U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus arrived Monday in Beirut after she visited Israel along with U.S. envoy Tom Barrack.

Prior to her arrival, Ortagus lauded Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statement on Israel's readiness to gradually decrease its troop presence in south Lebanon in return for Lebanese steps to disarm Hezbollah.

In a meeting Monday with visiting U.S. Senators Darin LaHood and Steve Cohen, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam demanded that Israel withdraw from south Lebanon and halt its strikes on Lebanon.

Salam stressed that Israel must respect Lebanon's sovereignty and withdraw from the five hills it is still occupying in south Lebanon, enabling the Lebanese army to complete its deployment in the south. He also called for the release of Lebanese prisoners and for a halt of hostilities which would allow Lebanon to start rebuilding war-hit areas and recover from the 14-month Israeli war.

President Joseph Aoun stressed Monday the need that Lebanon “meet the Arab and international interest in the country through boosting the confidence restoration steps.”

Brig. Gen. Iraj Masjedi, the assistant commander of Iran’s Quds Force for coordination affairs, announced Monday that “the Hezbollah disarmament plan in Lebanon is an American-Zionist plan that will never be implemented.”

Recent and similar statements by the same official and by other Iranian officials had prompted Lebanese authorities to strongly condemn “interference” in Lebanon’s domestic affairs.

Hezbollah and Amal called off Monday a rally they had called for in protest at the government's decision to disarm Hezbollah by the year end.

The workers' departments of Hezbollah and Amal had called for a rally Wednesday in Riad al-Solh.

An Israeli drone strike that targeted a car on the Tebnine road in south Lebanon killed one person, the health ministry said Monday.

Another drone strike had earlier targeted a car in Sarbine, causing no casualties. Media reports said the same car was later targeted in Tebnine as the first strike failed to kill the driver.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said Israel was ready to back Lebanon's efforts to disarm Hezbollah and offered "a phased" pullout of its troops if Lebanon followed through with plans to seize the group's weapons.

"Israel stands ready to support Lebanon in its efforts to disarm Hezbollah and to work together towards a more secure and stable future for both nations," said Netanyahu, according to a statement released by his office.

U.S. envoy Tom Barrack arrived in Israel and met on Sunday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the Trump administration’s request that Israel restrain its strikes in Lebanon, as well as about the negotiations with Syria, three Israeli and U.S. sources told U.S. news portal Axios.

President Joseph Aoun has said that Lebanon is still awaiting “the final Israeli response” to the Lebanese paper that was carried to Israel by U.S. envoy Tom Barrack.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil said during an FPM dinner in the al-Zahrani region that “every martyr who fell” in the South “did not only fall in defense of the South, but rather entire Lebanon.”