From New York, where the previous day's push for a post-UNIFIL presence continued, Prime Minister Salam asked Guterres to maintain an international force in the south and insisted on full Israeli withdrawal and sole state control of arms, language echoed by President Aoun's call to stop seeking strength from abroad, and capped at the General Assembly by the French president's statement that only a fully sovereign Lebanon could disarm Hezbollah and restore security.

That diplomacy ran alongside reports of Israeli shelling of southern villages, armor at Khiam's northern entrance and a widening deployment three months into the framework agreement, with editors questioning whether doubts over army capacity served as a pretext to stay, after Katz threatened a continued presence in Lebanon.

Domestically, soaring fuel and diesel prices and warnings of a harsh winter fueled talk of a general strike, as Riad Salameh's accounts were frozen.