Israeli forces on Monday hurled smoke grenades at the Lebanese border town of Kfar Kila after a protest denouncing damage to a picture of revered Shiite cleric Imam Moussa al-Sadr, the founder of the AMAL Movement.

“As Israeli enemy forces were installing a metal pole on the cement wall separating between Lebanese and occupied Palestinian territory at the Fatima Gate in Kfar Kila, they smashed a picture of Imam Moussa al-Sadr and AMAL Movement martyrs that was hung on the wall, which infuriated AMAL Movement's supporters and the town's residents,” the National News Agency said.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Monday said the draft 2019 state budget which was approved earlier in the day by Cabinet “could've been better.”

“We're happy that the budget has been approved and it is better than the traditional budgets, but it could've been better,” Geagea said during a meeting with a delegation from the Editors Syndicate.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jan Kubis on Monday welcomed the Lebanese Cabinet’s endorsement of the 2019 draft state budget, hoping that following a “thorough review” by the Parliament it will be adopted “as quickly as possible.”

“The adoption of the 2019 budget creates an opportunity to take initial measures to reduce the deficit. It is also an opportunity to start introducing necessary reforms in a politically-, economically- and socially-sustainable way as a part of the broader effort towards revitalizing good governance, accountability, investment and job creation,” Kubis said in a statement distributed by his office.

The Cabinet on Monday approved the 2019 draft state budget after weeks of haggling, during a session that was held under President Michel Aoun at the Baabda Palace.

The draft was referred to Parliament which is expected to study it and approve it in a speedy manner.

Israel on Monday expressed its openness to holding U.S.-mediated talks with Lebanon to resolve the dispute over the maritime border.

Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz's office said in a statement that such talks could be "for the good of both countries' interests in developing natural gas reserves and oil."

Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh assured that the Lebanese pound is “stable,” hailing the reforms included in the 2019 state budget, the National News Agency reported on Monday.

Beirut Investigative Judge George Rizk on Monday ordered the release of the head of the General Confederation of Lebanese Workers Beshara al-Asmar on LL500 thousand bail, the National News agency reported.

NNA said that Asmar has been released on bail, but the decision is pending the plaintiffs' move.

Lebanon is likely to boycott an economic conference in Bahrain next month in support of Washington's Middle East peace plan, the Saudi Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported on Monday.

A Lebanese man from the northeastern border town of Arsal was tortured before being killed by Syrian forces, al-Mustaqbal Movement’s Arsal department said on Sunday.

“Arsal bids farewell at noon to its martyr Hussein al-Hujeiri, who was killed by the Syrian regime’s criminality after its troops made an incursion into Lebanese territory in Arsal’s hills, where they kidnapped Hujeiri and his companions Wissam Kranbi and Nayef Rayed,” the department said in a statement.

A Saudi man was arrested Sunday at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport as he was attempting to smuggle Captagon narcotic pills to the United Arab Emirates.

The National News Agency said the man, H. al-Roueily, was detained in a joint operation between the Airport Security Apparatus and the army’s Intelligence Directorate.