President Joseph Aoun has said that Lebanon is still awaiting “the final Israeli response” to the Lebanese paper that was carried to Israel by U.S. envoy Tom Barrack.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil said during an FPM dinner in the al-Zahrani region that “every martyr who fell” in the South “did not only fall in defense of the South, but rather entire Lebanon.”

President Joseph Aoun reassured Friday that the situation on the Lebanese-Syrian border is under control and that the Lebanese Army maintains “full readiness” there.

The army is “performing its missions competently and keenly, in order to spread calm and serenity among the people,” Aoun added, in a meeting with ex-MP Emile Rahme.

President Joseph Aoun’s adviser Brig. Gen. Andre Rahal met Friday in Beirut’s southern suburbs with MP Mohammad Raad, the head of Hezbollah’s Loyalty to Resistance bloc.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea made a solidarity visit to Prime Minister Nawaf Salam at the Grand Serail on Friday, in the wake of the campaign launched against the premier over the government’s latest decisions on the disarmament of all armed groups in the country.

One person was killed Friday in an Israeli drone strike on the southern border town of Aita al-Shaab, the Health Ministry said.

Despite a ceasefire reached in late November, Israel has kept carrying out almost daily strikes on Lebanon, especially on its south.

Armed Palestinian groups in Lebanese refugee camps will start handing over their weapons to the authorities on Thursday, a joint committee said, following a deal reached in May.

"Today marks the beginning of the first phase of the process of handing over weapons from inside the Palestinian camps," Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee chairman Ramez Dimashkieh said in a statement.

Kataeb leader Sami Gemayel met Thursday with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, as Lebanon plans to disarm Hezbollah under U.S. pressure.

A harsh critic of Hezbollah, Gemayel said he rejects the marginalization of the Shiite community. "We want the Shia community to be a partner in building the new Lebanon, and this is a red line for us."

President Joseph Aoun stressed Thursday that “the decision taken by Cabinet on arms monopoly has been informed to all brotherly and friendly countries and the U.N.”

“Lebanon is committed to implementing it in a manner that preserves the interest of all Lebanese,” Aoun added, in a Baabda meeting with Arab League Assistant Secretary-General Hossam Zaki.

Israeli civilian Salah Abu Hussein, who had been jailed in Lebanon for the past year, was returned to Israel today, Thursday, Israel's government said.