Lebanon had been hoping this summer would see the return of tens of thousands of expats and tourists to the crisis-hit Mediterranean nation, spending money in resorts and restaurants and attending festivals such as a famed one in an ancient Roman city.

A plan submitted by U.S. presidential envoy Tom Barrack is the most detailed yet for disarming the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.

Lebanon's cabinet decision gave the army until the end of August to submit a disarmament plan to the government. Lebanon's cabinet has told the army to draw up a plan to establish a state monopoly on arms in a challenge to the Iran-backed Shi'ite Muslim terrorist group Hezbollah,