Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri met Thursday with France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, who arrived on Monday in Lebanon, where a fragile truce since late November ended intense fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu had met Monday with Lebanon's army chief Joseph Aoun, and visited Tuesday U.N. peacekeepers near the Israeli border in south Lebanon.

Free Patriotic Movement leader Jebran Bassil has warned Hezbollah against supporting Army chief Joseph Aoun for the presidency, local media outlet al-Jadeed reported.

Al-Jadeed said Thursday it had learned from a parliamentary source that Bassil told Amal and Hezbollah he'd back Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea if they accept to support Aoun.

A month after the ceasefire agreement was reached with Lebanon, the Israeli army is preparing for “a major withdrawal from south Lebanon,” Israel’s state-run Public Broadcasting Corporation has reported.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has held phone talks with French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot over the situations in Syria and Lebanon.

Israeli artillery shelling on Thursday targeted the al-Roumiyeh area between the southern towns of Beit Leef and Yater, the National News Agency said.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Thursday commented on remarks by Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem about the Lebanese state’s responsibility in confronting Israel’s violation of the ceasefire agreement.

Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem has said that "the resistance will continue, has recovered and possesses enough faith that allows it to become stronger."

The Israeli army on Tuesday identified Hezbollah members transferring weapons from a weapons depot in southern Lebanon to a nearby vehicle, the Israeli army said on Wednesday.

Israel has acknowledged for the first time it was behind the assassination of Hamas leader Saleh Arouri in Beirut's southern suburbs in January 2024.

Arouri, the deputy political head of Hamas and a founder of the group’s military wing, was one of at least five top Hamas leaders assassinated in Lebanon over the past year, according to the year-end review released by Israel’s Shin Bet security service on Tuesday.

The Israeli military has blamed "operational burnout" and a "weakening of discipline and safety" in the death of a 70-year-old archaeologist who was killed in southern Lebanon along with another soldier while visiting a combat zone in November.

According to Israeli media reports, Zeev Erlich was not on active duty when he was shot, but was wearing a military uniform and had a weapon. The army said he was a reservist with the rank of major and identified him as a "fallen soldier" when it announced his death.