Laila Bassam

Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in September.

Lebanon's new government will negotiate with the International Monetary Fund for a new programme and will work to deal with the country's financial default and public debt, according to a policy statement approved by the cabinet late on Monday.

Israel's public broadcaster said on Wednesday the U.S. had authorised a "long term" Israeli troop presence in southern Lebanon, after sources told Reuters Israel had sought an extension to a Feb. 18 deadline to withdraw its forces.

The unusually direct U.S. intervention in Lebanon's sectarian politics appears aimed at capitalizing on shifts in the power balance.

Israel said it would keep troops in the south beyond a Sunday deadline.

The parliament elected army chief Joseph Aoun head of state, filling the vacant presidency with a general who has U.S. support and showing the weakened sway of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group after its devastating war with Israel.

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Monday Lebanon will cooperate with an Interpol request to arrest former Syrian intelligence officer Jamil Hassan, accused by U.S. authorities of war crimes under the toppled Assad government.

Tens of thousands of Syrians, mostly Shi'ite Muslims, have fled to Lebanon since Sunni Muslim Islamists toppled Bashar al-Assad, fearing persecution despite assurances from the new rulers in Damascus that they will be safe, a Lebanese official said.

Israel began a series of strikes on central Beirut on Tuesday evening, security sources told Reuters, after issuing its first-ever evacuation orders for four areas inside the city itself, hours before a ceasefire was expected to be announced.

U.S. President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron are expected to announce a ceasefire in Lebanon between armed group Hezbollah and Israel imminently, four senior Lebanese sources said on Monday.