Contacts are underway between Baabda and Washington to arrange an official visit by President Joseph Aoun to the White House to meet with President Donald Trump at the beginning of the new year, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Monday.

Aoun is scheduled to visit the Sultanate of Oman on Tuesday at the invitation of Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, accompanied by a number of ministers.

U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus welcomed Lebanon’s move to name a civilian representative in the Mechanism ceasefire committee, but President Joseph Aoun lamented to her the violent Israeli strikes that targeted residential buildings in south Lebanon the next day, a media report said.

Aoun said what happened “represented a negative message from (Israeli PM Benjamin) Netanyahu, especially that the inspection of the targeted sites proved that they were all civilian targets containing no Hezbollah military assets as Israel had claimed,” al-Joumhouria newspaper reported.

The U.S. administration has pressed Israel to give a chance for developing the work of the U.S.-led ceasefire Mechanism after the appointment of Lebanese and Israeli civilian representatives in it, U.S. and French diplomats said.

Washington has also asked Israel to respect the year-end deadline for the removal of Hezbollah’s weapons in the South Litani region, while acknowledging that the Israeli operations and strikes will not stop during this period, the diplomats told An-Nahar newspaper.

Speaker Nabih Berri has relayed to the Iranians three demands reflecting his growing concern over Lebanon’s continued involvement in the “game of axes,” a highly informed diplomatic source said.

“The first demand calls for keep Lebanon fully neutral in any future confrontation between Iran and Israel and refraining from using the Lebanese arena as a pressure card in Tehran’s negotiations with Washington,” the source told the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper.

Amal MP Ali Hassan Khalil said Friday that Speaker Nabih Berri's powers are constitutional after Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea criticized the Speaker for refusing to discuss in parliament a draft law demanding the amendment of the current electoral law ahead of the parliamentary elections scheduled for May 2026.

The LF, the Kataeb and other MPS forming a parliamentary majority are pushing for amending the law to allow a large Lebanese diaspora to vote for the 128 seats.

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa on Monday revealed the presence of contacts regarding the rescheduling of Army chief Rodolphe Haykal’s visit to Washington, expressing his belief that the visit will take place.

As for the Mechanism meetings, Issa said after meeting Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji that no one was “expecting peace from the first meeting.”

Former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has described a Sunday meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri as "friendly and warm", calling Berri a "long-time friend and ally."

After the meeting, Jumblat said the same phrase previously used by Berri: We cannot negotiate under (Israeli) fire.

Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon Diodato Abagnara has said that UNIFIL has no evidence that Hezbollah is rebuilding its military capabilities south of the Litani.

In an interview with Israel's Channel 12, Abagnara said that the presence of Israeli troops along the Blue Line constitutes "a flagrant" violation of U.N. resolution 1701.

French Special Envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian will arrive Monday in Lebanon where he will meet President Joseph Aoun, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, media reports said.

Le Drian will also meet with foreign Minister Youssef Rajji and the meetings will discuss economic and security matters.

Negotiations have a much higher chance of ending the Israeli violations than staying locked in one place, President Joseph Aoun told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Monday.

Aoun's comments come as Lebanon and Israel moved toward direct negotiations