UNIFIL peacekeepers said two Israeli drones hovered aggressively above them when they were on a routine patrol near Kafer Kela on Tuesday morning.

One of the drones was carrying an unidentified object and had entered a range that constituted an immediate threat to the safety and security of peacekeepers.

Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal met Tuesday with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine and Assistant Secretary of War for International Security Affairs Daniel Zimmerman, as he held a series of security meetings in Washington.

Haykal will also meet with the Acting Director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, Michael Miller.

The Israeli army significantly increased its strikes on Lebanon in January 2026,

after the Lebanese army said it had completed the first phase of its plan to disarm Hezbollah, covering the area south of the Litani river, around 30 kilometers from the Israeli border.

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa “warmly welcomes” Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal’s official visit to the United States to continue his engagement with U.S. officials and the U.S. Central Command, the U.S. Embassy said.

The army’s “ongoing work to disarm non-state actors and reinforce national sovereignty as Lebanon’s security guarantor is more important than ever,” the Embassy added, in a post on the X platform.

Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah on Tuesday demanded the state to shoulder its responsibilities, accusing it of inadequacy, negligence, helplessness, and even complicity.

"The state is responsible for its people, and we want it to fulfill its duties," Fadlallah said, adding that Hezbollah is working to compel the state to address four key issues -- the withdrawal of Israeli forces from occupied territories in south Lebanon, halting Israeli attacks, releasing Lebanese prisoners, and the reconstruction of war-hit regions.

President Joseph Aoun said Tuesday that he is working with all concerned parties to avoid dragging Lebanon into a new war.

"Regaining the trust and support of foreign countries will be a natural result of rebuilding the state on firm foundations, specifically the (state's) monopoly on arms," Aoun said, adding that he is working to achieve these goals with "rationality, realism, and responsibility."

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam met Tuesday with Jordan's Prime Minister Jaafar Hassan, on the sidelines of his participation in the World Governments Summit in Dubai.

Hassan proposed an initiative to hold a tripartite Syrian–Lebanese–Jordanian meeting in Amman, to discuss energy and electricity files, Lebanon's National news Agency said.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam urged Arab countries to stand by Lebanon and to participate in the army support conference that will be held next month in Paris, as he attended on Tuesday the World Governments Summit in the UAE.

Salam said Lebanon is committed to reforms that would encourage investments and now has the war and peace decision, asking Arab "brothers" to support the crisis and war-hit country in its reformist journey and to participate "actively" in the army support conference.

The first week of February started with high-level diplomatic missions as Israel intensified its strikes on Lebanon, wounding at least 20 people and killing at least two over the weekend and into Monday.

As President Joseph Aoun kicked off a two-day visit to Spain, with Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam was heading to the United Arab Emirates to attend the World Government Summit, and Army Chief Rodolphe Haykal was set to discuss in Washington the army's plan to disarm Hezbollah.

UNIFIL called Monday on Israel to stop violating resolution 1701 after the Israeli army dropped Sunday unknown chemical substances from airplanes over Lebanon.

On Sunday morning, the Israeli army informed UNIFIL that they would be carrying out an aerial activity dropping what they said was a non-toxic chemical substance over areas near the Blue Line.