Lebanon’s Druze leader and former Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat told Syria’s state TV on Wednesday that “Israel is not protecting the Druze in (the unrest-hit Syrian city of Sweida), but is rather using some of the weak-minded to claim that it is protecting them.”

President Joseph Aoun on Wednesday strongly condemned the violent Israeli airstrikes on Damascus, calling them “a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of a brotherly Arab country, international law and the U.N. Charter.”

The U.S. response to the Lebanese paper is “positive in form but strict in content” and the Americans want Lebanon to devise a timetable for removing illegal arms across the country, an official Lebanese source informed on the deliberations said.

A U.S. military delegation will soon arrive in Beirut to meet with senior Lebanese Army officers and present “a new roadmap that is stricter in the implementation of Resolution 1701 and the ceasefire agreement south and north of the Litani,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Lawmakers convened Wednesday for the second day in Parliament to debate the government's policies. During the session, MPs mainly discussed Hezbollah's arms and Israeli violations and renewed confidence in the Lebanese government.

The no-confidence vote was proposed by Free Patriotic chief Jebran Bassil. Sixty-nine MPs gave a vote of confidence to the government, nine FPM MPs voted against it, and four MPs abstained.

The U.S. response to the latest Lebanese paper requested some clarifications as to “timetables and the executive mechanisms” for resolving the issue of Hezbollah’s weapons, media reports said.

The Lebanese government survived Wednesday a vote of confidence proposed by Free Patriotic chief Jebran Bassil during a plenary session in Parliament.

Sixty-nine MPs gave a vote of confidence to the government, nine FPM MPs voted against it, and four MPs abstained.

U.S. envoy Tom Barrack has described the Lebanese Central Bank’s decision to bar banks and brokerages from dealing with the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Qard Al-Hasan financial institution as a “step in the right direct by the Lebanese government.”

As lawmakers convened Wednesday for the second day in Parliament to debate the government's policies, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam vowed that the government will continue working on extending the state’s authority north and south of the Litani river.

"I have listened to the MPs' views and interventions, and I will take all criticisms seriously. We are determined to continue our work despite the difficulties and obstacles," Salam said, adding that the government is committed to pressure Israel to withdraw from Lebanese territories and stop its aggressions.

Hezbollah condemned an Israeli air strike that killed 12 people in the Bekaa Valley on Tuesday, as a "major escalation".

In a statement, the group said Israel's attack "constitutes a major escalation in the context of the ongoing aggression against Lebanon and its people". It called on Lebanese authorities to "take serious, immediate, and decisive action" to uphold a November ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.