Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has noted that “the presidency is a Lebanese issue par excellence,” calling on MPs to “shoulder their responsibilities, especially the parliament speaker.”

“We are awaiting the visit of French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian to Lebanon, because he is following up on the issue from all its aspects and is informed on the steps, especially in terms of specifying the characteristics that were announced for the election of a president during the meeting that was held in Doha around a year ago,” Geagea said in an interview with MTV.

Israel should not shy away from launching a military takeover of southern Lebanon if Hezbollah does not withdraw from the border, far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said.

Speaking at a faction meeting of his far-right Religious Zionism party held, unusually, in northern Israel, Smotrich demanded that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu make a clear announcement of a plan to deal with Hezbollah’s threat, saying that if necessary, Hezbollah must be dealt with through military action.

Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib called Monday on head of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Lebanon Ivo Freijsen not to interfere in Lebanon’s sovereign powers.

After he met with Freijsen, Bou Habib warned in a press conference, that Lebanon will be forced to take measure against the UNHCR if it doesn't cooperate.

Unknown assailants riding an SUV opened fire overnight towards Kataeb Party’s headquarters in Beirut’s Saifi area, the National News Agency said.

“Security agencies are following up on the issue through the cameras that are fixed at the site in order to identify the car and its type,” NNA said.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Monday declared three days of national mourning over the death of Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi, foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and a number of officials in a helicopter crash.

According to Mikati’s memo, flags will be flown at half-mast at all public administrations and institutions while radio and TV programming will be adjusted to suit the situation.

Ireland's top diplomat in a visit to Lebanon on Monday expressed his concern over the slow progress in criminal proceedings against several Lebanese men charged with the killing of an Irish peacekeeper in 2022 in the tiny Mediterranean country.

Micheál Martin, Irish foreign and defense minister, said he was "very, very concerned" about the case. He met with Irish peacekeepers in south Lebanon and with Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib and a representative of the Lebanese defense ministry.

Four Hezbollah fighters were killed Monday in south Lebanon, with the Iran-backed group announcing a retaliatory attack.

Hezbollah announced the deaths of the four fighters, two of them from al-Naqoura, "on the road to Jerusalem" -- the phrase used for fighters killed by Israel.

Hezbollah mourned Monday the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and other officials in a helicopter crash, praising him as a "protector" of anti-Israel groups in the region.

"Hezbollah in Lebanon extends its deepest condolences," the group said in a statement, adding that they knew Raisi "closely for a long time" and that he was "a strong supporter, and a staunch defender of our causes... and a protector of the resistance movements".

The head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, MP Mohammad Raad, said Sunday that his group is “reassured” over the course of its conflict with Israel.

“The resistance is escalating its operations against the Israeli enemy to a certain level in order to preserve the deterrence equation,” Raad said.

A U.S. official has told Al-Arabiya television that neither Israel nor Hezbollah wants to engage in an all-out war.