Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has said Hezbollah's disarmament should only happen when Lebanon's rights are secured and the country is protected.

In an interview late on Sunday, Bassil stressed that indirect negotiations with Israel should give Lebanon its rights and "a just, permanent, and long-lasting peace". "What is important is that these negotiations don't lead to surrender, our airspace and land and sea borders are constantly violated, and our sovereignty is violated. When Lebanon regains its rights and when it is actually protected, there will no longer be a need for weapons."

As a tenuous ceasefire took hold in Gaza this month, Israel launched more airstrikes on southern Lebanon — 11 months into a ceasefire there.

The bombardment of a construction equipment business killed a Syrian passerby, wounded seven people including two women, and destroyed millions of dollars worth of bulldozers and excavators.

President Joseph Aoun met Monday with Speaker Nabih Berri at the Baabda Palace.

Berri said after the meeting that the meetings with Aoun are "always excellent."

Speaker Nabih Berri on Monday accused Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea of attributing remarks to him about the issue of expat voting.

Eight violent Israeli airstrikes targeted open areas and valleys on Monday in the southern areas of al-Mahmoudiyeh and al-Jarmaq and the stream of the al-Khardali River in the Nabatieh district, the National News Agency said.

The blasts echoed across vast areas of the south and triggered forest blazes.

President Joseph Aoun’s latest call for indirect negotiations with Israel under U.S. and U.N. sponsorship enjoys the acceptance of the various local parties as well as externally, an informed source said.

After a ceasefire reached in Gaza, Lebanese politicians called for the implementation of the Lebanon ceasefire amid almost daily strikes despite a deal reached between Lebanon and Israel in late November, almost a year ago.

President Joseph Aoun has called for indirect negotiations with Israel "to find solutions" as the ceasefire reached a dead-end, with Israel still attacking the country and occupying five hills in its south. Aoun’s initiative aims to urge the U.S. to step up and save the stalled negotiations, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said, in remarks published Monday in Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.

U.S. envoy Tom Barrack has urged Lebanon to act on the issue of Hezbollah’s disarmament, warning that there might be a “major confrontation” between Israel and Hezbollah if Beirut does not take serious steps.

Reaching a new truce deal between Lebanon and Israel has become imminent, unnamed sources told Al-Arabiya's Al-Hadath channel.

An Israeli strike on a construction vehicle in southern Lebanon killed a man, the Lebanese health ministry reported on Saturday.