The first group of Syrian refugees returned home from Lebanon on Tuesday under a new plan the United Nations developed with the Lebanese government following the downfall of Bashar Assad's rule in December.

Syria's uprising-turned-conflict displaced half of the country's pre-war population of 23 million over the last 14 years. Lebanon hosted an estimated 1.5 million refugees, at one point making up roughly a quarter of its six million people, with many having been smuggled across the border and unregistered with the U.N.

Israel’s “battle” against Hezbollah will continue as long as the group “violates the ceasefire agreement,” Al-Arabiya TV quoted an Israeli security source as saying.

U.S. envoy Thomas Barrack and Saudi envoy to Lebanon Yazid bin Farhan have agreed on the need for arms monopoly in Lebanon, diplomatic sources told local al-Jadeed TV channel.

The sources said several diplomatic circles are dissatisfied with the Lebanese authorities "slow" and lenient approach in implementing international demands, including reforms and Hezbollah's disarmament.

The Lebanese Army announced that it has dismantled a terrorist cell consisting of Lebanese, Syrian and Iraqi citizens.

One person has been killed and four others wounded in an Israeli drone strike Wednesday on the southern town of Bint Jbeil.

Israel has kept up its strikes on Lebanon despite a November ceasefire that sought to end over a year of hostilities with Hezbollah, including two months of all-out war.

President Joseph Aoun called Tuesday for unity in Lebanon, saying that the Lebanese's greatest sin is dealing with foreign countries against each other.

"Let us draw strength from our unity," he said, hours before he left Beirut to Algeria for a two-day visit.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea warned, in an interview published Tuesday in Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, of more delays regarding Hezbollah's disarmament.

"We'll definitely have a bad summer, if things go on like this," he said, accusing Hezbollah of only bringing harm and destruction to the country, and urging cabinet to immediately convene and take a strict decision concerning the group's arms.

A Lebanese court sentenced a man to death in absentia for killing an Irish United Nations peacekeeper, a judicial official said Tuesday, after Hezbollah members were accused of involvement in the 2022 incident.

Private Sean Rooney, 23, was killed and three others were wounded after a U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) convoy came under fire on December 14, 2022 in south Lebanon, long a stronghold of the Iran-backed militant group.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has returned from Paris with a proposal to Speaker Nabih Berri on holding a special cabinet session for discussing the file of arms and declaring Lebanon’s commitment to the implementation of the state’s monopoly over arms, al-Akhbar newspaper reported.

Hezbollah's Media Relations Department has mourned the late renowned Lebanese artist Ziad Rahbani, affirming that he embodied "a model of purposeful art in the service of the nation and humanity."