Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Monday asked visiting U.S. envoy Tom Barrack about Israel’s commitment to the ceasefire agreement and its withdrawal from Lebanon, stressing that “this is the gateway to stability in Lebanon and an opportunity to launch reconstruction and pave the way for residents’ return to their towns, in addition to securing the requirements for supporting the Lebanese Army.”

An unnamed Israeli official on Monday responded to remarks by U.S. envoy Tom Barrack, who is visiting Lebanon, by saying that “there is no intention to keep occupying Lebanese territory.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that “the bombing on Lebanon is taking place according to the ceasefire agreement.”

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has called for a “dialogue” on the government’s decision to monopolize arms in the hands of the state, rejecting the manner in which Cabinet took its latest decisions on Hezbollah’s disarmament.

President Joseph Aoun said in an interview that U.S. envoy Tom Barrack’s paper “became a Lebanese paper” after Lebanon “introduced its remarks to it.”

President Joseph Aoun told visiting U.S. envoy Tom Barrack on Monday that Israel and Syria need to commit to the “joint declaration paper,” after Lebanon endorsed a U.S.-backed plan for Hezbollah to disarm.

A lot has happened in just a year on both sides of the Lebanon-Syria border. A lightning offensive by Islamist insurgents in Syria toppled longtime autocrat Bashar Assad and brought a new government in place in Damascus.

In Lebanon, a bruising war with Israel dealt a serious blow to Hezbollah — the Iran-backed and Assad-allied Shiite Lebanese militant group that had until recently been a powerful force in the Middle East — and a U.S.-negotiated deal has brought a fragile ceasefire.

The future of U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon has split the United States and its European allies, raising implications for security in the Middle East and becoming the latest snag to vex relations between the U.S. and key partners like France, Britain and Italy.

At issue is the peacekeeping operation known as UNIFIL, whose mandate expires at the end of August and will need to be renewed by the U.N. Security Council to continue. It was created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after Israel's 1978 invasion, and its mission was expanded following the monthlong 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.

President Joseph Aoun insists on implementing the government’s decisions on arms monopolization and his firmness is not aimed at clashing with any component, Kuwait’s al-Anbaa newspaper quoted his visitors as saying.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem’s latest speech is “rejected in all standards.”