Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has said Hezbollah's disarmament should only happen when Lebanon's rights are secured and the country is protected.

In an interview late on Sunday, Bassil stressed that indirect negotiations with Israel should give Lebanon its rights and "a just, permanent, and long-lasting peace". "What is important is that these negotiations don't lead to surrender, our airspace and land and sea borders are constantly violated, and our sovereignty is violated. When Lebanon regains its rights and when it is actually protected, there will no longer be a need for weapons."

President Joseph Aoun met Monday with Speaker Nabih Berri at the Baabda Palace.

Berri said after the meeting that the meetings with Aoun are "always excellent."

Speaker Nabih Berri on Monday accused Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea of attributing remarks to him about the issue of expat voting.

Eight violent Israeli airstrikes targeted open areas and valleys on Monday in the southern areas of al-Mahmoudiyeh and al-Jarmaq and the stream of the al-Khardali River in the Nabatieh district, the National News Agency said.

The blasts echoed across vast areas of the south and triggered forest blazes.

After a ceasefire reached in Gaza, Lebanese politicians called for the implementation of the Lebanon ceasefire amid almost daily strikes despite a deal reached between Lebanon and Israel in late November, almost a year ago.

President Joseph Aoun has called for indirect negotiations with Israel "to find solutions" as the ceasefire reached a dead-end, with Israel still attacking the country and occupying five hills in its south. Aoun’s initiative aims to urge the U.S. to step up and save the stalled negotiations, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said, in remarks published Monday in Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.

U.S. envoy Tom Barrack has urged Lebanon to act on the issue of Hezbollah’s disarmament, warning that there might be a “major confrontation” between Israel and Hezbollah if Beirut does not take serious steps.

The U.N. Security Council on Friday adopted a statement calling on Lebanon and Israel to respect the 2024 ceasefire agreement and for the instant implementation of U.N. resolutions 1559 and 1701, Al-Jazeera reported.

One person was killed in an Israeli drone strike Friday on a car in the southern town of Khirbet Selm.

The attack comes a day after Israel carried out fierce airstrikes across south Lebanon, in one of the heaviest bombing waves since the November ceasefire.

Senior military leaders from the United Nations and three countries gathered Oct. 15 in Naqoura, Lebanon for the 11th Pentalateral meeting where officials aligned priorities for “maintaining the cessation of hostilities in southern Lebanon and the disarmament of Lebanese Hezbollah,” the U.S. Central Command said.

“Military leaders from the United States, France, United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), and the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) discussed the LAF’s continued disarmament operations. The LAF has successfully removed nearly 10,000 rockets, almost 400 missiles, and over 205,000 unexploded ordnance fragments during the past year,” CENTCOM said in a statement.

The Health Ministry announced overnight that nine new Tannourine mineral water samples taken from the Lebanese market have tested free of bacteria.

The Ministry however noted that it is yet to receive the results of tests conducted on water samples taken from the company’s production line.