President Joseph Aoun on Wednesday wrapped up an official visit to Oman, which has reportedly accepted his request to act as a mediator between Lebanon and Israel, the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported on Thursday.

The daily added that Oman is expected to “communicate with Tehran to soften its stance, prevent any obstruction of the negotiation track and guarantee that Hezbollah will not resort to escalation or to impeding any possible settlement.”

Israel is heading toward an escalation in Lebanon, according to an Israeli media report that quoted an Israeli security official as saying that "Hezbollah will not give up its weapons through the (ceasefire) agreement" and that an escalation is inevitable, but its timing is yet to be decided.

"We will decide its timing in accordance with our security interests," the official reportedly said.

The Americans are very interested in Lebanon on all levels, especially as to the situation on the southern border, and they want to end the conflict and avoid a repetition of the latest war between Israel and Hezbollah, informed diplomatic sources said.

The U.S. wants diplomacy to prevail in order to “give a chance for restoring stability, prosperity and investments in Lebanon, Israel and the region,” the sources told al-Binaa newspaper in remarks published Thursday.

Lebanese and Israeli civilian representatives have held this month their first direct talks in decades, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling the move "an initial attempt to establish a basis for an economic cooperation between Israel and Lebanon."

Lebanese leaders said Lebanon is "far from" diplomatic normalization or economic relations with Israel. So what was really said during the first talks that included civilians in Naqoura?

State Prosecutor Jamal al-Hajjar has lifted the travel ban imposed on Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar to allow him to travel to Bulgaria to question Igor Grechushkin -- the Russian-Cypriot owner of the ship that brought the ammonium nitrates that eventually exploded at the port, MTV said.

Speaker Nabih Berri said Thursday that the Lebanese Army has implemented 90 percent of the cessation of hostilities agreement in the South Litani area and will completely finalize what’s left by year’s end.

“This is what UNIFIL, the Mechanism and Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal have confirmed,” Berri added, in a meeting with a delegation from the Press Syndicate.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri met Thursday with U.S. Ambassador Michel Issa in Ain el-Tineh, for the second day in a row.

On Wednesday, Berri met with Issa and a delegation of the American Task Force for Lebanon.

As the world prepares to celebrate a new year, the Lebanese are living day by day amid fears and threats of a renewed war.

The Lebanese army has been tasked by the government to disarm Hezbollah by the year end, under U.S. pressure and Israel's almost daily strikes. However, the army's resources are too limited and Israel is accusing it of not doing the job.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon has said that Israeli forces fired on its peacekeepers Tuesday in the country’s south near the de facto border with Israel, reporting no injuries.

"Yesterday, peacekeepers in vehicles patrolling the Blue Line were fired upon by IDF (Israeli army) soldiers in a Merkava tank near Sarda," a UNIFIL statement said Wednesday.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has sent a letter to Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem telling him that “Hezbollah’s decisions are left to its leadership in Lebanon,” sources told An-Nahar newspaper in remarks published Wednesday.

“This is what he (Khamenei) used to practice with the late Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah,” the sources added.