United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Sigrid Kaag and United Nations Deputy Special Coordinator Philippe Lazzarini met with President Michel Aoun on Friday at the Baabda Palace, a U.N. statement said.

The meeting took place ahead of President Aoun's anticipated meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the upcoming Summit of the Arab League.

A Syrian national suspected of transferring money to Jabhat Fatah al-Sham militant group in Syria has been arrested in south Lebanon, the National News Agency reported on Friday.

Lebanese authorities in the south have detained Ahmed al-Issa in the southern district of Tyre, NNA said.

Minister of Economy Raed Khoury stressed on Friday that the ministry has started monitoring commercial institutions and prices of commodities, as he urged the Lebanese to report any violation related to manipulation in prices.

The Lebanese army arrested on Friday at dawn two wanted suspects in the Hermel district and in the border town of al-Qasr, the State-run National News Agency reported.

In collaboration with the Intelligence Directorate, the army staged wide raids on houses of wanted fugitives in several neighborhoods in Hermel and al-Qasr village, NNA said.

Lebanon's security apparatuses have launched a wide security operation to hunt down the most wanted fugitives of drug traffickers, kidnap gangs and outlaws in Hizbullah's strongholds in Beirut's southern suburbs (Dahiyeh) and the Bekaa valley, al-Akhbar daily reported on Friday.

The Cabinet on Friday approved an item on purchasing security equipment for Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport, postponing the discussion of the state budget and the electricity plan to a session that will be held on Monday.

“All the items on the agenda have been approved and the session was adjourned to 4:00 pm Monday to complete the revision of the state budget and discuss the electricity plan,” Information Minister Melhem Riachi said after the session, noting that the discussion of the electricity plan will continue on Tuesday.

After his latest defensive statements of Hizbullah and its weapons, President Michel Aoun is under a “pressure campaign” at the domestic and international levels “to prevent him from making unfavorable positions at the upcoming Arab League Summit,” as concerns mount that U.S. authorities could tighten measures on Lebanese banks over alleged facilitation of Hizbullah transactions, al-Akhbar daily reported on Thursday.

It is estimated that the pressure campaign and intimidation will continue, at least until the Arab summit convenes at the end of March in Amman, to prevent Aoun from declaring “undesirable” positions at the highest Arab forum, said the daily.

Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi received on Wednesday at al-Ittihadiyah Palace, Prime Minister Saad Hariri in the presence of his Egyptian counterpart Prime Minister Sharif Ismail, Hariri's press office said.

Discussions focused on the latest developments at the Arab and international arenas, in addition to the means to bolster bilateral relations between the two countries at various levels, added the statement.

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil said from Washington, there is a Lebanese consensus on the role of the Resistance and Hizbullah in fighting the Israeli enemy and defending Lebanon, but stressed that preserving stability and fighting terrorism are the responsibility of the Lebanese Army, the National News Agency reported on Wednesday.

In an interview in Washington with Henri J. Barkey, Director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and replying to a question about Hizbullah's intervention in regional affairs, Bassil said he does not “speak on behalf of Hizbullah.”

Speaker Nabih Berri warned on Wednesday of an Israeli pretext to trigger a new war against Lebanon after the latest reports about decisions made by the Israeli government and the Knesset to approve the demarcation of the maritime-economic border with Lebanon, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Wednesday.

Berri voiced warnings of the “new Israeli assault against Lebanon's sovereignty,” and said “what has been revealed by Israeli media was not arbitrary, but rather reveals a path taken by Israel in a bid to control Lebanon's gas and oil wealth within Lebanese economic borders.”