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

Maronite Patriarch Beshra al-Rahi said Monday after meeting with President Joseph Aoun that the relation between Bkerki and Baabda is very good and negotiations with Israel are better than war threats.

"I have no fears (of a new war) and we are now in the time of diplomacy and negotiations," al-Rahi told reporters in a short press conference after the meeting.

U.S. President Donald Trump called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday night and urged him to shift gradually from offensive operations and escalation threats in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria to diplomacy and confidence-building measures, senior officials told Israel's Ynet news portal.

"The shift, Trump argued, is necessary to advance the civilian stage of his '20-Point Plan' for Gaza and to work toward a stable, long-term end to hostilities, with the possibility of additional normalization agreements," the officials said.

The Lebanese Army on Saturday announced the arrest of six individuals accused of attacking a UNIFIL patrol in Bint Jbeil in south Lebanon.

A group of U.S. members of Congress have sent a letter to President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam calling for the disarmament of Hezbollah, saying the process “must begin now, even by force if necessary.”

The lawmakers said Lebanon committed under the November 2024 ceasefire to launch a gradual process to dismantle Hezbollah’s military structure and restore state authority across the country, but argued that “empty promises and partial measures that fall short of disarmament are nowhere near enough.”