The Israeli army is planning to occupy the three main southern cities of Tyre, Sidon, and Nabatieh, should Hezbollah intervene in an upcoming war with Iran, Israeli media said.

A report published Sunday in Maariv said the Israeli Navy could play a pivotal role in strikes on Lebanon, given that the Air Force would be occupied with operations against Iran.

President Joseph Aoun still has concerns that a third war might erupt between Israel and Hezbollah, despite new assurances from the Iran-backed group that it will not enter into any new confrontation that might break out between Tehran, the United States, and Israel, Asharq al-Awsat newspaper has reported.

"The source of the presidential anxiety is that he had received similar assurances prior to the second round of the war last March, which Hezbollah soon reneged on following the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei," the daily said.

Hezbollah will not escalate over the charges filed by Judge Claude Ghanem against 13 suspects in the Dahr al-Baidar explosives case and "a decision has been made to give political contacts a chance," political sources told the pro-Hezbollah daily al-Akhbar.

Israeli artillery shelled Friday Mayfadoun, Wadi al-Hujair, Kfarshouba and Hadatha in south Lebanon while forces set houses ablaze in al-Qantara, the National News Agency said.

Later in the day, Israeli forces carried out detonations in al-Teereh and Shebaa.

The Internal Security Forces announced Friday the arrest of a suspect in the murder of Father Samir Daou in the Jbeil district.

“The investigation is ongoing under the supervision of the competent judiciary,” ISF added.

Kataeb leader Sami Gemayel demanded on Friday the referral of Hezbollah's explosives case to the Judicial Council, urging the President and Prime Minister not to yield to any threats or blackmail.

"Any threat to civil peace is a threat to the state itself," Gemayel said.

Government Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Claude Ghanem has charged 13 individuals in the case of the Hezbollah explosives truck that was stopped in Dahr al-Baidar, the National News Agency reported on Friday.

MTV identified some of the individuals as Hezbollah members Haytham Amhaz and Ali al-Kurdi, who are in custody, in addition to Hezbollah security officials Ibrahim Habib (nicknamed Sajid) and Bilal Sabouri (nicknamed Zulfiqar). It identified another four as Mohammad Ayoub, Mohammad Zoaiter (who was in a car escorting Amhaz and al-Kurdi's truck), Mohammad Hazimeh (the vehicle’s owner), and Iryna Kryshynova, who is Amhaz's wife.

Former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has expressed his willingness to support President Joseph Aoun in developing a revised diplomatic strategy that protects national rights, MP Wael Abu Faour revealed.

Speaking to electronic newspaper al-Anbaa, Abu Faour disclosed that Jumblat had told President Aoun during a recent meeting in Baabda that he is ready to assist in crafting "an alternative negotiating approach that helps secure Lebanon's rights."

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri is trying to dissuade Hezbollah from joining a new support war in case of an eventual Iran war, Nidaa Al-Watan newspaper reported Friday.

The daily claimed there is frustration among the Shiite community and fear of a rift between Amal and Hezbollah should the armed group choose war once again. "Silent disagreements (between Amal and Hezbollah) could turn into an open political confrontation," the daily said.

The statement issued by Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem on Wednesday "constitutes a flagrant departure from the collective national will, a further persistence in imposing a fait accompli, and a continuation of adventures that have brought Lebanon nothing but destruction, displacement and collapse,” a senior political source said.

In remarks to the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper, the source accused Qassem of insisting on “placing decisions of war and peace, as well as the conditions of national sovereignty, outside state institutions and the will of the Lebanese people, as if the country were the property of a single faction deciding its fate and the future of its citizens."