“We affirm our agreement and pledge to implement the cease-fire immediately with Israel,” Mikati said following a meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in Beirut.

He added that Lebanon is ready to send its army to the southern region in coordination with the UN peacekeeping mission (UNIFIL).

Adopted on Aug. 11, 2006, the resolution calls for a complete cessation of hostilities between Lebanon and Israel and the establishment of a demilitarized zone between the Blue Line (the boundary between Lebanon and Israel) and the Litani River, allowing only the Lebanese army and UNIFIL to possess weapons and military equipment in the area.

Several Israeli media reports emerged of a possible ground operation in southern Lebanon amid massive airstrikes across the country.

Mikati said his talks with Berri took up several internal issues, including the situation of displaced people and the need to provide necessary support for them.

The Lebanese premier added he will meet with representatives from donor countries on Tuesday to request aid for Lebanon.

Lebanese authorities estimate that around 118,800 have taken refuge in 780 shelters across Lebanon due to Israeli attacks in recent days.

Mikati noted Lebanon will accept “all donations” from international sources, ensuring they will be distributed transparently through the UN to those in need.

He also highlighted the importance of electing a new president for Lebanon through a consensus among all parties.

Mikati noted that Berri assured him he would call for a parliamentary session to elect a consensus president as soon as a cease-fire with Israel is achieved.

Lebanon has been without a president for nearly two years following the end of Michel Aoun’s term in 2022. A divided parliament has so far been unable to elect a new leader.

Makiti held talks in Beirut early Thursday with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot.

“The solution lies in ending Israeli aggression on Lebanon and returning to the cease-fire call made recently by the US and France, supported by the EU and several Arab and foreign countries,” he stressed.

Since Sept. 23, Israel has launched massive airstrikes against what it calls Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, killing more than 900 people and injuring over 2,700 others, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Several Hezbollah commanders have been killed in the Israeli raid, including its leader Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah.

Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed nearly 41,600 people, mostly women and children, following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year.

The international community has warned that Israeli attacks in Lebanon could escalate the Gaza conflict into a wider regional war.

“The number of people who have crossed into Syria from Lebanon fleeing Israeli airstrikes — Lebanese and Syrian nationals — has reached 100,000. The outflow continues,” Filippo Grandi wrote on X.

“UNHCR (UN Refugee Agency) is present at four crossing points alongside local authorities and Syrian Red Crescent to support new arrivals,” Grandi added.

Since Sept. 23, Israel has launched massive airstrikes against what it calls Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, killing more than 900 people and injuring over 2,700 others, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Several Hezbollah commanders were killed in the assault, including its leader Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, who was assassinated in an airstrike in Beirut on Friday.

Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed nearly 41,600 people, mostly women and children, following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year.

The international community has warned that Israeli attacks in Lebanon could escalate the Gaza conflict into a wider regional war.

Muhammad Abdel Aal, also known as Abu Ghazi, a member of the PFLP’s political bureau and the head of its military security department, Imad Odeh, also known as Abu Ziad, a member of the PFLP’s military department and a military commander in Lebanon, and Abdul Rahman Abdel Aal, who it described only as a “comrade martyr hero” were killed in the Israeli raid in the Lebanese capital.

PFLP pledged to “continue the path of struggle and resistance until the occupation will be swept away no matter how long it takes, and no matter how great the sacrifices”.

Israel carried out an airstrike near Kola intersection in central Beirut in the early hours of Monday morning, the first time it has struck Beirut outside the southern suburbs since 2006.

The sound of the explosion was heard around the city.

Kola intersection is a popular reference point in Beirut, where taxis and buses gather to pick up awaiting passengers.

Initial pictures from the scene of the raid showed two stories of an apartment building completely blown out. A video showed onlookers running towards the building, and a mangled body laying on the sidewalk outside the building, seemingly ejected by the force of the blast.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine was founded by George Habash in 1967 as an umbrella organisation for Marxist-Leninist and Arab nationalist groups after Israel occupied the West Bank and seized East Jerusalem.

Its military wing, known as the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, is active in Gaza where it has worked alongside Hamas.

The PFLP calls for the creation of a democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine through armed struggle.

The EU and US have designated both its political and military wings “terrorist organisations”.