President Joseph Aoun on Wednesday called Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal and offered condolences over the two soldiers who were killed Tuesday in clashes with drug barons in Baalbek’s al-Sharawneh neighborhood.

“Once again, the army is paying with the blood of its men to protect Lebanese society from the scourge of drugs on the one hand, and to enforce the law on the other. Yesterday's two martyrs have joined a long line of comrades who sacrificed their most precious possession in fulfillment of their oath, reaffirming the military institution's determination, in cooperation with other security forces, to continue enforcing the law, pursuing perpetrators, and curbing crime in all its forms,” Aoun said.

Former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat voiced Wednesday his support to Lebanese Army chief Rodolphe Haykal after U.S. senators harshly criticized him.

A scheduled visit of Haykal to the U.S. was cancelled Tuesday after U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham posted on the X platform that Haykal is "a giant setback for efforts to move Lebanon forward because of a reference to Israel as the enemy and his weak almost non-existent effort to disarm Hezbollah."

ENTRY WOUND unfolds as Ryan Eid’s exploration of a fragile space where presence and erasure coexist, and where identity forms as a means of survival rather than an expression of freedom.

Emerging from rural, marginalized and militarized contexts, his subjects stand before the viewer with hardened gestures and quiet defiance, their bodies shaped by accumulated pressures and inherited histories.

Two soldiers were killed on Tuesday night in a clash between the army and wanted drug dealers in the Sharawneh neighborhood of Baalbek.

Three other soldiers were wounded during the clashes and the wanted drug dealer, who fired at the army, was killed.

One person was killed Wednesday in an Israeli strike on a car in the southern town of al-Tiri.

Eleven other were wounded in the strike, the health ministry said, as a school bus with students on board was passing near the targeted car.

President Joseph Aoun said that Hezbollah's military wing has ended and that all the group wants now is a "decent" end. The President had many times called for dialogue with Hezbollah and has been known to have a soft approach to the group's disarmament.

"They come to me knowing this (that they have ended militarily) but they are keen on securing an honorable end and a decent exit. This is exactly what we are striving to achieve, away from populist speeches prevailing in the country ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections," Aoun told Tuesday the Asas Media news portal, although he later expressed his commitment to disarm the group and expand the state's authority to all of Lebanon.

An Israeli drone targeted Tuesday a car in the southern town of Bint Jbeil, killing one person.

The national News Agency said the strike killed Ali Sheaito, who works at the Union of Municipalities of Bint Jbeil.

A scheduled visit of Army chief Rodolphe Haykal to the U.S. was cancelled amid tensions between the army and Washington.

Media reports said some of Haykal's meetings were cancelled, prompting him to cancel the visit.

Government and business leaders and investors, mainly from Arab nations, gathered Tuesday at the Beirut Seaside Arena in an investor conference organized by the Lebanese government.

The conference brings together the private sector, the Lebanese diaspora, and international partners, as the country tries to rebuild itself after an unprecedented economic crisis and a war with Israel that did not completely stop despite a ceasefire reached in November last year.

Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem on Monday warned against what he called “surrendering” the country to Israel.

“Those saying the resistance is a problem because it's not surrendering accept that the country be surrendered to Israel, whereas we do not accept that,” said Qassem in a televised speech marking the first anniversary of the assassination of Hezbollah spokesman and senior official Mohammad Afif.