Top German diplomat Annalena Baerbock, on a visit to Beirut on Wednesday, said her government rejected "any permanent occupation" of Lebanese territory by Israel, whose troops remain in the country's south despite a November truce.
The November 27 ceasefire agreement ended a war between Israel and Hezbollah, but Israel has since continued to carry out strikes and maintained a military presence in five locations in southern Lebanon, near the border.

President Joseph Aoun told Wednesday German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock that Israel has refused to leave the five "strategic" hills where Israeli troops are still deployed beyond a Feb. 18 deadline for full withdrawal.
"Israel has refused all the Lebanese proposals to leave the five hills in south Lebanon and is still detaining a number of Lebanese prisoners," Aoun told Baerbock, adding that Israel is obstructing the implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 and violating a ceasefire reached in late November by occupying Lebanese land.

As the UK Emergency Medical Team (UK-EMT) ends their 5-month deployment in Lebanon, the British Embassy held a workshop for local and international partners.

In a notable judicial development, First Investigative Judge of the North Samaranda Nassar has listened to ex-energy minister Walid Fayad as a witness in the case of the Msaylha dam project.

As UNIFIL today, Wednesday completed 47 years of its establishment, its head and Force Commander, Lieutenant General Aroldo Lázaro, called for looking forward with hope following the recent devastating conflict.
Lázaro said the peacekeeping mission remains committed to easing tensions and fostering dialogue towards a permanent ceasefire.

A video circulating online shows a number of Hezbollah supporters calling Lebanese troops “traitors” and “Israeli agents” as the Lebanese Army deploys in the Lebanese part of the Hawsh al-Sayyed Ali town on Syria’s border.
The crowd, surrounded by Lebanese gunmen from the region, also chanted “At your service, Nasrallah!”, in reference to slain Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in September as Israel began an all-out war on Lebanon.

President Joseph Aoun on Wednesday stressed the need to consolidate the ceasefire on Syria’s border.

The Lebanese Army on Wednesday entered the Lebanese part of the border town of Hawsh al-Sayyed Ali after Syrian forces withdrew from it, the National News Agency said.

Lebanon’s state news agency said a U.N. peacekeeper was wounded when a landmine exploded in the country's south.
National News Agency did not give further details about the blast between the villages of Zibqine and Yater, near the border with Israel.

Hezbollah on Tuesday said it “fully and firmly” stands by “the valiant Palestinian resistance and Gaza’s honorable people,” after Israel resumed its war on Gaza and killed more than 400 people in less than 12 hours.
Moreover, Hezbollah called on “what’s left of the free international community, the U.N., the Security Council and legal and humanitarian organizations” to urgently act to “stop this continued crime against humanity.”
