President Joseph Aoun affirmed Tuesday that his actions are in the interest of "all Lebanese, not just a specific group," and that the path of negotiations is "the only remaining option after all other solutions, including war, have been exhausted."

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil met Tuesday in Ain el-Tineh with Speaker Nabih Berri.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Tuesday responded to Hezbollah's repeated announcements that it is not concerned with any direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel and subsequently by their outcome.

Hezbollah on Monday claimed a series of attacks on Israeli military targets in south Lebanon that it said were in response to "the Israeli enemy's violation of the ceasefire."

The state-run National News Agency (NNA) meanwhile reported Israeli air strikes on more than 20 south Lebanon locations, some of them towns where the Israeli military earlier Monday told residents to evacuate.

Israel intends to intensify its attacks on Hezbollah, Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said Monday, as an Israeli security official insisted that, "contrary to the impression" that Israel’s hands are tied, “Hezbollah will be hit in places it did not think" Israel would reach.

A branch of the Catholic church expressed deep concern Monday over reports that Israel was demolishing civilian and religious buildings in parts of southern Lebanon under its control, following claims that a convent had been bulldozed.

The Council of Melkite Greek Catholic Bishops in Lebanon urged the Lebanese government and the United Nations to protect the property of civilians and religious institutions in southern Lebanon, citing in particular the village of Yaroun where officials said Israeli troops destroyed a Melkite convent earlier this month among other demolition. The bishops called the destruction of buildings, after residents of the area had evacuated, a "deep wound in the national and human conscience."

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam noted Monday that the country has been placed on "a new path," and that implementing the Beirut demilitarization decision will take "weeks and months" but will be eventually implemented.

President Joseph Aoun said on Monday that a security deal and an end to Israeli attacks were needed before any meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sought by Washington.

Aoun's office said in a statement that the president "reiterated his view that the timing is not appropriate now for a meeting" with Netanyahu, and quoted Aoun as saying: "We must first reach a security agreement and stop the Israeli attacks on us before we raise the issue of a meeting between us."

Israeli police on Monday warned people not to defy the cancelation of a major pilgrimage near the border with Lebanon, scrapped because of hostilities with Hezbollah, while local media reported thousands had gathered at the site.

Fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah is ongoing in southern Lebanon despite a ceasefire in effect since mid-April.

Hezbollah said its forces clashed with Israeli soldiers on Monday in south Lebanon near the border where its troops are still operating, despite a ceasefire since April 17.

Hezbollah in a statement said that after Israeli troops attempted to advance near the town of Deir Seryan -- which is inside the Israeli-declared "yellow line" where Lebanese residents have been told not to return -- its fighters "opened fire on the enemy force and engaged in heavy clashes with them".