Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Hezbollah would not disarm amid Israeli occupation and Israel would not withdraw unless Hezbollah disarms, although the ceasefire stipulates that Israel withdraw.

Salam told The New York Times, in remarks published Wednesday, that he had unsuccessfully urged Chairman of the ceasefire committee Major General Jasper Jeffers to pressure Israel to withdraw. Salam said he raised the issue with Jeffers for several months and reached no result.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi has said that “Bkirki believes that the solution for the file of Hezbollah’s arms should be through diplomacy and not armed confrontation.”

“This is what President Joseph Aoun has adopted and it is the right thing to do,” al-Rahi added, in an interview with An-Nahar newspaper.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea told Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his advisor that they do not have the right to interfere in Lebanese affairs, after Khamenei's adviser Ali Akbar Velayati said Wednesday that "Hezbollah’s presence has become more necessary to Lebanon than water and bread."

"Lebanon is an independent state with its own constitution, governed by a Lebanese authority that was democratically elected, and you have no right to interfere in its affairs," Geagea said.

United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said Thursday that uncertainty remains despite a ceasefire reached a year ago between Lebanon and Israel.

The ceasefire de-escalated two months of devastating hostilities and human suffering on both sides of the Blue Line, offered a ray of hope and raised expectations of more durable solutions, but uncertainty remains, Plasschaert said.

Rachelle Mazraani is travelling from Sydney to Beirut for Pope Leo XIV's visit this week, one of many Lebanese at home and abroad who hope the trip will revive their struggling country.

After visiting Turkey, Leo is to arrive in Lebanon on Sunday for a three-day trip that includes an open-air mass at Beirut's waterfront that organizers expect to draw 120,000 people.

By Asher Kaufman, Professor of History and Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame

An already troubled ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon is looking shakier than ever.

Lebanese officials have been informed that U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus will visit Lebanon on the day that follows Pope Leo’s trip to Lebanon, MTV and al-Akhbar newspaper have reported.

Informed officials sources meanwhile told the al-Joumhouria daily that Ortagus might be coming to take part in the Mechanism committee’s next meeting, ruling out any meetings for her with senior political officials.

Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Wednesday that “Hezbollah’s presence has become more necessary to Lebanon than water and bread.”

“Hezbollah has been a rescuer of the Lebanese people,” the adviser suggested.

In one afternoon, Amani Bazzi went from being a doting mother-of-four to a widow grieving three young children.

An Israeli strike in south Lebanon killed them as the family was returning home after having lunch with her parents.

Visiting Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty warned during an overnight dinner of a new Israeli war on Lebanon, MTV reported on Wednesday.

Abdelatty said that such a war will not be limited to aerial strikes, the TV network added.