Army chief in Saudi Arabia for meetings

Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal has arrived in Saudi Arabia where he will hold a series of meetings, Al-Jadeed television reported.

Haykal held talks last week in the United States with senior military and political officials.

The Lebanese military announced last month that it had completed the first phase of a plan to disarm Hezbollah, covering the area between the Israeli border and the Litani River.

Under a November 2024 truce that sought to end more than a year of hostilities, Iran-backed Hezbollah must withdraw its forces north of the Litani and have its military infrastructure dismantled in the evacuated areas, while Israeli forces must exit Lebanon.

But Hezbollah has rejected calls to surrender its weapons, and Israel has kept up regular strikes on Lebanon while maintaining troops in five areas near the border that it deems strategic.