U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon patrol through rocky hills and olive groves near the border with Israel, ahead of a deadline for a truce in the war with Hezbollah that some residents fear will not hold.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has voiced hope for lasting peace in Lebanon after the United States reported an Israeli pullout.

Lebanon's lawmakers on Thursday began a session that could see army chief Joseph Aoun elected as president following a vacancy of more than two years, an AFP reporter said.

While 12 previous attempts have failed to choose a successor to former President Michel Aoun, whose term ended in October 2022, there are indications that Thursday's vote may produce a head of state.

The Development and Liberation bloc of Speaker Nabih Berri has become inclined to vote for Army chief Joseph Aoun in Thursday’s presidential election session, media reports said Wednesday afternoon.

U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein said during the latest meeting of the ceasefire monitoring committee that Israel would withdraw within 15 days from south Lebanon’s western, central and eastern sectors, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The Biden administration in its final days is shifting more than $100 million in military aid from Israel and Egypt to Lebanon as it tries to bolster a ceasefire agreement it helped mediate between Israel and Hezbollah.

In separate notices sent to Congress, the State Department said it was moving $95 million in military assistance intended for Egypt and $7.5 million for Israel toward supporting the Lebanese army and its government. The notices were dated Jan. 3 and obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday.

As Lebanese lawmakers prepare to elect a president on Thursday, some parties are still reluctant to support leading candidate army chief Joseph Aoun, who seems to be supported by the United States, France and Saudi Arabia.

The Free Patriotic Movement still has not announced its official candidate, but its leader Jebran Bassil has said that electing Aoun is not constitutional. "Any vote for Aoun (in the upcoming January 9 session) should be considered a spoiled vote according to the constitution," Bassil told LBCI in an interview late Tuesday. He said he supports former finance minister and International Monetary Fund official Jihad Azour and is open to acting security chief Elias Baissari.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Wednesday voiced optimism over the election of a new president in Thursday’s electoral session.

Hezbollah and the Amal Movement are still rejecting Army chief Joseph Aoun's presidential nomination, al-Jadeed TV reported on Wednesday.

France’s special envoy to Lebanon, Jean-Yves Le Drian, met Wednesday in Beirut with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri as he visits Lebanon in an attempt to help the parliament elect a president — a position that has been empty for more than two years amid sharp political and sectarian divides.

Lebanon’s parliament is scheduled to meet on Thursday to elect a president. Le Drian will attend the session at the invitation of Berri.