Prime Minister Nawaf Salam met Monday in Damascus with Syria's interim president Ahmad al-Sharaa, accompanied by a Lebanese ministerial delegation comprising the ministers of foreign affairs, defense and interior.

The meeting was also attended by Syrian Defense Minister Asaad al-Shaibani.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil said his party supports the state against any "militia", as President Joseph Aoun renewed his appeal for Hezbollah to lay down its weapons.

"We have never been and we will never be a militia," Bassil said Sunday, adding that his party supports the state, the Lebanese army, the presidency, and all constitutional and legitimate institutions against any militia. "When the state fails, when the militias win, we go back to war," he said in a speech marking the anniversary of the outbreak of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.

Lebanon has been clearly informed that it can't rebuild what Israel has destroyed in more than a year of war with Hezbollah unless Hezbollah is disarmed.

Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji told Asharq al-Awsat, in remarks published Friday, that Deputy U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Morgan Ortagus has herself, among others before her, told Lebanese leaders that Lebanon will not receive foreign aid before disarming Hezbollah.

MP Ali Fayyad of Hezbollah has stressed that the party is “open to any domestic dialogue course launched by the Lebanese state to address the pending files.”

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has criticized calls for dialogue with Hezbollah over its arms, calling for a deadline for disarming the group south and north of the Litani river.

In an interview on Thursday night with MTV, Geagea said there is no room for defense strategies and dialogues, calling instead for immediately setting a deadline of six months for the disarmament of Hezbollah.

President Joseph Aoun on Friday inspected the Port of Beirut and met with acting Customs chief Raymond Khoury, the Presidency said.

Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar on Friday interrogated former General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim in the case, in the latter’s first appearance before the magistrate.

An Israeli infantry force on Friday crossed the border into the al-Wazzani parks in south Lebanon, the National News Agency said.

President Joseph Aoun announced Thursday that “Hezbollah has shown a lot of leniency and flexibility in the issue of cooperating in the weapons file according to a specific timeframe.”

The Israeli army ordered Thursday the evacuation of neighborhoods in the southern border town of Aita al-Shaab, media reports said.

On Wednesday, Israel bombed homes in the southern town of Yater after warning residents to evacuate the properties through phone calls.