The French President's Special Envoy to Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian held talks Wednesday with President Joseph Aoun in Baabda.

The United Nations refugee agency said that more than 21,000 people had arrived in Lebanon this month fleeing the worst bloodshed in Syria since Bashar al-Assad's ousting.

A Syrian committee investigating the wave of sectarian killings in the heartland of the country's Alawite minority said Tuesday that it had collected scores of accounts of the violence, with its probe ongoing.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam arrived Tuesday aboard a military helicopter in the northern city of Tripoli, where he said that his visit is to “stress the government’s keenness on sustainable security in Tripoli and on protecting its sons.”

One person was killed in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon late Monday, after a wave of intensive air attacks in the region over the weekend, state media reported.

U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff has said that “peace” between Lebanon and Israel is “possible.”

France is reportedly preparing a new diplomatic initiative aimed at consolidating a ceasefire reached in late November between Lebanon and Israel, and supporting Lebanon as Israel and the U.S. pressure the war-hit country into direct negotiations.

Kuwait's al-Jarida newspaper claimed Monday that France's special envoy to Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian will visit Lebanon soon to discuss the reconstruction and support the country as Washington seeks to form three committees to negotiate sticking points between Lebanon and Israel -- including the release of Lebanese prisoners, the remaining disputed points along the Blue Line, and the remaining 5 points where Israeli forces are still deployed.

Lebanese leaders held intensives contacts with Washington and Paris to prevent Israel from bombing Beirut, a Lebanese official said Monday, after heavy Israeli strikes on the country at the weekend.

While no party has claimed responsibility for the rockets that were fired at Israel on Saturday, the Lebanese Army has arrested two Syrians in the South and questioned them as witnesses, security sources said.

Deputy U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Morgan Ortagus will arrive soon in Tel Aviv to meet with Israeli officials in a diplomatic bid to resolve several outstanding issues between Lebanon and Israel, Asharq al-Awsat newspaper said.

The daily said Monday that Ortagus will prepare a framework to the implementation of three sticking points -- the release of Lebanese prisoners, the remaining disputed points along the Blue Line, and the remaining 5 points where Israeli forces are still deployed.

MP Ali Fayad of Hezbollah said “the situation that Lebanon is going through in general, and the South in particular, requires wisdom and patience but at the same time firmness, resilience and courage.”

“Each stage has its necessities and requirements, and the Lebanese have agreed that the government manage the national stance in the face of the Israeli enemy’s hostile actions and repeated violations,” Fayad said at the funeral of a slain Hezbollah member.