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.

Contacts are underway on two levels to prevent further military escalation in Lebanon in the wake of Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah’s military chief, informed political sources said.

“There are domestic contacts to contain the situation and prevent responses (against Israel) and external contacts to follow up on the situation and press Israel not to carry on with its attacks,” the sources told al-Liwaa newspaper.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty will visit Beirut on Tuesday to discuss “a mechanism for defusing an impending Israeli escalation against Lebanon,” al-Liwaa newspaper said.

Abdelatty’s visit comes after consultations with his Saudi and French counterparts on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Johannesburg as well as a phone call with his Qatari counterpart, the daily added.

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.

The United Nations called Tuesday for swift and impartial investigations into Israeli strikes in Lebanon, including a deadly attack on a Palestinian refugee camp last week.

"There must be prompt and impartial investigations into the Ein El-Hilweh strike, as well as all other incidents involving possible violations of international humanitarian law by all parties, both before and after the ceasefire. Those responsible must be brought to justice," U.N. rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan told reporters in Geneva.

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".

Lebanon is a country where crosses rise from mountaintops, rooftops and street corners, and Christian symbols are woven into everyday life. The upcoming visit of Pope Leo XIV highlights the depth of Christianity's roots in this small Mediterranean nation, dating to the earliest days of the faith.

From Mount Lebanon's peaks to the coastal plain, ancient sites sit beside modern life, reflecting a landscape shaped by centuries of Christian presence. Lebanon's mosaic of 18 sects — including 12 Christian ones — makes it one of the region's most diverse societies, with a Maronite Christian traditionally serving as president.

Hezbollah held a funeral on Monday for its top military chief and other members of the militant group a day after a deadly Israeli strike on south Beirut, while Iran's Revolutionary Guards urged revenge.

Haytham Ali Tabatabai is the most senior commander from the Iran-backed group to be killed by Israel since a November 2024 ceasefire sought to end more than a year of hostilities between the two sides.