French Special Envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian met Wednesday with Kataeb leader Sami Gemayel as he visits Lebanon to prepare for a conference to support the Lebanese Army.

Le Drian arrived Monday in Beirut and met with President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Foreign Minister Joseph Rajji, Army chief Rodolphe Haykal, former PSP leader Walid Jumblat, and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea.

Israeli forces entered overnight into Tuesday the southern border towns of al-Khiam, Odaisseh, and Aita al-Shaab.

Local media reports said the soldiers detonated several buildings in Wadi al-Asafir in al-Khiam and a house in Odaisseh.

Supporters of Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa staged motorbike and car rallies across Lebanon overnight to mark the first anniversary of the ouster of Bashar al-Assad at the hands of an Islamist-led uprising.

The rallies sparked tensions and led to clashes in some areas, prompting an intervention by the Lebanese Army.

French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian met Tuesday with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Army chief Rodolphe Haykal and former PSP leader Walid Jumblat, as Lebanon moves towards direct negotiations with Israel.

French Ambassador to Lebanon Hervé Magro, who attended the talks, said the meeting with Berri was "very good".

On Friday 5 December, the Deputy Head of Mission at the British embassy in Beirut, Victoria Dunne, hosted the certificate ceremony for the Rebecca Dykes Changemaker Challenge (RDCC), a youth-led initiative that empowers students across Lebanon to design creative, context-sensitive solutions to end gender-based violence.

Amal MP Ali Hassan Khalil said Friday that Speaker Nabih Berri's powers are constitutional after Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea criticized the Speaker for refusing to discuss in parliament a draft law demanding the amendment of the current electoral law ahead of the parliamentary elections scheduled for May 2026.

The LF, the Kataeb and other MPS forming a parliamentary majority are pushing for amending the law to allow a large Lebanese diaspora to vote for the 128 seats.

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa on Monday revealed the presence of contacts regarding the rescheduling of Army chief Rodolphe Haykal’s visit to Washington, expressing his belief that the visit will take place.

As for the Mechanism meetings, Issa said after meeting Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji that no one was “expecting peace from the first meeting.”

Former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has described a Sunday meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri as "friendly and warm", calling Berri a "long-time friend and ally."

After the meeting, Jumblat said the same phrase previously used by Berri: We cannot negotiate under (Israeli) fire.

Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon Diodato Abagnara has said that UNIFIL has no evidence that Hezbollah is rebuilding its military capabilities south of the Litani.

In an interview with Israel's Channel 12, Abagnara said that the presence of Israeli troops along the Blue Line constitutes "a flagrant" violation of U.N. resolution 1701.

Negotiations have a much higher chance of ending the Israeli violations than staying locked in one place, President Joseph Aoun told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Monday.

Aoun's comments come as Lebanon and Israel moved toward direct negotiations