Al-Mustaqbal Movement officials and supporters have launched vehement verbal attacks on former ally Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, accusing him of betraying ex-PM Saad Hariri and seeking to capitalize on his withdrawal from politics in the upcoming elections.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi said Wednesday he was surprised by ex-Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s decision.

The Lebanese authorities have seized a large quantity of Captagon hidden in a tea shipment bound for Saudi Arabia, the interior minister announced.

Human Rights Watch said Wednesday that one of its senior staff members was targeted last year with spyware designed by the Israeli hacker-for hire company NSO Group.

The New York-based rights group said the software was used against Lama Fakih, the director of its Beirut office who also oversees its crisis response in several countries, including Syria, Myanmar, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, and the United States.

The energy ministers of Lebanon, Jordan and Syria signed Wednesday an agreement in Beirut for supplying Lebanon with Jordanian electricity via Syria.

A power cut at the Ministry of Energy caused a short delay before the agreements of purchase and transit were signed.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Tuesday announced that he “cannot but express” his “personal sympathy” with ex-PM Saad Hariri, after the latter announced his withdrawal from political life.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Tuesday commented on ex-PM Saad Hariri’s decision to withdraw from political life as he slammed Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea as being “obsessed with war.”

A first Cabinet session for discussing the draft state budget was held Tuesday at the Grand Serail under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Najib Miqati, as two ministers voiced reservations over the way the budget was being addressed.

The World Bank accused Lebanon's political class of orchestrating the country's economic collapse, warning in a report released Tuesday that the meltdown is a long-term threat to the small Mideast nation.

The World Bank's Lebanon Economic Monitor showed the country's gross domestic product plummeted from close to $52 billion in 2019 to a projected $21.8 billion in 2021, marking a more than 58% contraction. That's the biggest contraction of the 193 countries listed by the publication.

Hizbullah will not respond to the Kuwaiti paper’s demands, sources have said.

Informed sources told al-Liwaa newspaper, in remarks published Tuesday, that the paper carried by the Kuwaiti foreign minister is addressing the Lebanese state and not Hizbullah, even though some points are directly related to the group.