Head of France's foreign intelligence agency Nicolas Lerner has made a surprise visit to Lebanon for the first time since his appointment, al-Akhbar newspaper reported Thursday.

Lerner discussed in Lebanon Wednesday the border situation and the diplomatic efforts aimed at preventing the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip from spilling over into Lebanon, the daily said.

The "Youth Political Participation in Elections" project, implemented by Rashad Center for Cultural Governance within Adyan Foundation and in partnership with the United Nations Development Program, celebrated the conclusion of its activities with an exceptional closing ceremony and exhibition on Wednesday at the Beirut Metropolitan Hotel in Sin El Fil.

Lebanese youths from all over Lebanon were invited to join a virtual journey through a social media campaign and competition supported by several regional influencers. This event brought together young men and women, representatives from international non-governmental organizations, international organizations, and activists on this journey across Lebanese regions.

Israeli warplanes targeted Thursday a house in al-Naqoura and the outskirts of the southern town of Kounin, while Israeli artillery targeted Wadi Hamoul and the outskirts of Tayr Harfa.

Hezbollah had carried out five attacks on northern israel and the occupied Shebaa Farms on Wednesday, while Israeli warplanes struck overnight the southern border towns of al-Labbouneh and Mays al-Jabal.

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday said that the fronts that support Gaza in the region “will be strongly present during this holy month” of Ramadan.

“The resistance has so far deterred the enemy from going to a war in Lebanon,” Nasrallah added, in a speech marking Ramadan.

Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib on Wednesday ordered the Ministry’s competent department to file a complaint with the U.N. Security Council over the latest Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon’s eastern Baalbek region.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri is the mastermind behind the National Moderation bloc's presidential initiative.

"I was behind this initiative," Berri told ad-Diyar newspaper. "How was I accused of obstructing it?"

Three and a half years after hundreds of tons of improperly stored ammonium nitrate ignited at the Beirut port, setting off one of the world's biggest non-nuclear explosions, Lebanese and French officials put forward a plan for reconstruction and reorganization of the port Wednesday.

The Aug. 4, 2020, explosion at Beirut's port killed more than 200 people, injured and displaced thousands and devastated entire neighborhoods of the city.

Speaker Nabih Berri has inched closer to “intersecting” with Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil over the presidential nomination of retired army brigadier general Georges Khoury, a media report said.

The Lebanese and the American mediators agree on many common points regarding the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said.

Berri told ad-Diyar, in remarks published Wednesday, that there are 13 or 14 articles suggested by the U.S. that Lebanon agrees on. Yet, there are points of disagreements.

The negotiations over a solution in Gaza and south Lebanon are still ongoing and it is not true that they have collapsed, a prominent Lebanese political source has said.