President Joseph Aoun said Thursday that Lebanon is determined to disarm Hezbollah, a step it has come under heavy U.S. pressure to take, with the Iran-backed group insisting that doing so would serve Israeli goals.

Hezbollah and Israel recently fought an all-out war that left the militant group badly weakened, though it retains part of its arsenal.

Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem on Wednesday reiterated his stance that the ceasefire agreement reached with Israel in November “was exclusively for the South Litani area” and not the rest of the country, while stressing that the issue of disarmament is a “domestic matter.”

Extremist Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said Wednesday that the Israeli army will not withdraw from the five points that it occupied in south Lebanon.

U.S. ambassador to Lebanon nominee Michel Issa, who is of Lebanese origins, has appeared before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a hearing on pending nominations.

The Israeli army has published stats about its attacks in Lebanon since the end of its September-November war against Hezbollah and the entry into force of the ceasefire agreement.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has slammed “some in the country who deliberately launching a scare campaign about an all-out war on Lebanon.”

UNIFIL said Tuesday that it welcomes the conclusion of the trial process and the Government of Lebanon’s commitment to bring the perpetrators to justice, after Lebanon’s Permanent Military Court found guilty six of the individuals charged in the killing of Irish peacekeeper Private Seán Rooney in Al-Aqbieh in December 2022.

"Since the attack, UNIFIL has extended its full support to both Lebanese and Irish authorities with their respective judicial proceedings," the statement said.

The Lebanese Army announced that it has dismantled a terrorist cell consisting of Lebanese, Syrian and Iraqi citizens.

One person has been killed and four others wounded in an Israeli drone strike Wednesday on the southern town of Bint Jbeil.

Israel has kept up its strikes on Lebanon despite a November ceasefire that sought to end over a year of hostilities with Hezbollah, including two months of all-out war.

President Joseph Aoun called Tuesday for unity in Lebanon, saying that the Lebanese's greatest sin is dealing with foreign countries against each other.

"Let us draw strength from our unity," he said, hours before he left Beirut to Algeria for a two-day visit.