When engineer Tarek Mazraani started campaigning for the reconstruction of war-battered southern Lebanon, Israeli drones hovered ominously overhead -- their loudspeakers sometimes calling him out by name.

Despite a ceasefire struck last November aiming to put an end to more than a year of fighting with Hezbollah, Israel has kept up near-daily strikes on Lebanon.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri urged Wednesday the ceasefire monitoring committee and member states (the U.S. and France) to stop Israel's attacks and occupation, and called on the Lebanese to stay united in the face of the Israeli aggression.

Despite a ceasefire reached in November last year, Israel has kept up its near-daily attacks on south and east Lebanon and is occupying five hills it deems "strategic" in the south.

Saudi Arabia has advised Lebanon to quickly finalize the monopolization of weapons in the country and go to “direct negotiations” with Israel, Gulf diplomatic sources said.

“The alternative will be costly and in the form of a destructive new Israeli war or a complete shunning of Lebanon by the Arab world and the West,” the sources warned, in remarks to the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper.

The Israeli army has accused Hezbollah of seeking to rebuild its combat abilities in south Lebanon.

Military spokesman Nadav Shoshani also accused Hezbollah of operating south of the Litani River in violation of the ceasefire agreement.

The Lebanese Army has completed 95 percent of a plan to disarm Hezbollah south of the Litani river, official sources told al-Binaa newspaper.

Since a ceasefire was reached with Israel last year, the United States has increased pressure on Lebanese authorities to disarm Hezbollah.

The Israeli army is “prepared for several days of combat in Lebanon” and the issue is “a matter of time,” Israeli reports have quoted a senior Israeli military official as saying.

Concerns have meanwhile surfaced in the Israeli press over Hezbollah’s possible response to any operation in Lebanon.

All-out war between Israel and Hezbollah is ruled out in the foreseeable future, unless Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decides to commit a “foolishness that he might need before the Israeli elections,” political sources said.

“But the current situation is the best for Israel, because it is waging war and achieving several goals without incurring human and material costs, and because any all-out war might push Hezbollah to respond and threaten the security of the (Israeli) north, after Netanyahu’s government said that it waged war on Lebanon to restore security in the settlements,” the sources told al-Binaa newspaper.

Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem on Tuesday reassured Israel over the “security” of its northern settlements, as he warned it against continuing its attacks in Lebanon.

“Israel and America want to interfere in Lebanon's future -- in its army, economy and policies. They are exerting pressure because they believe that the (ceasefire) agreement gives Lebanon gains,” said Qassem in a televised speech marking Hezbollah’s ‘Martyr Day’.

A high-ranking U.S. Treasury delegation that visited Beirut Monday pushed Lebanese officials to crack down on the flow of funding to Hezbollah. Local and western media outlets reported a list of demands conveyed by the delegation.

1. Shutting down Hezbollah-affiliated al-Qard al-Hasan, a nonprofit organization operating outside the Lebanese financial system as a quasi-bank.

Hezbollah saw “fundamental gaps” in the latest Egyptian proposal, considering it “closer to the Israeli-U.S. vision regarding the situation in the South, although it carried a single clause that can be considered attractive for Hezbollah, which is keeping its arms in the North Litani region,” sources linked to Hezbollah said.

In remarks to An-Nahar newspaper, the sources said Cairo had proposed that Hezbollah declare handing over all its arms in the South Litani region and disclose any secret depots or bases there. Egypt had also proposed that the group announce that it does not intend to attack Israel after which weapons north of the Litani would enter a so-called “strategic dormancy” state.