Hezbollah MP Ali Fayad warned Monday that “the military, political and financial pressures that Lebanon is facing are expected to escalate,” noting that some sides mistakenly think that “their escalation will push the Lebanese people to surrender.”

A list backed by most political parties won all 24 seats of Beirut's municipality on Sunday, maintaining Christian-Muslim parity on the capital’s municipal council.

Political rivals such as Hezbollah and the Lebanese Forces came together to form the list, arguing that such a temporary coalition was necessary to preserve equal Christian-Muslim power-sharing.

President Joseph Aoun met Monday with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at the Heliopolis Palace in Cairo, a day after he attended the inauguration Mass of the new Pope Leo XIV in Vatican City.

In Rome, Aoun held talks with Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

An Israeli drone strike on Sunday targeted Renault Rapid car near an army checkpoint in the southern town of Beit Yahoun, wounding two people including a soldier, the Health Ministry said.

Lebanon held the third round of municipal and mayoral elections on Sunday, amid concerns over Christian representation in Beirut’s municipal council.

An Israeli drone strike targeted a car Saturday on the road of the southern town of al-Zrariyeh in the Tyre district, killing one person.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has said that Lebanon “has managed to pave the way for a promising new start, despite all the difficulties that the project of rebuilding confidence and the course of reform are facing.”

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri linked Friday the Israeli escalation in south Lebanon to the push for normalizing relations between Israel and the Arab world, days after U.S. President Donald Trump said Syria's president backed normalization with Israel in the future.

Trump had said after meeting the Syrian interim President that Ahmad al-Sharaa backed normalization with Israel in the future but "they have a lot of work to do". The meeting took place in Riyadh on Wednesday, a day after Trump announced he was lifting sanctions on the war-battered country.

The army on Friday announced that it has so far arrested 86 people who were involved in firing weapons in the air in connection with the municipal and mayoral elections, while also seizing arms and ammunition.

U.S. Deputy Special Envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus will return to Lebanon in around a week, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Friday.