Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has accused the U.S. of sidelining France from the ceasefire monitoring committee in order to monopolize the entire decision-making in the committee alongside Israel.

The U.S.-led committee monitoring the ceasefire, which includes representatives from the United States, France, Lebanon, Israel and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), had met this Wednesday. The meeting in Naqoura in south Lebanon did not include civilians, which Speaker Berri described as a result of the American attempt to monopolize the decisions of the committee.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam stated overnight that the role of the Resistance (Hezbollah) had ended in 2000 with the liberation of south Lebanon from Israeli occupation, asserting that "what protects Lebanon today is the State and the Lebanese Army.”

“We want one state for all Lebanese; the decision of war and peace must be in the hands of the State alone, and the exclusivity of arms must serve all citizens and not be directed against anyone," Salam added, in an interview on MTV.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday said he welcomes “the encouraging announcements by the Lebanese authorities to restore the State’s monopoly on weapons,” a day after the Lebanese Army announced the completion of the first phase of its arms monopolization plan.

“This process must be pursued resolutely. The second phase of the plan will be a decisive step,” Macron said in a post on X.

Top officials from the European Union will visit Lebanon Friday, where the army a day earlier announced it had completed the first stage of a plan to remove weapons from nonstate groups, including Hezbollah.

The visit by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the President of the European Council António Costa was part of a regional tour.

A consortium comprising TotalEnergies, QatarEnergy and Italy’s Eni on Friday signed with Lebanonj an agreement for gas exploration in Block 8 off the Lebanese coast. The ceremony took place this morning at the Grand Serail.

The agreement was signed on the Lebanese side by Minister of Energy and Water Joe Saddi.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who arrived Thursday in Beirut at a crucial time, met Friday with President Joseph Aoun and his counterpart Youssef Rajji.

Araghchi's visit comes as Lebanon's army announced it had completed the first phase of its plan to disarm Hezbollah south of the Litani river.

Israeli airstrikes on Friday targeted several areas in south and east Lebanon, with the Israeli army claiming that they struck alleged Hezbollah sites, a day after the Lebanese Army said it had completed the first phase of its plan to disarm the group in the south.

In the south, the strikes hit open areas near Kfarfila, Sujud, Houmine al-Fawqa and Deir al-Zahrani in the Iqlim al-Tuffah region and the al-Bissariyeh area near Sidon. The raids also targeted the outskirts of the town of al-Nabi Sheet in the Bekaa and the al-Jabbour hills in west Bekaa.

France has welcomed Lebanon's announcement that the first phase of the army's plan to disarm Hezbollah in south Lebanon has been completed.

On Thursday, after the army leadership briefed the cabinet on progress on the disarmament plan, Information Minister Paul Morcos said the government emphasized the need to continue implementing the plan "as quickly as possible".

A Lebanese pop star turned Islamic militant told a military court Thursday that he is innocent and did not take part in battles against the Lebanese army or fund a radical cleric, judicial officials said.

Fadel Shaker handed himself over to the country's military intelligence service in early October, 12 years after going on the run and hiding in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh near the port city of Sidon.

Lebanon's moves to remove weapons from all non-state groups and assert full state control are as important as financial reforms if the economy is to recover after years of crisis, the economy minister said Thursday.

"You need economic reforms, but you also need security and political reforms," Amer Bisat told The Associated Press after a cabinet session in which the Lebanese military reported progress on a plan to disarm Hezbollah and non-state groups and expand deployment in southern Lebanon.