White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has said that Hezbollah "should not try to take advantage of the ongoing conflict," shortly after Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah delivered a much-hyped speech in which he addressed threats to both Israel and the United States over the ongoing war in Gaza and the skirmishes in south Lebanon.

"This has the potential of becoming a bloodier war between Israel and Lebanon than 2006," Jean-Pierre warned.

Julia Norman, an associate professor of politics and international relations at University College London, has said that both U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah -- two actors who “are going to be very influential on how the conflict moves from this point” -- have both offered signals Friday against a wider war.

“That’s not to say it won’t, but the messaging today from both seemed to be ... trying to operate within a sense of restraint and to not have this ripple out even further,” she said.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea rejected anew the choice of war on the eve of a speech by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on the Israel-Hamas war.

"War does not lead to any actual result," Geagea told LBCI. "We need a real solution to the Palestinian cause." He added that the Axis of Resistance has done nothing that served the cause. "It's not about speeches, but rather about giving the Palestinians their rights back," he said.

Celebratory gunshots rang out over Beirut as thousands packed into a square in the Lebanese capital's southern suburbs on Friday to watch a televised speech by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

It was Nasrallah's first public remarks since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, sparked by the Palestinian militants deadly Oct. 7 incursion into southern Israel.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has met within the last two weeks with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, al-Joumhouria newspaper said.

The daily said the meeting took place in Damascus and the two leaders discussed possible options to deal with the Israel-Hamas war and prepared for the coming period.

The Kremlin on Friday dismissed a Wall Street Journal report that U.S. intelligence believed Russia's Wagner mercenary group plans to provide Hezbollah with an air defense system, saying such talk was unfounded.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that American officials were allegedly monitoring discussions between Wagner and Hezbollah over the possible delivery of the SA-22, a system that uses anti-aircraft missiles and guns to combat airstrikes.

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday warned Israel against attacking Lebanon, saying "all options" are on the table and that the chance of open conflict is "realistic."

"All options are open on our Lebanese front," Nasrallah said, in a highly-anticipated televised speech commemorating the Hezbollah fighters who have been killed in clashes on the Lebanese-Israeli border since October 8.

Israel shelled Friday the outskirts of Qaouzah, Ramya, Yaroun, Ras al-Naqoura, Marwahin, and Aita al-Shaab, as it continued its unprecedented artillery shelling on southern Lebanese towns along the border.

The Israeli army said it targeted a missile launchpad in the Shebaa Farms, while Hezbollah fired an anti-tank missile at a gathering of Israeli troops near the Mattat post facing Rmeish, inflicting "certain casualties."

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday will break weeks of silence since war broke out between Hamas and Israel, in a speech that could impact the region as the Gaza conflict rages.

After Hamas militants launched an unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip, Lebanon's southern border has seen escalating tit-for-tat exchanges, mainly between Israel and Hezbollah, an ally of the Palestinian group, stoking fears of a broader conflagration.

Faced with an increasing funding crunch, the United Nations will cut the number of refugee families receiving cash assistance in Lebanon by nearly a third next year, a spokesperson for the U.N. refugee agency said Thursday.

Due to "significant funding reductions," UNHCR and the World Food Program will give monthly cash aid to 88,000 fewer families in 2024 than in 2023, UNHCR spokeswoman Lisa Abou Khaled said.