The five-party commitee tasked with monitoring the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire held its second meeting on Wednesday.

The Democratic Gathering bloc was the first bloc to officially announce its presidential candidate ahead of a president election session scheduled for January 9. The session might end more than two years of presidential vacuum.

The Democratic Gathering bloc said Wednesday, following a meeting, that its MPs will vote for Army chief Gen. Joseph Aoun on January 9.

Syrian interim health minister Maher al-Sharaa said Thursday that there has been communication with the Lebanese state "from day one."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Turkey and Lebanon would work together on Syria after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad by Islamist-led rebels.

"A new era has now begun in Syria. We agree that we must act together as two important neighbors of Syria," Erdogan told a news conference Wednesday, alongside Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati met Wednesday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara and discussed with him the latest developments in Syria and south Lebanon.

Mikati was accompanied by a ministerial delegation, the Lebanese Army representative, and Lebanon's ambassador to Turkey.

Representatives of the United States, France, UNIFIL and the Lebanese and Israeli armies met Wednesday in Naqoura.

The U.S.-led committee that also includes France, UNIFIL, Lebanon, and Israel, was formed to monitor the ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel that took effect in late November. This was the committee's second meeting.

Former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat will travel Saturday with a delegation to Syria to meet with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani who now prefers to be called Ahmad al-Sharaa, a local media outlet said.

Al-Jadeed TV channel said Jubmlat, along with MPs from the Democratic Gathering bloc and Druze religious figures, will congratulate al-Sharaa for ousting Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

Former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has tried to convince Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri of electing Army chief Gen. Joseph Aoun as president, several local media reports said.

Jumblat had met Berri on Monday and both said they were optimistic that a president would be elected in a session scheduled for January 9.

A group of Israeli settlers have briefly crossed the border into Lebanon before they were removed by troops, the military acknowledged Wednesday.

The settlers who crossed the border came from the Uri Tzafon movement, a group calling for Israeli settlement of southern Lebanon. Photos posted by the group online Saturday showed a small group of settlers holding signs and erecting tents inside Lebanon while Israeli soldiers were present.

United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert visited Tuesday Tripoli in north Lebanon.

At the Maronite Archdiocese in Tripoli, the Special Coordinator met with the Archbishop of the Maronite Archdiocese of Tripoli Bishop Youssef Soueif, the Mufti of Tripoli and the North Sheikh Mohammad Imam, the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Tripoli Archbishop Aphram Kyriacos, the President the Islamic Alawite Council in Lebanon Sheikh Ali Mahmoud Qaddour, MP Ashraf Rifi, MP Elias Khoury, MP Jamil Aboud and security officials.