U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s associates have made it clear in talks with senior Israeli officials that Trump is interested in calm in the Middle East in order to focus on domestic issues, Israel’s Channel 12 has reported.

New Lebanese President Joseph Aoun began parliamentary consultations Monday to designate a prime minister tasked with forming a government desperately needed to tackle major challenges in the crisis-hit country.

Caretaker premier Najib Mikati and Nawaf Salam, a favorite of anti-Hezbollah lawmakers who is the presiding judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, have emerged as the frontrunners.

Israel carried out air strikes in Lebanon Sunday, targeting areas in the east and south according to Lebanese state media, with the Israeli military saying it hit Hezbollah targets including smuggling routes along the border with Syria.

The airstrikes placed further strain on a fragile ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group, which came into effect on November 27.

UAE leader Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has congratulated Lebanon's new president, Joseph Aoun, on his election and expressed hopes for reopening the country's embassy in Beirut, state media said.

Syria's new ruler and Lebanon's prime minister have pledged to build lasting ties during the first visit by a Lebanese head of government to Damascus since the civil war started in 2011.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati's trip came after Islamist-led rebels seized Damascus last month, bringing an end to the rule of Bashar al-Assad.

Six weeks into a ceasefire that halted the war between Israel and Hezbollah, many displaced Lebanese whose homes were destroyed in the fighting want to rebuild — but reconstruction and compensation are slow in coming.

Large swathes of southern and eastern Lebanon, as well as Beirut's southern suburbs, lie in ruins, tens of thousands of houses reduced to rubble in Israeli airstrikes. The World Bank estimated in a report in November — before the ceasefire later that month — that losses to Lebanon's infrastructure amount to some $3.4 billion.

President Joseph Aoun announced Saturday that he has not come to "work in politics, but rather to build a state."

Lebanon's new president Joseph Aoun Saturday promised the de-facto leader of Saudi Arabia that his first post-election trip abroad would be to the powerful Gulf kingdom, the presidency said.

Italy's foreign minister arrived in Beirut Friday to meet with Lebanon's newly elected president, as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni offered her strong support.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati arrived in Damascus Saturday in the first such visit since before civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, an AFP journalist reported.

His visit comes as the neighboring countries seek better relations after Islamist-led rebels toppled longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad last month.