On a hilltop lookout near Israel's border with Lebanon, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter offered personal assurances Monday that the U.S. will help Israel counter Iranian support for Hizbullah. He called it one example of how the U.S. can support the Jewish state in the aftermath of the Iran nuclear deal.

Carter visited Hussein Lookout, with a sweeping view of the border as well as the Golan Heights, in an effort to emphasize U.S. concern about a range of threats that face Israel. These include tens of thousands of short-, medium- and longer-range Hizbullah rockets and missiles in southern Lebanon that could hit Israeli villages and cities.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat said French President Francois Hollande has informed him and his son that Paris will always back Lebanon.

“Never forget that France will always be by your side and the side of Lebanon,” Jumblat quoted Hollande as saying.

Almost 70 fighters have been killed in the two-week-old battle between pro-government forces and Islamist rebels for control of Zabadani on Syria's border with Lebanon, a monitoring group said Monday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 46 rebels and 21 members of Hizbullah fighting on the government side have died since pro-regime forces entered the town of Zabadani on July 4.

Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi held talks on Monday with the family of slain stabbing victim George al-Rif, condemning the “unjustified” crime.

He stressed the need to keep the issue “away from politics and petty personal interests.”

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq kicked off on Monday a trip to France where he is scheduled to meet with a number of security and political officials, reported Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3).

It said that he will begin his visit by holding talks with security officials to discuss coordination in a number of fields, especially combating terrorism.

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea continued on Monday his visit to Saudi Arabia by holding talks with head of the Mustaqbal Movement MP Saad Hariri.

The two officials met in the city of Jeddah, said LBCI television.

Progressive Socialist party chief Walid Jumblat stressed on Monday that Lebanon will not be able to confront the financial challenges if the waste of state funds is not controlled.

“Lebanon will not be able to confront the economic and financial challenges if it does not pull itself together and conduct radical and urgent reforms to stop the waste of money in various sectors mainly the energy sector, customs, ministries and several others,” he said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa website.

A man committed suicide on Monday after failing to murder his wife, reported MTV.

It said that Wahan Toufoulian fired five shots at his wife before turning the gun on himself.

General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim returned over the weekend from a trip to Doha where he discussed with Qatari officials the finishing touches of a deal to release the servicemen abducted by jihadists in 2014, reported As Safir on Monday.

He told the daily that the “general framework of an exchange deal” was reached.

The Israeli army staged patrols alongside the border with Lebanon on Monday as a reconnaissance aircraft flew over the occupied Shebaa Farms, the state-run National News Agency reported.

At around 10:30, the Israeli troops patrolled areas alongside the borderline from the axis of Wadi al-Aasal all the way to the outskirts of al-Ghajar and Abbasiyyeh, NNA said.