President Joseph Aoun strongly condemned Wednesday the Israeli airplanes' dropping of toxic chemical substances over lands and border villages in south Lebanon.

UNIFIL had earlier condemned the Israeli army's "deliberate and planned actions" that limited peacekeepers’ ability to undertake their mandated activities and put their health and that of civilians at risk.

UNIFIL peacekeepers said two Israeli drones hovered aggressively above them when they were on a routine patrol near Kafer Kela on Tuesday morning.

One of the drones was carrying an unidentified object and had entered a range that constituted an immediate threat to the safety and security of peacekeepers.

Lebanon's relationship with Syria is "radically different" since the fall of former President Bashar Assad, the senior Lebanese minister tasked with managing the country's relations with its neighbor said on Tuesday.

"Under the Assad regime, Lebanon was de facto under Syrian tutelage. The Syrian regime interfered in domestic affairs in so many ways," Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri told The Associated Press. "The present Syrian government is neither interested in hegemony over Lebanon nor is it interfering in our internal affairs."

Israel's army will appoint its highest-ranking Muslim woman to replace chief Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee, the public face for Palestinians and Lebanese of its military campaigns, a military source said on Tuesday.

Major Ella Waweya will replace Lieutenant Colonel Avichay Adraee, who for people in Gaza and Lebanon is indelibly linked with Israel's deadly bombing campaigns and known for what are seen as provocative uses of colloquial Arabic, koranic verses and humor in his messages.

Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem on Tuesday warned Israel that his group can also inflict “pain” at the right “timing,” amid an intensification of Israeli strikes on Hezbollah members and alleged arms depots.

Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal met Tuesday with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine and Assistant Secretary of War for International Security Affairs Daniel Zimmerman, as he held a series of security meetings in Washington.

Haykal will also meet with the Acting Director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, Michael Miller.

The Israeli army significantly increased its strikes on Lebanon in January 2026,

after the Lebanese army said it had completed the first phase of its plan to disarm Hezbollah, covering the area south of the Litani river, around 30 kilometers from the Israeli border.

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa “warmly welcomes” Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal’s official visit to the United States to continue his engagement with U.S. officials and the U.S. Central Command, the U.S. Embassy said.

The army’s “ongoing work to disarm non-state actors and reinforce national sovereignty as Lebanon’s security guarantor is more important than ever,” the Embassy added, in a post on the X platform.

Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah on Tuesday demanded the state to shoulder its responsibilities, accusing it of inadequacy, negligence, helplessness, and even complicity.

"The state is responsible for its people, and we want it to fulfill its duties," Fadlallah said, adding that Hezbollah is working to compel the state to address four key issues -- the withdrawal of Israeli forces from occupied territories in south Lebanon, halting Israeli attacks, releasing Lebanese prisoners, and the reconstruction of war-hit regions.

President Joseph Aoun said Tuesday that he is working with all concerned parties to avoid dragging Lebanon into a new war.

"Regaining the trust and support of foreign countries will be a natural result of rebuilding the state on firm foundations, specifically the (state's) monopoly on arms," Aoun said, adding that he is working to achieve these goals with "rationality, realism, and responsibility."