President Joseph Aoun met overnight in New York with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on the sidelines of the annual U.N. General Assembly meetings.

A Presidency statement said Aoun asked Rubio for U.S. assistance in “asserting Israel’s commitment to the clauses of the November 27, 2024 declaration for the cessation of hostilities in south Lebanon, its withdrawal from the points it is occupying, the return of the Lebanese captives held by it, and the implementation of Resolution 1701 with all its stipulations, especially that the Lebanese side has not carried out any violation of this agreement.”

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced Monday that he ordered the relevant authorities to prohibit the unauthorized use of the country’s touristic sites, after Hezbollah sparked controversy by announcing that it would briefly illuminate Lebanon’s iconic Raouche Rock with the images of slain leaders Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine.

“Today, I issued a circular to all public administrations and institutions, municipalities, their unions, and all relevant agencies, regarding commitment to enforcing the laws governing the use of public land and sea properties, archaeological and touristic sites, official buildings, and landmarks that carry a unifying national symbolism,” Salam said in a post on X.

As peace along the Blue Line remains a “shared aspiration,” Lebanese officials and local leaders joined UNIFIL peacekeepers today, Monday in marking the International Day of Peace, which fell on Sunday, September 21, at the U.N. mission’s headquarters in Naqoura, UNIFIL said.

Next year will be “decisive” and Israel will “intervene in Lebanon” if no “practical measures” are taken against Hezbollah’s arms, an Israeli security source said on Monday.

“If Hezbollah is not disarmed, Israel will expand its activities inside Lebanon,” the source told Saudi Arabia’s Al-Arabiya television.

U.S. envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, has said that everything Lebanon is doing is talk without real action.

He told Sky News Arabia in an interview Sunday, that Israel will not withdraw from the five occupied points and that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doesn't care about borders or red lines if he feels Israel is threatened.

Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem stressed Friday that Hezbollah’s “resistance” will continue, despite the mounting Israeli and U.S. pressure.

“Israel is the danger and not the resistance,” Qassem said in a televised address marking one year since the assassination of nearly the entire command of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Unit in an Israeli airstrike that also killed around 50 civilians.

U.S. envoy Morgan Ortgus will pressure the Lebanese army command to accelerate the implementation of its plan to disarm Hezbollah north and south of the Litani River as she visits Lebanon this weekend, media reports said Friday.

Al-Binaa said that, according to sources, Ortgus will arrive Saturday in Lebanon to meet with the five-member ceasefire monitoring committee -- France, the U.S., Lebanon, Israel, and the UNIFIL -- over the disarmament plan and its implementation. She will not meet with Lebanese leaders and politicians, the daily said.

An Israeli drone strike targeted Friday a car at the entrance of the Tebnin government hospital in south Lebanon.

The strike killed one person and wounded 11 others, including two critically, according to the Health Ministry.

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson said that “if Lebanon continues down the path it is on now, it can shine with the light of new beginnings.”

“With historic cabinet decisions in August and September to disarm all non-state groups in the country, the Lebanese government has a historic opportunity to reclaim Lebanon’s sovereignty for the Lebanese people,” Johnson noted, in a speech during a reception marking the 249th anniversary of the U.S. Independence Day.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Friday responded statements by Speaker Nabih Berri about the electoral law.

“You’ve said that Amal and Hezbollah cannot manage their electoral campaigns abroad and freely practice their electoral rights without facing harassment, in order to justify your rejection of expats voting abroad for the 128 seats. Accordingly, you are clinging to the six districts mentioned in the current law for expat voting,” Geagea said.