The closing statement of the 32nd Arab Summit that will be held Friday in Jeddah will laud “the efforts that Lebanon has exerted to properly host the displaced Syrians,” al-Jadeed TV quoted a leaked closing statement as saying.

The statement will also “welcome the Arab stances that are in line with Lebanon’s stance, which calls for intensifying and expediting the efforts of returning the displaced Syrians to their country after the circumstances became more appropriate for their return.”

The Free Patriotic Movement might resort to the choice of casting blank votes should there be an imminent call for a presidential election session, MP Alain Aoun said.

Such a choice would mean that the FPM is “not siding with any candidate,” Aoun told Radio All of Lebanon.

MP Salim Aoun of the Free Patriotic Movement has stressed that “the FPM does not intend to move from one alignment to another, because Lebanon’s structure necessitates consensus over the presidential juncture, not confrontation.”

“The FPM is trying to be a bridge between the (Hezbollah-led) Defiance (camp) and the opposition in order to reach common denominators,” Aoun said in an interview with Radio All of Lebanon.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil is deeply hurt by Hezbollah, he told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, in remarks published Thursday.

"There is a big disagreement" Bassil said, adding that the country needs to resist through its economy and the dignity of its people, and not just through arms.

There will be no solution and no aid for Lebanon before reforms are carried out, Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said.

Mikati told Saudi al-Riyadh daily, in remarks published Thursday, that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has told him that Saudi Arabia will support Lebanon on the condition that it implement reforms, elect a new president, and take all measures to prevent any action that would harm the Saudis, like drug smuggling.

Kataeb Party chief Sami Gemayel stressed Wednesday that it is important to speed up the election but not to surrender to Hezbollah's candidate.

"We will not give up," Gemayel said, adding that he will boycott any session that would elect Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh. "We will secure the blocking one-third in such an electoral session."

Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib met Wednesday with his Syrian counterpart Faisal al-Miqdad on the sidelines of the Arab foreign ministers' meeting in Jeddah.

"The meeting was cordial," al-Miqdad said, adding that all refugees are welcome back to Syria and should return.

Maronite Patriarch Beshra al-Rahi has received an official invitation to Paris to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron, Bkerki's spokesperson Walid Ghayyad said.

Ghayyad told MTV that the date of the visit has not yet been set.

The World Bank's Lebanon Economic Monitor presented in its spring issue findings from recent World Bank work on Lebanon.

It examined the continuous decline in the Lebanese economy amidst what it called "a normalization of the state of the crisis."

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri met Wednesday in Ain el-Tineh over the upcoming Arab League Summit in Jeddah.

"We discussed the points that I will raise at the Summit," Mikati said. "The meeting, like usual, was positive," he added.