Lebanon's parliament will try to elect a president on Thursday, with officials seeing better chances of success in a political landscape shaken by Israel's war with Hezbollah and the toppling of the group's ally Bashar al-Assad in neighbouring Syria.

Lebanese political heavyweights held talks Wednesday a day ahead of a parliamentary session to elect a president, but even with key player Hezbollah weakened by war, there is no guarantee of consensus.

The post, reserved for a Maronite Christian in the country's sectarian power-sharing system, has been vacant since Michel Aoun's term ended in October, 2022. None of the political groups in the 128-seat parliament have enough seats to impose their choice,

With the deadline looming for the terms of a fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah to be met, an American diplomat on Monday said “much progress” had been made recently.

U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein the Israeli Army has started to withdraw from the western sector of south Lebanon and will continue to do so until completely out of Lebanon in what he described as "a successful process.

In a news conference in Lebanon following meetings with top Lebanese officials, Hochstein said these withdrawals would continue until the Israeli army was completely out of the country.