Kataeb leader Sami Gemayel described Wednesday Hezbollah as an armed militia, as parliament discussed the 2026 budget for a second day in a row.

Gemayel said no one will invest in Lebanon as long as there are war and armed militias, which angered a Hezbollah MP.

In a sign of the growing harmony between President Joseph Aoun and Speaker Nabih Berri, an agreement to activate diplomatic efforts was put into effect through the U.N. complaint that was filed by the Foreign Ministry over Israel’s violations, a media report said.

Informed political sources told ad-Diyar newspaper that the step followed a visit by Foreign Minister Youssef Raji to the Baabda Palace, during which Aoun asked Rajji to take action to tackle the continuous Israeli attacks.

As the U.S.-led Mechanism meetings in Naqoura falter -- or prepare to enter a new phase -- behind-the-scenes political activity involving Lebanon, the U.S. and Israel is gaining momentum, a media report said.

These moves aim to launch negotiations that “transcend the geographical coordinates of Hezbollah’s arsenals and tunnels, moving instead toward the level of ‘political surgery’ in a scenario mirroring the Syrian model,” Lebanon’s al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Communication took place between the Lebanese and Egyptian presidencies prior to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s meeting with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump at the Davos summit, media reports said.

“Al-Sisi was told that Lebanon is implementing the government’s plan for collecting Hezbollah’s arms and that Israel has not fulfilled anything of what was agreed on with the Americans,” diplomatic sources told An-Nahar newspaper.

U.S. Ambassador Michel Issa will be the United States envoy to the ceasefire monitoring committee, replacing American diplomat Morgan Ortagus, pro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar newspaper reported Tuesday.

The daily said that Lebanon has been officially notified on Monday that Ortagus' role in the ceasefire committee has ended.

Saudi Arabia has recently decided to change its stance over the Qatari role in Lebanon and this transformation is linked to an understanding with the U.S. over a Qatari role in supporting Lebanon financially and politically, a media report said.

The development is also related to the latest rift between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, especially that Abu Dhabi is “active in the Lebanese arena in a way opposed to the policies of Riyadh and Doha,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported.

President Joseph Aoun's security and military Advisor Antoine Mansour met Tuesday with Mechanism's Assistant Chief U.S. Colonel David Leon Klingensmith at the U.S. Embassy in Awkar.

The meeting was attended by the Defense Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Colonel Jason Belknap.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Tuesday strongly criticized Hezbollah in the wake of Sheikh Naim Qassem’s latest remarks about supporting Iran.

“The basis of the Memorandum of Understanding (between the FPM and Hezbollah) was to Lebanonize Hezbollah’s choices and weapons through partnership, state building and defending Lebanon,” Bassil said in a post on the X platform.

A man was killed Tuesday in an Israeli airstrike on his motorcycle in the southern town of Batoulay.

The Israeli army said it has targeted a Hezbollah member in the southern town of Deir Qanoun.

Retired soldiers gathered Tuesday at Beirut's Riad al-Solh Square in downtown Beirut to protest their salaries that have become too low to cover basic expenses, as parliament convened to discuss the 2026 budget.

The retirees also demanded better healthcare services and education for their children. They blocked the entrance to parliament, sparring with some MPs who tried to enter in their cars.