An Israeli military official has said that “there is a chance to create a better situation in Lebanon and Syria if it does not get wasted due to hatred.”

People are buying water by the truckload in Beirut as the state supply faces its worst shortages in years, with the leaky public sector struggling after record-low rainfall and local wells running dry.

Lebanese leaders firmly rejected any efforts at foreign interference during a visit by Iran's security chief Wednesday, with the prime minister saying Beirut would "tolerate neither tutelage nor diktat" after Tehran voiced opposition to plans to disarm Hezbollah.

The uncharacteristically blunt remarks hinted at a changed balance of power in a country where Iran has long wielded substantial influence by funding and arming Hezbollah.

Army Commander General Rodolph Haykal has told Speaker Nabih Berri that he does not want to clash with Hezbollah, in a meeting Tuesday at Ain el-Tineh, pro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar newpaper reported.

Al-Akhbar said Wednesday that it has learned from prominent sources that the meeting with Berri was "positive" and that Haykal has told both Berri and Hezbollah that Hezbollah's disarmament requires dialogue and understanding and that the disarmament plan "cannot be implemented by force."

Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal is likely to take part in the cabinet session that will be held in late August to present the details of the arms monopolization plan, which will be based on “positive understanding rather than confrontation, through a gradual course for addressing the file of arms,” informed sources said.

Israel and the U.S. have agreed to the one-year renewal of UNIFIL’s mandate for one last time, but under “strict conditions, including granting these forces powers similar to those mentioned in Chapter VII (of the U.N. Charter), such as staging raids, arresting individuals and erecting checkpoints,” al-Akhbar newspaper quoted unnamed sources as saying.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council chief Ali Larijani advised the Lebanese to preserve the resistance and accused the United States of "ordering" the Lebanese government to implement "a foreign plan", as he met Wednesday with President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

Larijani's visit to Lebanon comes after the Lebanese government ordered the army to devise plans to disarm Hezbollah.

President Joseph Aoun told Iran's visiting security chief on Wednesday that he rejected any interference in the country's internal affairs, branding as "unconstructive" Iran's statements on plans to disarm Hezbollah.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has stressed that “Iran is a friend of Lebanon and will remain so based on its active role in the region.”

Iran's top security chief vowed in Lebanon on Wednesday that his government would continue to provide support, after the Lebanese government ordered the army to devise a plan to disarm Tehran-backed Hezbollah.

Ali Larijani's trip to Lebanon comes after Iran expressed opposition to a government plan to disarm Hezbollah, which before a war with Israel last year was believed to be better armed than the Lebanese military.