Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced Thursday that he did not support the appointment of Karim Souaid as central bank chief for “a host of reasons,” including “keenness on protecting depositors’ rights and preserving the state’s assets.”

President Joseph Aoun has announced that Hezbollah’s arms will not be removed by force and that normalization with Israel is not currently on the table.

Asset manager Karim Souaid was named as Lebanon's new central bank governor on Thursday, receiving 17 out of 24 votes in Cabinet, after Prime Minister Nawaf Salam's opposition to his appointment prevented consensus over the move.

According to Al-Jadeed TV, Souaid received the votes of the ministers of the Lebanese Forces, Hezbollah, the Amal Movement, the Progressive Socialist Party and the Kataeb Party, in addition to the ministers who are close to President Joseph Aoun.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam stressed Wednesday that “international and Arab diplomatic pressure on Israel to halt its attacks has not been exhausted,” noting that “no one wants normalization with Israel in Lebanon, which is rejected by all Lebanese.”

Cabinet is inclined to name Karim Soaid as central bank governor in its session on Thursday, media reports said.

The French President's Special Envoy to Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian held talks Wednesday with President Joseph Aoun in Baabda.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam arrived Tuesday aboard a military helicopter in the northern city of Tripoli, where he said that his visit is to “stress the government’s keenness on sustainable security in Tripoli and on protecting its sons.”

One person was killed in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon late Monday, after a wave of intensive air attacks in the region over the weekend, state media reported.

U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff has said that “peace” between Lebanon and Israel is “possible.”

While no party has claimed responsibility for the rockets that were fired at Israel on Saturday, the Lebanese Army has arrested two Syrians in the South and questioned them as witnesses, security sources said.