Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has lauded the Christian residents of the southern border towns for “clinging to the 10,452 square kilometers,” in the wake of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that they had asked to be annexed to Israel.

The United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jean Arnault, began Tuesday an official visit to Israel, his office said.

He is scheduled to meet with senior Israeli officials for discussions on “the importance of consolidating the cessation of hostilities and the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701 (2006),” the office said in a statement.

The next round of negotiations between Israel and Lebanon will be held next week in Rome, Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter said.

The talks will take place on July 14 and 15, Leiter said Monday in an interview, adding that President Joseph Aoun will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on July 21.

The Israeli army shelled Monday evening into Tuesday several southern border towns including Houla, Deir Seryan, Touline, Qabrikha and al-Qantara.

Forces also detonated houses in Haddatha, Beit Yahoun, and al-Qantaa.

Speaker Nabih Berri on Monday praised the statements issued by the heads of municipal councils and religious leaders in southern border villages and towns, particularly the Christian ones in the districts of Marjeyoun and Bint Jbeil.

He specifically mentioned the statement issued by the municipality of Rmeish, which "rejected, denied, and refuted the false claims made by the Israeli Prime Minister regarding the desire of the residents of these villages to be annexed to the occupying Israeli entity."

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Monday addressed Druze chieftain Walid Jumblat by saying that “history does not move backward,” in an ongoing spat between the two leaders over the 1949 Armistice Agreement with Israel.

“There is no doubt that the Armistice Agreement was indeed the basis between the State of Lebanon and Israel. But, unfortunately, we allowed it to collapse, and we trampled it underfoot, from 1964 until today, making it seem as if it no longer exists,” Geagea wrote on X.

MP Hassan Fadlallah of Hezbollah on Monday lauded the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Nabil Fahmy, for his stance against Israel’s demolition of a residential neighborhood in the southern town of Bint Jbeil.

“Meanwhile, the Lebanese authorities maintain a suspicious silence, after having granted the occupation legitimacy for its continued presence and aggressive practices, and preventing its legal prosecution through their ill-fated agreement," Fadlallah said.

An Israeli strike on a car in the country's south on Monday killed four people, including three women, despite a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) said a school principal, her mother, a foreign female domestic worker and a male Syrian worker were killed when "an Israeli drone targeted the car" they were travelling in as they returned from inspecting their family home in Nabatieh al-Fawqa.

President Joseph Aoun has said he is "not fond of Israel," while noting that direct negotiations with it are the only way to pull Lebanon out of war and hostilities.

"I tell you, I am not fond of Israel, but give me another solution, whatever it may be, and I will proceed with it," Aoun told a group of journalists, according to Al-Jadeed TV.

On the occasion of America's 250th Independence Day, President Joseph Aoun sent a congratulatory telegram to U.S. President Donald Trump, wishing him and the American people "continued success, prosperity, and further progress."