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Reports: Lebanon receives positive message after Trump-Sisi call

Communication took place between the Lebanese and Egyptian presidencies prior to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s meeting with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump at the Davos summit, media reports said.

“Al-Sisi was told that Lebanon is implementing the government’s plan for collecting Hezbollah’s arms and that Israel has not fulfilled anything of what was agreed on with the Americans,” diplomatic sources told An-Nahar newspaper.

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Report: US ambassador Issa to replace Ortagus in Mechanism meetings

U.S. Ambassador Michel Issa will be the United States envoy to the ceasefire monitoring committee, replacing American diplomat Morgan Ortagus, pro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar newspaper reported Tuesday.

The daily said that Lebanon has been officially notified on Monday that Ortagus' role in the ceasefire committee has ended.

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Renewed Qatari role in Lebanon reportedly backed by KSA and US

Saudi Arabia has recently decided to change its stance over the Qatari role in Lebanon and this transformation is linked to an understanding with the U.S. over a Qatari role in supporting Lebanon financially and politically, a media report said.

The development is also related to the latest rift between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, especially that Abu Dhabi is “active in the Lebanese arena in a way opposed to the policies of Riyadh and Doha,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported.

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Aoun envoy, US general discuss Mechanism work in meeting in Awkar

President Joseph Aoun's security and military Advisor Antoine Mansour met Tuesday with Mechanism's Assistant Chief U.S. Colonel David Leon Klingensmith at the U.S. Embassy in Awkar.

The meeting was attended by the Defense Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Colonel Jason Belknap.

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Bassil warns Hezbollah against 'crime' of implicating Lebanon in 'new destruction'

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Tuesday strongly criticized Hezbollah in the wake of Sheikh Naim Qassem’s latest remarks about supporting Iran.

“The basis of the Memorandum of Understanding (between the FPM and Hezbollah) was to Lebanonize Hezbollah’s choices and weapons through partnership, state building and defending Lebanon,” Bassil said in a post on the X platform.

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Israeli strike targets motorbike in Batoulay, killing one person

A man was killed Tuesday in an Israeli airstrike on his motorcycle in the southern town of Batoulay.

The Israeli army said it has targeted a Hezbollah member in the southern town of Deir Qanoun.

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Retired soldiers protest as MPs discuss 2026 budget in heated session

Retired soldiers gathered Tuesday at Beirut's Riad al-Solh Square in downtown Beirut to protest their salaries that have become too low to cover basic expenses, as parliament convened to discuss the 2026 budget.

The retirees also demanded better healthcare services and education for their children. They blocked the entrance to parliament, sparring with some MPs who tried to enter in their cars.

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Two killed in Israeli strike on Kfar Rumman, raising Monday's death toll to three

Three people were killed on Monday in Israeli strikes -- one in the southern city of Tyre and two later in Kfar Rumman near the city of Nabatiyeh.

Hezbollah's Al-Manar television said the Tyre strike killed Sheikh Ali Noureddine, "who previously worked at Al-Manar channel as a presenter of religious programs".

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Syria thwarts weapons smuggling attempt to Lebanon

Damascus thwarted on Monday an attempt to smuggle weapons into Lebanon, state media reported, days after Israel struck several border crossings between the two countries, saying they were used by Hezbollah.

The official SANA news agency said security forces intercepted the shipment in a car in the Bureij area, near the border with Lebanon.

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Qassem says Hezbollah not neutral if Iran attacked, would decide then how to act

Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem said Monday that Hezbollah will not remain “neutral” should Iran come under a new attack, but added that it would choose whether to intervene or not at the appropriate time.

“When (U.S. President Donald) Trump threatens (Iran’s supreme leader) Imam (Ali) Khamenei, he is threatening tens of millions who follow this leader,” Qassem said via video link during a Hezbollah rally in solidarity with Iran.

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