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.

Cabinet will hold a session next Tuesday to discuss the state's monopoly on arms, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam's office said.

The ministers will also discuss the November ceasefire and Israel's violations, Salam's office said.

French President Emmanuel Macron advised PM Nawaf Salam in their latest meeting to hold a cabinet session to issue a resolution on monopolizing arms in the hands of the state, political sources said.