Saudi State Minister for Gulf Affairs Thamer al-Sabhan said that Saudi Arabia will “cut off the hands” of anyone who tries to harm it, in an indirect reference to Hizbullah’s practices.

"Certainly, the Kingdom supports all counter-terrorism policies, its source and arms. Countries of the region must unite in the face of killing of people and the destruction of civil peace," said al-Sabhan in a late Friday tweet.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri held talks Friday evening with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai at the Maronite Pontifical Institute in Rome, Hariri's media office said.

President Michel Aoun confirmed on Tuesday during a meeting with a delegation of the General Labor Union that the recent “economic achievements will complete reform and the fight against corruption,” the National News Agency reported.

“The achievements at the economic level so far will be complemented with reform, combating corruption, and restoration of balance to the country's production sectors,” NNA quoted Aoun as saying.

Head of Lebanon's General Labor Union Beshara al-Asmar rejected the latest tax hikes approved by the parliament on Monday announcing that efforts will kick-off in order to get raises for the private sector employees and workers.

In an interview to VDL (93.3), Asmar said that the newly approved tax hikes law targets low-income workers. He noted that “direct contacts and meetings have started to impress upon the private sector to give employees salary increments.”

Concerns linger that Lebanon might be harmed by the US sanctions that will be “officially approved against Hizbullah in three weeks,” but the visits of parliamentary and banking delegations to Washington last spring succeeded at “neutralizing key and important” sectors from the sanctions, al-Mustaqbal daily reported on Tuesday.

The Lebanese Air Force on Monday received two U.S. A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft, the National News Agency said.

The two planes were delivered at the Hamat military airport in northern Lebanon.

Tension prevailed on Monday in the southern Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh after a shooting incident between a group of Palestinian youth near an UNRWA-run school, the National News Agency reported.

A personal dispute that escalated into a gunfight erupted between a group of youth in al-Braxat neighborhood, NNA said.

President Michel Aoun and Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq said Monday the parliamentary elections will be held on time based on the newly agreed proportional representation electoral system.

Aoun, speaking to members of the 11-member Election Supervisory Committee at the Baabda Palace, stressed saying Lebanon will stage timely polls, he said: “Parliamentary elections will be held on time based on the newly agreed electoral law.”

Speaker Nabih Berri said that voters will be able to cast their ballots in the upcoming parliamentary elections using their normal identity cards or passports, as he pointed out that there will be no prior registration of voters, al-Joumhouria daily reported Monday.

“Things seem to have been settled. There will be no prior registration of voters, there will be no biometric or magnetic voter cards. Elections will be run normally as usual and voters can use their Ids or passports,” Berri was quoted as telling his visitors.

A meeting was held Sunday evening at the residence of head of the Democratic Gathering bloc MP Walid Jumblat in Clemenceau in the presence of Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, MP Wael Abu Faour and Taymour Jumblat, al-Joumhouria daily reported Monday.

According to a statement released by the Progressive Socialist Party media office, the two-hour meeting “included a review of the local situation and the regional developments, as it stressed the need to make every effort to maintain stability and fortify the national arena against all threats to the homeland and activating the work of institutions in the interest of the homeland and citizens.”