The Elsie Initiative Fund for Women in Peace Operations (EIF) has announced that the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is the first U.N. field mission to receive funding to create an enabling and inclusive environment for women peacekeepers.

The EIF was jointly established by the U.N. and Canada in 2019 with its secretariat within U.N. Women. The EIF, a U.N. trust fund, is funded by Member States. USD $30 million have been raised thus far.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Monday accused the Free Patriotic Movement and Hizbullah of seeking to postpone the parliamentary elections scheduled for May.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Monday hailed “the special achievement made by Lebanese security forces, especially the Intelligence Branch (of the Internal Security Forces) for busting a spy network working for the Israeli enemy inside Lebanon.”

“Once again, we salute and applaud the Lebanese security forces and their vigilant eyes for protecting Lebanon’s security and immunizing its civil peace,” Berri added.

Cabinet approved Monday an increase of social contributions for the public sector and for social welfare institutions, while no agreement was reached regarding the electricity treasury loan and the customs dollar.

A social contribution of 75% of the salary basis will be given for the public sector, as well as the pensioners.

President Michel Aoun on Monday asked Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib to file a U.N. Security Council complaint against Israel over its violation of Lebanon’s airspace to carry out an overnight strike on Syria.

Aoun made the request during a Cabinet session in Baabda, in which Interior Minister Bassam al-Mawlawi briefed the conferees on the busting of “17 spy networks that were working for the Israeli enemy” inside Lebanon.

President Michel Aoun on Monday reminded that he has warned against the “deliberate procrastination by the central bank in terms of handing over the complete data that is requested by forensic audit firm Alvarez & Marsal.”

“The Presidency hopes that… the central bank’s governorship does not have anything to conceal in the central bank’s accounts,” the Presidency said in a statement.

Cabinet convened Monday at the Grand Serail to continue the discussion of the draft state budget.

The session will focus today on social welfare to families in need as Social Affairs Minister Hector Hajjar is expected to submit a proposal today.

Strong Lebanon bloc MP Alain Aoun has said that “it is possible that the Free Patriotic Movement will ally with Hizbullah in the parliamentary elections despite all the differences between them.”

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday stressed that Lebanese officials “do not have the right to reject the hands that are extended to help them,” in an apparent reference to the paper of Arab and international demands that has been presented to Lebanon by Kuwait.

All eyes will turn Sunday to what might be issued by the Arab foreign ministers meeting in Kuwait regarding Lebanon’s response to the Gulf paper of demands.