President Joseph Aoun announced Wednesday that he has resorted to negotiations with Israel in order to “consolidate security and stability, especially in the South,” stressing that “negotiation does not mean surrender.”

“We are counting on the stances taken by U.S. President Donald Trump and his interest in the issue of peace, and we’re doing our part in this regard,” Aoun added, in a meeting with a delegation from the World Lebanese Cultural Union.

Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar headed to Bulgaria on Wednesday to question a shipowner wanted in connection with the catastrophic 2020 Beirut port blast, a judicial official told AFP.

The long-awaited questioning comes after a court this month refused Lebanon's request to extradite Igor Grechushkin, a 48-year-old Russian-Cypriot who was arrested in September at Sofia airport.

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea on Wednesday called on all MPs to boycott Thursday’s legislative session, while accusing Speaker Nabih Berri of “blackmailing the North’s MPs over the Qoleiat airport clause.”

Geagea also urged voters “who want expats to vote for the 128 seats at their places of residence abroad to pressure the MPs whom they voted for to boycott the session.”

Two Hezbollah members were killed Tuesday in two Israeli drone strikes in south Lebanon and the Chouf district, the Israeli army said.

In the Chouf district town of Sibline, near Sidon, around 40 kilometers from the nearest border with Israel, a pickup truck was targeted, resulting in the death of one person and the wounding of several others, Lebanese media reports said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. envoy Tom Barack discussed in their meeting on Monday a framework to “continue civil dialogue with Lebanon, with expectations that it will soon expand to additional areas,” diplomatic sources told the Israel Hayom newspaper.

Two weeks ago, a first meeting took place between Israeli and Lebanese civilian representatives, laying the groundwork for ongoing talks concerning both “preventing Hezbollah's re-armament and issues related to the border line and IDF (Israeli army) activity in Lebanese territory,” Israel Hayom said.

Despite the alarming reports published in the Israeli press, senior Lebanese officials do not seem to be worried, with “credible sources” telling al-Joumhouria newspaper that Lebanon is receiving many foreign signals that are downplaying the possibility of an Israeli strike.

Quoting a Western diplomat, the sources told the daily that “the Americans in specific do not want the situation in the Lebanon to slide into an escalation, at least in the current period.”

A senior Lebanese official has announced that Lebanon is “willing to reach a security agreement with Israel that would be based on the Lebanese principles on which the president, the speaker and the premier agree.”

Lebanon's judiciary approved the release on bail of former economy minister Amin Salam on Tuesday after six months of detention over corruption linked to contracts deemed suspicious, a judicial official said.

Salam, who served in the cabinet of former prime minister Najib Mikati from 2021 to 2025, is the only ex-minister to be arrested since the start of Lebanon's economic crisis in 2019.

An Israeli force made a 600-meter incursion Tuesday into the southern border town of Dhayra, planting booby-trapped empty ammunition boxes in the al-Sari neighborhood, the state-run National News Agency said.

U.S. envoy Tom Barrack agreed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in their meeting on Monday to “continue the dialogue regarding Lebanon,” diplomats told the Israel Hayom newspaper.

In a post on the X platform, Barrack said the meeting involved “constructive dialogue working towards regional peace and stability.”