U.S. envoy Tom Barrack on Saturday called on Lebanese leaders to seize what he called a "historic moment" to achieve reforms and the disarmament of armed groups, days before his second visit to the country to receive Lebanon's response to a U.S.-proposed paper.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Saturday ordered authorities to arrest several gunmen who had paraded Friday with their rifles at a Ashoura rally in Beirut's Zokak al-Blat area.

In a post on the X platform, Salam said armed parades in Beirut are "unacceptable in any way and under any justification."

President Joseph Aoun on Friday denied the reports about the alleged entry of armed groups from Syria into Lebanon and the reports about mobilization for incursions from Syria.

The French foreign ministry said Friday that Paris is communicating with Washington over Lebanon and that “the November agreement must be implemented with all its stipulations.”

A U.S. paper that was presented to Lebanon’s government with specific objectives and timelines on how to disarm Hezbollah and fix the economy "is not acceptable as it is" to Hezbollah, according to sources close to the group.

The sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper, in remarks published Friday, that Hezbollah's disarmament cannot happen through the "carrots and sticks" approach or through threats and pressure.

Free Patriotic Movement leader Jebran Bassil said Friday there should be a quid pro quo for Hezbollah's disarmament after he met President Joseph Aoun in Baabda.

According to Bassil, it goes without saying that Israel must in return withdraw from occupied Lebanese territories, halt its attacks and its exploitation of Lebanese natural resources - including water, oil, and gas.

U.S. envoy Tom Barrack has called the ceasefire that ended the war between Israel and the Hezbollah in November “a total failure” because Israel is still bombing Lebanon and Hezbollah is accused of violating the agreement’s terms.

Hezbollah members and supporters held a funeral Thursday in Beirut's southern suburbs for the former bodyguard and head of security of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the group's longtime leader.

Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli strike in south Beirut last year, while his former bodyguard Abou Ali Khalil was killed in Iran during last month's Israel-Iran war, along with his son Mahdi.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced Thursday sanctions on seven senior officials and one entity associated with the Hezbollah-controlled financial institution Al-Qard Al-Hassan.

The U.S. Treasury said the seven officials have served in senior management roles for Al-Qard Al-Hassan and have facilitated the evasion of U.S. sanctions, enabling Hezbollah’s access to the formal financial system. "Today’s action underscores Treasury’s commitment to disrupting Hezbollah’s sanctions evasion schemes and supporting efforts by the new Lebanese government to limit the terrorist group’s influence, particularly as entities like AQAH continue to undermine the already fragile Lebanese economy," the U.S. Department of the Treasury said.

An Israeli drone targeted Thursday a car on the Khaldeh highway at Beirut’s southern entrance, as the Israeli army said it hit a "terrorist" working for Iran.

The Israeli army said it "eliminated a terrorist responsible for smuggling weapons and advancing terror attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops, on behalf of the Iranian Quds Force", the foreign operations arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.