Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea urged on Monday U.S. Vice President JD Vance to support the Lebanese state and separate the Lebanese negotiations from the U.S.-Iran talks.

Geagea argued that the best way the U.S. can support Lebanon right now is by reinforcing its legitimate institutions as the country's sole authority. He called for restricting all negotiations exclusively to the Lebanese state and permanently sidelining Iran from the Lebanese file, after the U.S. and Iran agreed to set up a "de-confliction cell" with Lebanon "to ensure the adherence of the termination of military operations" there.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri pledged on behalf of ally Hezbollah to make the region south of the Litani river weapon-free, if Israel commits this time to a ceasefire in Lebanon.

Berri told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, in remarks published Monday, that he supports a gradual withdrawal from south Lebanon based on districts and not "pilot zones" as he considered that dividing the region into pilot zones would be a waste of time and would slow down the Israeli withdrawal from the south.

President Joseph Aoun spoke with senior U.S. and Qatari officials on Monday about consolidating a ceasefire in Lebanon and forming a "de-confliction cell", his office said, after U.S.-Iran negotiations in Switzerland.

Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has repeatedly threatened to derail regional peace efforts.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has denied that his country sought to intervene militarily in Lebanon where Israel and Hezbollah are at war, after U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly suggested Damascus could get involved.

"We are looking for economic channels between Lebanon and Syria, not military ones," Sharaa said in an interview broadcast on television channel Al Mashhad.

There was cautious calm Monday in Lebanon, with no Israeli strikes reported overnight after a day of quiet Sunday.

Hezbollah likewise has not announced any attacks on Israeli forces since Saturday.

The dust has barely settled in Tyre after weeks of Israeli airstrikes on the ancient city along Lebanon's Mediterranean coast.

Despite the relative calm, life remains largely at a standstill.

Mourners gathered Sunday in Beirut to pay their respects to a much-loved Lebanese conservationist who died after succumbing to wounds sustained in an Israeli strike on her home on the country's southern coast.

Mona Khalil, who spent more than two decades protecting sea turtles along Lebanon's coastline, was critically injured in the strike on her home in the village of Mansouri earlier this month and died of her wounds Friday. She was 76.

Iran and the United States agreed Monday to set up communications lines to keep the vital Strait of Hormuz open and end fighting in Lebanon, mediators said, after their first round of talks in Switzerland toward ending the war in the Middle East.

The teams led by U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Iran's Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf opened talks Sunday, as part of a two-month negotiating period set out under a preliminary deal agreed last week.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog told Fox News that a peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon cannot be reached if Iran is “trying to squeeze themselves into this conflict” via the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group.

Some south Lebanon residents cautiously headed back to their hometowns on Sunday after fighting paused between Israel and Hezbollah the previous evening, even as Lebanon's army warned locals to delay returns.