Contacts are ongoing with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to prevent him from executing his threat to launch a broad war on Lebanon, a diplomatic source said.

“Netanyahu has told the leaders of world powers, most notably the U.S., Russia and France, that he wants to discipline Hezbollah,” the source added, in remarks to the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Friday escalated his rhetoric regarding Lebanon’s Syrian refugee crisis, in the wake of the recent murder of LF official Pascal Sleiman at the hands of a Syrian gang.

“This land is our land and if the European Union considers the Syrian refugee file to be a humanitarian issue, then let it distribute them accordingly on all European countries,” Geagea said at a press conference in Maarab.

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The Lebanese government has received warnings about “hostile intentions by Israel and its preparations to deal a swift blow to Hezbollah in response to the group’s latest operations,” Arab diplomatic sources in Beirut said.

In remarks to the al-Anbaa news portal of the Progressive Socialist Party, the sources did not rule out an unprecedented escalation of Israel’s raids and military operations.

Economies in the Middle East and North Africa face a "shadow of uncertainty" from ongoing tensions in the region, a senior IMF official told AFP on Thursday.

"We are in a context where the overall outlook is cast into shadows," the International Monetary Fund's director for the Middle East and Central Asia department, Jihad Azour, said in an interview in Washington.

Hezbollah targeted Friday a group of soldiers near the al-Raheb post in northern Israel, while Israeli warplanes raided the southern border town of Aita al-Shaab.

Hezbollah on Thursday carried out 11 attacks on northern Israel and the occupied Shebaa Farms and Kfarshouba hills, as cross-border strikes intensified between Israel and Hezbollah.

France President Emmanuel Macron met Friday with Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Paris, as fears increased of a regional escalation in the Gaza war. Army chief Joseph Aoun will also join the meeting.

The Paris talks come hours after reports that Israel had carried out revenge strikes on Iran.

Israeli warplanes on Thursday targeted a house in the southern border town of Blida, the National News Agency said.

“Ambulance crews are heading to the location,” NNA added.

Caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi on Thursday stressed that security agencies will “prevent any form of strife.”

“All security agencies will not accept any form of self-security,” Mawlawi added, emphasizing that “Lebanon will not accept self-security, which is rejected and prohibited.”

Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh on Thursday held talks in Bkirki with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi.

“We’re open to ever dialogue and we’re all working for the safety of Christians, not their security as some are proposing,” said Franjieh after the meeting, apparently accusing rival Christian parties of seeking to be in charge of security in certain areas.