Berri reportedly dispatches Khalil to Saudi Arabia

MP Ali Hassan Khalil has traveled to Riyadh as an envoy of Speaker Nabih Berri, Al-Jadeed TV reported.

A routine convoy transporting military and civilian peacekeepers, along with essential contractors, from Beirut to UNIFIL headquarters was halted by Israeli troops a few kilometers from its destination in Naqoura.

U.N.-marked vehicles were eventually allowed to proceed; however, local contractors were required to return to Beirut under security arrangements, despite the convoy having been fully deconflicted in advance, including their presence, UNIFIL said in a statement.

Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah called Wednesday for a referendum, claiming that more than half of the Lebanese people are against the direct Lebanese-Israeli talks that took place Tuesday in Washington.

Fadlallah lashed out at Lebanese authorities who "are giving free concessions" to Israel, saying they now "have blood on their hands".

Israel and Lebanon agreed to hold direct negotiations after "productive discussions" between the two sides in Washington, the United States said on Tuesday.

"The participants held productive discussions on steps toward launching direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon," State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement, adding: "All sides agreed to launch direct negotiations at a mutually agreed time and venue."

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors in Washington on Tuesday for the first direct peace talks between the two sides in decades.

Israel's ambassador to Washington, Yechiel Leiter, has been instructed to reject any ceasefire request while negotiations with Lebanon continue, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Tuesday, citing sources

The Israeli military said Tuesday that a soldier had been killed in Lebanon, the first since a U.S.-Iran temporary truce came into force that Israel insisted does not include the country where it is fighting Hezbollah.

"Sergeant Major (Res.) Ayal Uriel Bianco, aged 30, from Katzrin, a firefighting vehicle driver in the 188th Brigade, fell during combat in southern Lebanon," the Israeli military said in a statement, later adding that overnight clashes between Israeli soldiers and Hezbollah militants left 10 soldiers wounded in the strategically significant southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil, which Israeli forces have encircled.

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem on Monday urged the Lebanese state to cancel a planned meeting with Israel in Washington the following day, reiterating his group's rejection of direct negotiations with Israel.

President Joseph Aoun on Monday told visiting Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani that "Lebanon hopes that the upcoming meeting tomorrow in Washington between the ambassadors of Lebanon, the United States, and Israel will result in an agreement on a ceasefire in Lebanon, paving the way for direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israeli forces had eliminated the threat of an invasion by Hezbollah fighters during an alleged visit to troops in southern Lebanon.

His reported visit comes two days before officials from Lebanon, Israel and the United States are due to hold direct talks in Washington.