Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday hailed the Lebanese Army on the 80th anniversary of its founding.

“Eighty years have passed since the creation of this unifying national institution and it still baptizing our holidays with loyalty, safeguarding sovereignty through great sacrifices, and protecting unity with the honor of belonging," Berri said in a statement.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said there will be no turning back on the state's decision to be the sole bearer of arms, as pressure increases from Washington and domestically to disarm Hezbollah.

In an interview, published Thursday in Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Salam said that it is natural for the state's monopoly on arms to be discussed in the next cabinet session, in implementation of the Taif Agreement and the ceasefire agreement reached in late November with Israel. He said U.S. envoy Tom Barrack's paper provided practical ideas for this.

President Joseph Aoun said Thursday that Lebanon is determined to disarm Hezbollah, a step it has come under heavy U.S. pressure to take, with the Iran-backed group insisting that doing so would serve Israeli goals.

Hezbollah and Israel recently fought an all-out war that left the militant group badly weakened, though it retains part of its arsenal.

Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem on Wednesday reiterated his stance that the ceasefire agreement reached with Israel in November “was exclusively for the South Litani area” and not the rest of the country, while stressing that the issue of disarmament is a “domestic matter.”

Extremist Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said Wednesday that the Israeli army will not withdraw from the five points that it occupied in south Lebanon.

President Joseph Aoun will deliver Thursday a key speech marking Army Day that will tackle the thorny issue of Hezbollah’s disarmament, media reports said.

U.S. ambassador to Lebanon nominee Michel Issa, who is of Lebanese origins, has appeared before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a hearing on pending nominations.

The Israeli army has published stats about its attacks in Lebanon since the end of its September-November war against Hezbollah and the entry into force of the ceasefire agreement.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has slammed “some in the country who deliberately launching a scare campaign about an all-out war on Lebanon.”

Lebanon will likely today receive the U.S. response to its latest proposals regarding U.S. envoy Tom Barrack’s paper, diplomatic sources told Al-Jadeed TV.