Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has received "positive and encouraging signals" from the ambassadors of the United States, France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt.

Envoys from the five countries who met with Berri Wednesday have been working for months to facilitate the election of a president, as crisis-hit Lebanon has been without a head of state for more than two years amid deadlock between pro- and anti-Hezbollah blocs in parliament.

The top U.S. military commander for the Middle East was in Lebanon on Wednesday meeting with the head of the Lebanese army.

In the wake of shocking overthrow of the government in neighboring Syria, the two military leaders discussed the security situation in Lebanon, a statement from the country's army said.

Israel has lifted restrictions on public gatherings and outdoor activities in areas near the Lebanese border in the northern Golan Heights, two weeks after a ceasefire with Hezbollah.

The army’s Home Front Command said it was changing its public safety guidelines to “full activity” from “partial activity.”

Isatta Bah wakes up from a nap in a crowded shelter on the outskirts of Beirut, clutching her baby, Blessing.

The 24-year-old from Sierra Leone spends her days waiting for an exit visa that could put her and her 1-year-old on a plane back to the West African nation. She wants to reunite with her family after what she called exploitative work conditions and sexual violence, along with the recent horrors of war in Lebanon.

Israeli forces withdrew from a strategic town in southern Lebanon and handed it back to the Lebanese army in coordination with U.N. peacekeepers, the two militaries said Wednesday, marking an important test of the recent ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah militants.

It appeared to be Israel's first pullout from a Lebanese border town captured during this fall’s ground invasion, and comes as part of the initial phase of the ceasefire.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has criticized Hezbollah again for focusing on the region's conflicts instead of prioritizing Lebanon.

Bassil told Reuters that Hezbollah must accept "that they are part of the Lebanese state and are not parallel to the state," adding that he considers Hezbollah as a partner but wants it to defend Lebanon politically "not militarily".

Syria’s new Islamist-led administration “respects the sovereignty of the Lebanese state over its territory,” its political affairs spokesman said.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati met Wednesday with his Spanish counterpart in Madrid. The two prime ministers discussed the relations between the two countries and the latest developments in Lebanon and the Middle east.

Mikati stressed the need for Israel to commit to a U.S and French-brokered ceasefire in Lebanon, to withdraw from southern towns where its troops are still present, and to fully implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701.

Three civilians were killed in an Israeli drone strike that targeted the southern town of Bint Jbeil on Wednesday evening, media reports said.

Machinegun fire also targeted the town.

The ambassadors of the five-nation group on Lebanon, which comprises the U.S., France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt, met Wednesday with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh.

Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon Alaa Moussa said the presidential election session on January 9 will be open with consecutive rounds until a president is elected.