Security forces arrested five Hezbollah members on Tuesday on the outskirts of Batroun and Bsharri. The five men reportedly had papers and maps, which they managed to tear up before their arrest.

Journalist Riad Tawk reported in a video published by Beirut Time that the documents contained lists of locations across the Koura, Batroun, and Bsharri districts, as well as references to weapons, including sniper rifles.

A former member of the Iraqi parliament who spent over a decade in prison in his home country was found dead in a Beirut apartment days after arriving in Lebanon, Lebanese security and judicial officials said Tuesday.

The officials said Ahmed al-Alwani arrived in Beirut flying in from the northern Iraqi city of Irbil five days ago. Al-Alwani had reserved a room at a hotel in Beirut's commercial Hamra district, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

The United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said on Tuesday that one of its patrols came under fire in the country's south, without saying who was responsible.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stressed Tuesday that Lebanon is a sovereign country and that Washington would not negotiate with Iran over it.

“Why would we negotiate Lebanon with Iran? What does Iran have to do with Lebanon? I mean they can claim whatever they want, but Lebanon is a sovereign country,” said Rubio in response to a reporter’s questions.

G7 foreign ministers agreed on "the need to avoid a security void" in Lebanon after U.N. peacekeepers pull out, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Tuesday after a meeting of the group in Paris.

Lebanon on Tuesday began new talks with the International Monetary Fund on a bailout to help the country emerge from the worst economic crisis in its history, with progress stalled by its inability to pass banking reforms.

Speaker Nabih Berri has rejected any political targeting of the army and its commander, General Rodolphe Haykal, emphasizing that "this act is a crime and a grave sin."

"As I have previously affirmed on more than one occasion, the army is a red line," he added, in remarks to al-Joumhouria newspaper published Tuesday.

Defense Minister Michel Menassa voiced Tuesday his support for the army, which he said has been recently targeted.

"All the army asks is that no Lebanese — intentionally or unintentionally — stabs it in the back or undermines its sacrifices and the blood of its martyrs," Menassa's office said in a statement.

The head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc MP Mohammad Raad has said that it is “deeply regrettable” that some Lebanese still maintain “their racist and factional mentality, hoping to monopolize power in their country.”

In an op-ed in al-Akhbar newspaper marking Hezbollah’s “Martyr Day”, Raad said those Lebanese parties are “delusionally expecting support from the Zionist occupiers and their tyrannical American backer.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday to discuss security arrangements in southern Lebanon before the U.N. peacekeeper mandate expires on Dec. 31.

The talks focused on replacing the current peacekeeping force with a lighter monitoring system.