shouted threats and warnings.

The Lebanese Army turned away around 700 Syrians attempting to cross into Lebanon illegally over the past week, the military said in a statement on Wednesday.

Cyprus said Wednesday it dismantled a criminal human smuggling ring responsible for bringing boatloads of Syrian migrants from Syria, Lebanon and Turkey. The eastern Mediterranean island nation has seen almost daily migrant boat arrivals in recent days.

Cypriot police said three months of investigative work resulted in the arrest of five suspects following a raid by a combined force of 40 officers on several homes in the island's southeast.

Two Lebanese Army personnel were killed when a helicopter crashed during a training flight in the Hammana area on Wednesday, the army said in a statement.

"An air force helicopter crashed in the Hammana area during a training flight, killing two personnel and injuring one other," it said.

Carlos Ghosn, the former rock star businessman who fell from grace and fled authorities smuggled in a music instrument box, is getting what his dramatic story deserves — a multi-part documentary series.

"Wanted: The Escape of Carlos Ghosn" is the juicy real tale of how the auto executive went from attending red carpets as the head of both Nissan and Renault to fleeing to Lebanon with the help of a former U.S. Green Beret.

The Maronite church’s dismay over the French policy towards Lebanon was clearly reflected in the sermon of Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday, when he criticized the questions addressed by French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian to Lebanon’s MPs.

In remarks to ad-Diyar newspaper, Bkirki sources confirmed the dismay.

The discussions between Hezbollah and Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil are “serious” and have reached “many common denominators,” informed sources said.

“The issue of the president is in its final stages, which means that an agreement has been reached on (Suleiman) Franjieh’s nomination,” the sources told the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper in remarks published Wednesday.