A lot has happened in just a year on both sides of the Lebanon-Syria border. A lightning offensive by Islamist insurgents in Syria toppled longtime autocrat Bashar Assad and brought a new government in place in Damascus.

In Lebanon, a bruising war with Israel dealt a serious blow to Hezbollah — the Iran-backed and Assad-allied Shiite Lebanese militant group that had until recently been a powerful force in the Middle East — and a U.S.-negotiated deal has brought a fragile ceasefire.

The future of U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon has split the United States and its European allies, raising implications for security in the Middle East and becoming the latest snag to vex relations between the U.S. and key partners like France, Britain and Italy.

At issue is the peacekeeping operation known as UNIFIL, whose mandate expires at the end of August and will need to be renewed by the U.N. Security Council to continue. It was created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after Israel's 1978 invasion, and its mission was expanded following the monthlong 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.

President Joseph Aoun insists on implementing the government’s decisions on arms monopolization and his firmness is not aimed at clashing with any component, Kuwait’s al-Anbaa newspaper quoted his visitors as saying.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem’s latest speech is “rejected in all standards.”

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has accused Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem of making "unacceptable" threats to unleash civil war, after the Hezbollah leader vowed to confront government plans to disarm his group.

Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem on Friday accused the Lebanese government of "handing" the country to Israel by pushing for the group's disarmament, warning it would fight to keep its weapons.

Qassem spoke in a televised address several hours after meeting Iran's top security chief Ali Larijani, whose country has long backed the Lebanese armed group.

A senior U.N. official who has recently visited Israel has quoted Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz as saying that "the Israeli army does not intend to launch a military operation against Lebanon if (U.S. envoy Tomb) Barrack's mission fails,” ad-Diyar newspaper reported on Thursday.

Arab nations have slammed comments by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apparently expressing support for the idea of an expanded "Greater Israel", calling the remarks a threat to their sovereignty at an especially tense time for the region.

The term Greater Israel refers to a biblical interpretation of the nation's territory during the time of King Solomon, encompassing not only the present-day Palestinian territories of Gaza and the occupied West Bank, but also parts of modern Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

An Israeli drone targeted Thursday an excavator in the southern town of Yaroun as Israeli forces infiltrated Wadi Hounin, entering two Lebanese houses near Adeisseh.

Israel has kept up its strikes on Lebanon despite a November ceasefire that sought to end over a year of hostilities with Hezbollah, including two months of all-out war.

Chief of Staff of Israel's army Eyal Zamir who visited Wednesday a post in south Lebanon said Israel is in a "multifront war" not just with Gaza but also in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.

"This morning, we approved plans for the conquest of Gaza, and now we are in Lebanon," he said.