Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea expressed deep concern Wednesday that Nabatieh could face the same fate as Ali al-Taher and Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon, calling on state authorities to strictly enforce decisions outlawing Hezbollah’s military and security wings.

Geagea urged the government to act firmly by expelling all illegal gunmen from Nabatieh and dismantling non-state military infrastructure to help secure a ceasefire in and around the southern city.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Wednesday stated that “just as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has always stood by Lebanon during every crisis it has faced, it is our duty, as Lebanese people, to stand united with the Kingdom as it faces heinous and bloody attacks."

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels targeted oil facilities in south Saudi Arabia in recent days, wounding dozens, as deadly fighting and Saudi airstrikes renewed in Yemen after a Houthi offensive towards the Red Sea's Bab al-Mandab chokepoint.

The Head of the Higher Islamic Shiite Council, Sheikh Ali al-Khatib, told U.S. Ambassador Michel Issa that Lebanon's Shiite community did not take up arms by choice, but out of necessity to confront Israeli occupation, Al-Liwaa newspaper reported Wednesday.

During their Tuesday meeting, Khatib rejected designations labeling the Shiite community as "terrorists." He emphasized that Shiites are open to resolving the thorny issue of disarmament, "provided they are given security guarantees and protection to safeguard their future and survival in Lebanon", the daily added.

Retired military personnel on Wednesday staged protests at the Riad Al-Solh Square, near the entrance to Parliament, and in other locations in the country to reject the 2027 draft state budget, which failed to include any adjustment to ranks and salaries.

They criticized authorities for overlooking their demands, accusing them of being indifferent to the hardships they face in meeting their living expenses.

Joint Saudi-American diplomatic efforts over the past 24 hours have succeeded in de-escalating tensions in southern Lebanon following direct U.S. engagement with Israel, local media reported.

U.S. sources told al-Jadeed that meetings between American and Saudi officials focused on the Lebanese file, with Riyadh backing the Lebanese government's demands to secure a permanent solution.

Israeli artillery shelled overnight into Wednesday the southern towns of Kfar Remman, al-Mansouri, Mays al-Jabal and Qabrikha, while strikes targeted Nabatieh al-Fawqa and Kfartebnit.

Israeli forces carried out detonations in al-Mansouri as relative calm seemed to return to southern Lebanon, following a three-day escalation that killed 27 people and wounded 69 others in the Nabatieh region.

The Lebanese military said Tuesday it had rescued over 20 people off the country's northern coast after a boat trying to smuggle them out broke down.

A military statement said the naval forces, along with the civil defense agency and the Red Cross, rescued "22 people during an attempt to smuggle them illegally aboard a boat after it broke down off the coast of Tripoli," the largest city in the north.

Contacts made by President Joseph Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri and PM Nawaf Salam, in addition to Arab and international efforts, have contributed to pacifying the situation in the city of Nabatieh, Al-Jadeed TV said on Tuesday, after 27 people were killed and 69 others were wounded in three days of Israeli attacks in the Nabatieh region.

Future steps might be taken to “consolidate and immunize stability through the deployment of the Lebanese army and security forces,” Al-Jadeed added.

There is talk behind the scenes about the possibility of moving the Rome negotiations, for which no date has yet been set, to Washington, the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported on Tuesday.

“The negotiating delegation may be limited to the military team, or there may be a merger between the military and political levels, but until now nothing is certain,” the daily added.

Hundreds of people in south Lebanon gathered on Tuesday to mourn two Hezbollah members and their family, among them a three-month-old infant, killed by an Israeli strike a day prior.

The two brothers' coffins, draped in the Iran-backed group's yellow flag, portraits of them in camouflage fatigues fixed to the front, led the procession through the village battered by repeated conflict over nearly three years.