Lebanon and Cyprus on Wednesday signed a treaty to demarcate their maritime border, with the Cypriot president calling it a “strategic achievement that sends a strong message.”

The treaty ends an almost 20-year impasse that had stalled some oil and gas exploration in the Mediterranean Sea, as Europe seeks alternatives to Russian fuel.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi has said that Israel's occupation of five hills in south Lebanon is obstructing Hezbollah's disarmament, as he called for unity among Christians and for keeping Lebanon out from regional conflicts.

In an interview Tuesday with al-Jadeed, al-Rahi praised President Joseph Aoun and Army chief Rodolphe Haykal. "Aoun is making diplomatic efforts and Haykal is doing a great job," he said, explaining that he is against pressuring the army to disarm Hezbollah by force.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday warned there would be "no calm" in Lebanon if Israel's security was not guaranteed, as Israeli forces intensify operations despite a year-old ceasefire with Hezbollah.

"We will not allow any threats against the inhabitants of the north, and maximum enforcement will continue and even intensify," Katz told the Israeli parliament.

Pope Leo XIV told journalists Tuesday at Castel Gandolfo in Italy that he is "very happy to be able to visit Lebanon."

Leo XIV said that Israel's strike on Beirut's southern suburb this weekend is a serious cause for concern, urging everyone to find ways to abandon the use of weapons as a means of solving problems.

One year after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, the Israeli army still maintains five positions in south Lebanon, with fortifications and widened access routes, according to satellite images analyzed by AFP.

The November 27, 2024 truce, which sought to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, required Israel to fully withdraw troops from Lebanon within 60 days.

Pope Leo XIV is embarking on his first foreign trip, a pilgrimage to Turkey and Lebanon that would be delicate under any circumstances but is even more fraught given Mideast tensions and the media glare that will document history's first American pope on the road.

Leo is fulfilling a trip Pope Francis planned to make, to mark an important anniversary with the Orthodox church in Turkey. In Lebanon, he'll try to boost a long-suffering Christian community as well as Lebanese of all faiths who are still demanding justice over the 2020 Beirut port blast.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty met Wednesday in Beirut with President Joseph Aoun, as Israel escalated its attacks on Lebanon.

After the meeting, Abdelatty said Egypt would not spare any effort to prevent an escalation in Lebanon and voiced his country's support for Lebanon and President Aoun and for the government's decision to disarm Hezbollah.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said that Lebanon is at a crossroad and has now a chance to draw a path to prosperity and stability.

In a letter sent to President Joseph Aoun, on the occasion of Lebanon's Independence Day, Trump said he hopes to "deepen the U.S. partnership" with Lebanon.

The U.N. Security Council will visit Syria and Lebanon next week, the Slovenian mission said Tuesday, as it looks to chair the council starting in December.

The ambassadors for 15 member states are set to visit Damascus on December 4, a few days before the first anniversary of the ouster of Syria's longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.

Lebanese Forces MP Georges Adwan criticized Tuesday Prime Minister Nawaf Salam for taking ten days to sign an urgent draft law -- that allows a large Lebanese diaspora to vote for the 128 seats in the upcoming parliamentary elections -- and ten other days to send it to parliament.

Earlier this month, cabinet approved to send the draft law demanding the amendment to Parliament, after Speaker Nabih Berri refused to discuss it in a legislative session, prompting the LF and Kataeb MPs to boycott it.