Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal is likely to take part in the cabinet session that will be held in late August to present the details of the arms monopolization plan, which will be based on “positive understanding rather than confrontation, through a gradual course for addressing the file of arms,” informed sources said.

Israel and the U.S. have agreed to the one-year renewal of UNIFIL’s mandate for one last time, but under “strict conditions, including granting these forces powers similar to those mentioned in Chapter VII (of the U.N. Charter), such as staging raids, arresting individuals and erecting checkpoints,” al-Akhbar newspaper quoted unnamed sources as saying.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council chief Ali Larijani advised the Lebanese to preserve the resistance and accused the United States of "ordering" the Lebanese government to implement "a foreign plan", as he met Wednesday with President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

Larijani's visit to Lebanon comes after the Lebanese government ordered the army to devise plans to disarm Hezbollah.

President Joseph Aoun told Iran's visiting security chief on Wednesday that he rejected any interference in the country's internal affairs, branding as "unconstructive" Iran's statements on plans to disarm Hezbollah.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has stressed that “Iran is a friend of Lebanon and will remain so based on its active role in the region.”

Iran's top security chief vowed in Lebanon on Wednesday that his government would continue to provide support, after the Lebanese government ordered the army to devise a plan to disarm Tehran-backed Hezbollah.

Ali Larijani's trip to Lebanon comes after Iran expressed opposition to a government plan to disarm Hezbollah, which before a war with Israel last year was believed to be better armed than the Lebanese military.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil stressed Tuesday that “any arms outside the state are illegitimate,” adding that “the Movement adopts a clear stance on the inevitability of restricting arms and their command to the state alone without any partnership or interference.”

Nestled among shops in a bustling market in north Lebanon's Tripoli, Mohammed al-Shaar is at his workshop making traditional tarboosh hats, keeping up a family craft despite dwindling demand.

With a thimble on one finger, Shaar, 38, cuts, sews and carefully assembles the pieces of the conical, flat-topped felt hat also known as a fez, attaching a tassel to the top.

President Joseph Aoun on Tuesday stressed that the state will carry on with its latest decision on arms monopolization.

There are “contacts and consultations for pacification and curbing the responses that sometimes become irrational,” ministerial sources informed on the discussions told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, referring to the efforts aiming to contain the crisis resulting from the walkout of Shiite ministers from the latest cabinet session.