After talks with U.S. President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened senior security chiefs to “present the understandings reached in Washington and review intelligence efforts, attack planning, and readiness for a possible strike in Lebanon,” Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper has reported.

Netanyahu presented “the understandings and agreements reached in Washington regarding the continued freedom of action for Israel across all arenas: Iran, Lebanon, Gaza, Syria, Yemen and the West Bank,” it said.

Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah on Wednesday lashed out at Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji over the latter’s latest remarks on Hezbollah.

“It is clear that as a militiaman who took part in civil war against the Lebanese people, he does not differentiate between his belonging to the (Lebanese Forces’ now-defunct) Military Council and his membership of the Council of Ministers,” Fadlallah said, in response to a reporter’s question.

President Joseph Aoun and First Lady Nehmat Aoun left Beirut Wednesday for Cyprus to take part in a ceremony marking Nicosia’s assumption of the presidency of the EU for the next six months.

The Presidency said the ceremony will be an occasion for a number of meetings with heads of state and participating delegations.

One person was killed and another wounded in an Israeli drone strike that targeted Wednesday a car in south Lebanon, hours after a meeting of the committee monitoring a year-long ceasefire.

Israel has intensified its strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon in recent days, saying it has struck targets from both the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group and its Palestinian ally Hamas.

Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji has said that the government’s “top priority” is Hezbollah’s disarmament, noting that the government took six months to reach a firm decision on undertaking this task.

“It was late, but the government is committed,” Rajji said in a Zoom interview with The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

The United States Embassy in Beirut said Wednesday that it welcomes the reform steps undertaken by Prime Minister Nawaf Salam's government, including the Cabinet’s approval of the gap law.

In a statement, the embassy said the gap law would help restore the confidence of international financial institutions, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, in the Lebanese economy and support its recovery.

By Kamran Talattof, University of Arizona

A familiar slogan has echoed through the streets of various Iranian cities in recent days: "Neither Gaza nor Lebanon, I sacrifice my life for Iran."

The ceasefire monitoring committee, which includes representatives from the United States, France, Lebanon, Israel and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), met Wednesday in Naqoura in south Lebanon.

The meeting was only military and was not attended by civilian representatives. Last month, Lebanon and Israel appointed the first civilians to lead their delegations to the ceasefire monitoring committee, after a request from the United States.

President Joseph Aoun told visiting U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix that Lebanon welcomes any country wishing to maintain forces in the south after UNIFIL's withdrawal in 2027.

"These forces will assist the Lebanese army, which will be increasing its personnel in the coming weeks," Aoun said Wednesday after he met Lacroix.

Israeli strikes on south Lebanon killed two people on Tuesday as Israel said it targeted Hezbollah operatives, a day before a new meeting of the committee monitoring a year-long ceasefire.

Israel has intensified its strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon in recent days, saying it has struck targets from both the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group and its Palestinian ally Hamas.