U.S. Major General Jasper Jeffers, the Chairman of the Cessation of Hostilities Implementation “Mechanism”, joined by French Brigadier General Guillaume Ponchin, have accompanied Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) officers today to visit LAF checkpoints in south-west Lebanon, the U.S. Embassy said.

LAF 5th Brigade assumed full control of this area last week immediately after Israeli forces withdrew. Soldiers in 5th Brigade are now “in the process of making roads and villages safe for residents to return home,” the Embassy said in a statement.

Hezbollah has become “a shadow of its former self” after its leadership was “eliminated” and “its terrorist infrastructure of tunnels and weapons manufacturing” was “ravaged” by Israel’s strikes, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said.

“Hezbollah’s battered forces have retreated north of the Litani River as part of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement,” Blinken said in a speech to the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri will meet Friday with Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam, a day after non-binding consultations boycotted by Amal and ally Hezbollah.

Berri told LBCI that he doubts that Amal and Hezbollah's MPs would meet Salam.

Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan called Wednesday for dropping "national consensus governments", after his bloc held with Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam non-binding consultations for forming a new government.

"We don’t want a return to the army-people-resistance equation," Adwan said. "And we want the state to extend its authority over all Lebanese soil," he added.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil announced Wednesday that the FPM “will facilitate the government formation process” and that it will not insist on retaining the energy portfolio.

“We have not asked the PM-designate for anything in the governmental issue, we’re ready to help and in our opinion the government must represent the parliamentary forces through experts,” Bassil added, following his bloc’s talks with PM-designate Nawaf Salam during the non-binding parliamentary consultations for forming a new government.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi held a meeting Wednesday at the Baabda Palace with President Joseph Aoun.

Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam on Wednesday began two-day non-binding consultations with MPs for forming a new government, amid a boycott by the parliamentary blocs of Hezbollah and the Amal Movement, known in Lebanon as the Shiite Duo.

Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam’s non-binding parliamentary consultations for forming a new government will be held in parliament on Wednesday and Thursday , Parliament’s Secretariat-General said.

Salam will meet with the parliamentary blocs on Wednesday from 10:00 am until around 6:00 pm and will meet with the independent MPs on Thursday from 10:00 am until around 6:45 pm, the Secretariat-General said in a statement.

Higher Islamic Shiite Council leader Sheikh Ali al-Khatib on Tuesday called for “consolidating national unity and building the state upon citizenship and equality among citizens,” during a meeting in Baabda with President Joseph Aoun.

President Joseph Aoun noted Tuesday that “Shiites are not the only ones threatened, but rather entire Lebanon,” reiterating that “if one of us loses, we all lose.”

“We have very big opportunities that we must seize together and there is no time to waste,” Aoun told a delegation from the Higher Islamic Shiite Council led by Sheikh Ali al-Khatib.