U.S. envoy Tom Barrack’s latest shocking remarks came after a series of consultations within the team that works closely with U.S. President Donald Trump, a Lebanese source informed on the ongoing deliberations in Washington said.

Lebanese figures who contacted Barrack “sensed that he is facing a harsh campaign of criticism from U.S. sides that adopt the Israeli point of view,” the source told al-Akhbar newspaper.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei has marked the first anniversary of the assassination of Hezbollah’s former secretary general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, calling him a “great wealth for the Islamic world.”

“He was not just for Shiites or Lebanon. He was a wealth for the whole Islamic world,” Khamenei said. “He is gone, but the wealth he created remains,” he added.

An association close to Hezbollah has submitted a request to organize a rally facing the Raouche Rock in commemoration of Hezbollah’s slain leaders Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine and the request has been approved by Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud, Al-Jadeed TV reported on Wednesday.

The association, however, was asked to pledge not to illuminate the rock with the images of Nasrallah and Safieddine and not to exceed 500 participants, the TV network added.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has blasted “the strong opposition that Hezbollah is showing for any cooperation for the rise of the state,” adding that “this is what’s obstructing and delaying everything in Lebanon.”

An Israeli drone crashed into the headquarters of the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon but didn't cause any casualties, the force said in a statement Wednesday.

The force, known as UNIFIL, said that by flying drones over Lebanon Israel was violating a U.N. Security Council resolution that helped end the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war. Resolution 1701, which was first approved in 2006 to end a previous round of fighting, calls for both sides to respect the other's airspace.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, like many other Lebanese, was surprised by U.S. Ambassador Tom Barrack's recent comments which questioned the Lebanese government's commitment to disarm Hezbollah following the November 2024 ceasefire with Israel.

In an interview with Sky News Arabia, Barrack had said "the Lebanese, and I don't mean this in a disrespectful way, all they do is talk", claiming that there is no real action on Hezbollah's disarmament.

As world leaders convened in the annual meeting of presidents, prime ministers and monarchs at the United Nations General Assembly with a plea to choose peace over war, President Joseph Aoun called on the General Assembly to stand with Lebanon.

"The Lebanese experience has taught me that there is no development without peace, no peace without justice, and no justice without human rights," Aoun said, as he called for an immediate halt of Israeli aggression on Lebanon, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from occupied Lebanese territory, the release of Lebanese prisoners held in Israel, and a full implementation of U.N. Resolution 1701.

The EU has condemned the Israeli drone strike that killed several civilians including children on Sunday in southern Lebanon’s Bint Jbeil, noting that the incident followed an “escalation” of Israeli attacks and evacuation warnings.

One year after a devastating war with Israel dealt massive blows to Hezbollah, the Iran-backed movement is still managing to pay its fighters and fund its social services.

The killing of its longtime leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli strike on September 27 last year left the Shiite group reeling, yet it has maintained cohesion under his successor, Sheikh Naim Qassem.

A Paris court will rule this week whether former French president Nicolas Sarkozy accepted illegal campaign financing from late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, after his key accuser died on Tuesday in Beirut.