Pope Leo XIV is embarking on his first foreign trip, a pilgrimage to Turkey and Lebanon that would be delicate under any circumstances but is even more fraught given Mideast tensions and the media glare that will document history's first American pope on the road.

Leo is fulfilling a trip Pope Francis planned to make, to mark an important anniversary with the Orthodox church in Turkey. In Lebanon, he'll try to boost a long-suffering Christian community as well as Lebanese of all faiths who are still demanding justice over the 2020 Beirut port blast.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty met Wednesday in Beirut with President Joseph Aoun, as Israel escalated its attacks on Lebanon.

After the meeting, Abdelatty said Egypt would not spare any effort to prevent an escalation in Lebanon and voiced his country's support for Lebanon and President Aoun and for the government's decision to disarm Hezbollah.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said that Lebanon is at a crossroad and has now a chance to draw a path to prosperity and stability.

In a letter sent to President Joseph Aoun, on the occasion of Lebanon's Independence Day, Trump said he hopes to "deepen the U.S. partnership" with Lebanon.

Lebanese Forces MP Georges Adwan criticized Tuesday Prime Minister Nawaf Salam for taking ten days to sign an urgent draft law -- that allows a large Lebanese diaspora to vote for the 128 seats in the upcoming parliamentary elections -- and ten other days to send it to parliament.

Earlier this month, cabinet approved to send the draft law demanding the amendment to Parliament, after Speaker Nabih Berri refused to discuss it in a legislative session, prompting the LF and Kataeb MPs to boycott it.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri considered the strike that killed Sunday Hezbollah's top military chief in Haret Hreik "an extremely dangerous escalation."

In an interview published Tuesday in al-Joumhouria newspaper, Berri said that Beirut and its southern suburb are back to the circle of Israeli targeting, adding that the strike shows that there are no real guarantees for protecting the capital and its suburb and that Israel can do whatever it wants, without any accountability.

The “Hezbollah weakening round” must take place “before the end of the year,” an Israeli security source has said.

“Lebanon’s government will not carry out this mission and we will not wait,” the source said.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Tuesday voiced concern over the security situation, noting that Lebanon is going through a “state of war.”

“Today we are in a state of war, even if it is some sort of war of attrition -- a one-sided war that is escalating,” Salam said during an inspection visit to the Port of Beirut.

Senior Hezbollah official Ali Damush said Monday during the funeral of Hezbollah's top military chief Haytham Ali Tabatabai that his killing aimed to push Hezbollah into "surrendering and submitting, but this goal will never be achieved".

Israel was "worried about Hezbollah's possible response -- and should remain worried", he said, urging Lebanese authorities to "confront the aggression by all means... and reject the pressures that seek to push Lebanon to comply with American dictates and Israeli conditions".

French President Emmanuel Macron has noted that the situation in Lebanon "remains extremely fragile," as he described President Joseph Aoun's latest speech as "very important."

U.S. President Donald Trump said overnight that he would invite President Joseph Aoun to the White House.