Iraqi Prime Minister-designate Ali al-Zaidi received a call from U.S. President Donald Trump, who congratulated him on his nomination and invited him to the U.S. once his government is formed, his office announced Thursday.

Tehran's air defenses were activated to counter small aircraft and drones late Thursday, as the White House signalled that it will not be reined in by a congressional deadline on the Iran war.

The U.S. embassy in Beirut said on Thursday that Lebanon was at a crossroads and urged a meeting between President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel's defense minister on Thursday said Israel may soon have to "act again" against Iran, to ensure the Islamic republic "does not once again become a threat to Israel."

The UK's terrorism threat level was raised Thursday to "severe", the second highest in the five-tier system, following an antisemitic terror attack the previous day in London, the interior ministry said.

The Israeli army said Thursday that a soldier was killed in southern Lebanon, the fourth such death since a fragile ceasefire took effect there earlier this month.

Dozens of residents and local officials from southern Lebanon gathered in Beirut on Thursday to protest Israel's destruction of their villages, which has been ongoing despite a fragile ceasefire.

Israeli strikes on south Lebanon killed nine people including two children, the health ministry said Thursday, shortly after the president decried ongoing Israeli violations of a nearly two-week ceasefire.

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian on Thursday said a U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports would deepen disruptions in the Gulf and fail to achieve its objectives.

President Joseph Aoun on Thursday decried what he described as Israel's continued violations of the ceasefire, calling for international pressure on Israel to stop strikes on civilians and paramedics.

Aoun slammed the "continuing Israeli violations" in south Lebanon, saying they were occurring "despite the ceasefire, as do demolitions of homes and places of worship, while the number of killed and wounded rises day after day".