Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil dubbed Wednesday what has been said about land border demarcation with Israel as a flagrant constitutional violation.

Bassil said he was surprised when the Lebanese government told the United Nations that Lebanon is ready to demarcate its southern borders along the Blue Line.

Central Bank governor Riad Salameh, his brother Raja, and his assistant Marianne Howayek showed up Wednesday for an interrogation session at the Justice Palace before Judge Charbel Abu Samra.

Salameh is part of the Lebanese political class widely blamed for a crushing economic crisis that began in late 2019 and which the World Bank has dubbed one of the worst in recent history.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Tuesday warned that any attempt to appoint a new army chief of staff “in violation of the constitution and through bypassing the Defense Minister will be a real military coup” in the face of which the FPM will not stand idly by.

The Foreign Ministry on Tuesday asked Lebanon’s permanent mission to the United Nations to file a complaint to the U.N. secretary general and U.N. Security Council over Israel’s “annexation of the northern, Lebanese part of the Ghajar village.”

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has taken a swipe at Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, accusing him of not being consistent in his stances regarding the issue of appointments.

“I’ve heard three sermons for Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi and I totally respect him, but honestly let someone explain to me what he meant and what he wants. He said that there shouldn’t be appointments under a caretaker cabinet and then he stressed the need to name a chief of staff for the Lebanese Army. Let’s agree on a certain standard that should be practiced,” Mikati said, in an interview with Nidaa al-Watan newspaper published Tuesday.

Teams from the Ministry of Health raided nurseries across the country on Tuesday, after a shocking video of abused children in a nursery in Jdeideh sparked public outrage.

The video that went viral showed staff of the Garderêve nursery force-feeding and beating young children and infants.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said Tuesday that despite the political disagreements, all Lebanese should be aware of Israel's hostile intentions.

Berri's statement came as tensions continued to flare in the border area between Lebanon and Israel over two tents erected by Hezbollah and Israel’s building of a wall around the Lebanese part of al-Ghajar, a village that Israeli troops captured during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said Monday that a caretaker government can convene to find a solution for the leadership crisis at the central bank after the term of its governor Riad Salameh ends.

"There is a constitutional text that describes what caretaking is, and it does not mean descending into vacuum," Berri said.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri reiterated Monday his call for dialogue, as he stressed that "internationalizing" it needs first a domestic agreement.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi had called last week for an international conference on Lebanon after Lebanese officials failed to hold a dialogue.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has stressed that he “will not request the extension of the term of Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh nor the appointment of a successor,” because he does not want to “deepen the rift between the Lebanese.”

“The solution for filling the vacuum in the Central Bank governorship upon the expiry of Salameh’s term is the implementation of the law that allows his deputy (Wassim) Mansouri to carry out his missions,” Mikati said in an interview with Asharq al-Awsat newspaper published Monday.