President Joseph Aoun on Wednesday said Lebanon has “made the decision to negotiate to avoid the devastation and tragedies caused by war.”

“While negotiations are not easy or quick, and there are obstacles and difficulties, they remain far better than war,” Aoun stressed.

The Israeli army has imposed restrictions on the movement of residents of three besieged Christian towns in southern Lebanon, designating a specific route for travel to and from the rest of the country, limited to the southern border town of Naqoura.

As extreme heat fuels wildfires worldwide this summer, Lebanese officials and residents have accused Israel's military of systematically sparking blazes that have burnt swathes of forest and farmland in the country's south.

In the village of Shaqra, Haidar Qoteish, 36, says he has watched fires devour fields and orchards in his hometown of Houla, just five kilometers away but under Israeli military control.

The battle against Hezbollah has not ended yet and the group suffered major damage but is still present as an organization, an Israeli military source said.

President Joseph Aoun has contacted the U.S. administration to find a solution for the strategic Ali Taher hill, in order to prevent any escalation of the situation, Qatar’s al-Araby al-Jadeed news portal reported.

The Israeli army targeted multiple towns across southern Lebanon overnight into Wednesday, including Hadatha, al-Qantara, al-Mansouri, Ali al-Taher, and Kfar Remman.

Israeli forces were also burning, bulldozing and detonating lands and houses in Bouyout al-Siyed, Majdalzoun, Serbine, Bani Hayan, al-Khiam and Markaba.

Israeli attacks on Lebanon have not stopped because Hezbollah has not surrendered its weapons, American Ambassador Michel Issa said Wednesday as he visited Dar al-Fatwa.

"Hezbollah does not want to do anything, so why do we ask Israel to do everything? Why do you only ask Israel to withdraw, and you don't ask Hezbollah to disarm?" he asked after he met Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel Latif Derian.

Lebanese authorities have granted former Iranian ambassador Mohammad Reza Sheibani a six-month legal residency permit in Lebanon as an "Iranian citizen, not a diplomat," months after the Lebanese Foreign Ministry declared Sheibani persona non grata and demanded his departure from the country within 72 hours, an announcement that he defied with backing from Hezbollah and the Amal Movement.

A security source told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper that General Security chief Hassan Shqeir “proposed granting him residency, based on the legal powers that authorize him to do so, and informed the relevant political authorities (the president, the PM and interior minister) before signing the residency permit.”

An Israeli military source on Monday criticized the Lebanese Army’s performance in the so-called pilot zones in south Lebanon, noting that “it has not entered private property” there and that its search operations are “partial.”

President Joseph Aoun noted Monday that the Prophet’s Birthday holiday comes this year “as Lebanon faces grave challenges, from repeated Israeli attacks against its sovereignty, land and sons in the South and the various regions, to economic and living crises that are still burdening its citizens.”