A US State Department official announced yesterday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a conversation with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun about the confiscation of hundreds of kilograms of Hezbollah explosives. The official stated that Rubio urged Aoun to hold accountable those responsible for shipping the explosives, bearing their cost and directing them, and "stressed that returning the explosives to Hezbollah is something that should not be up for discussion at all." The official noted that Rubio urged direct military communication between the Lebanese and Israeli armed forces to “resolve the conflict.”