Residents returned Thursday to the town of Naqoura near the Lebanon-Israel border, which hosts the headquarters of the U.N. peacekeeping force, after Israeli forces withdrew from the area.

Long lines of cars, some waving Hezbollah flags, inched along the coastal road. The Lebanese Army and U.N. peacekeepers had reopened roads, cleared mines and removed unexploded ordnance from residential neighborhoods.

Hezbollah said Thursday that it will be the responsibility of the Lebanese state to act and press the countries sponsoring the ceasefire agreement should Israel delay its military pullout from south Lebanon.

President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam have identical viewpoints regarding the formation of “an extraordinary government” that is not based on a “distribution of quotas” among the political parties, informed political sources said.

Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat said on Thursday he believes crisis-hit Lebanon’s newly elected president and his prime-minister designate are capable of spearheading long-sought reforms.

"We are greatly confident in the ability of... the president and the prime minister to initiate reforms necessary to bolster Lebanon’s security, stability and unity," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said after meeting President Joseph Aoun in Baabda, during the first high-level Saudi visit in more than a decade.

A senior Shiite Duo official has said that Hezbollah and the Amal Movement have been “the bloc that has facilitated the PM-designate’s mission the most.”

Former MP Yassine Jaber, who is close to Speaker Nabih Berri, is no longer proposed for the finance portfolio in the new government for “health reasons,” media reports said.

Speaker Nabih Berri has stressed that insisting on the finance portfolio for the Shiite community is not aimed at “tripartite or quadripartite power-sharing.”

Israel’s ambassador to the United States said Thursday the two countries are in talks about extending the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon as a deadline in the ceasefire approaches.

Michael Herzog said in an interview with Israeli Army Radio that he believed Israel would "reach an understanding" with the Trump administration to extend the necessary time for the Lebanese Army to truly deploy and fulfill its role under the agreement. "The incoming administration understands our needs and our position on security, and I believe we will reach an agreement on this issue."

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Wednesday told visiting U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert that Israel is “committed” to the ceasefire agreement with Lebanon.

Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam on Tuesday briefed President Joseph Aoun on the developments of the cabinet formation process without submitting a draft line-up, the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported on Wednesday.