Israeli air strikes killed two pro-Iranian fighters near the Syrian capital Damascus early on Friday during raids targeting a Hezbollah arms depot and other sites near Syria's capital, a war monitor said.

Israel has hit targets in Syria several times in the past weeks as regional tensions rise over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

Hezbollah has become more inclined to accept the choice of naming a new army commander, a move that the Free Patriotic Movement is insisting on, the pro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Friday.

Hezbollah “is not opposed to the appointment of a new army chief should there be consensus over the name,” the daily added.

Israeli warplanes and artillery bombed Friday the outskirts of the Lebanese border towns of al-Jebbayn, al-Labbouneh, Aitaroun, Yarine, Dhaira, Mays al-Jabal, Blida Houla, Tayr Harfa, Aita al-Shaab, Rab Tlatine, al-Taybe, Rmeish, and Wadi Mozlem.

Israel had shelled overnight with heavy and flare shells al-Naqoura, Blida, al-Khiam, Borj al-Moulouk, Kfarshouba, and Kfarhamam.

Former top Lebanese security official Abbas Ibrahim who has served as a conduit between the United States and Hezbollah has said that at this stage the Lebanese militant group is not interested in widening its limited cross-border conflict with Israel.

Ibrahim, the former head of Lebanon’s General Security, said that as long as Hamas is able to confront the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, “the situation will remain at the current level of tension” on the Lebanese front.

Ex-president Michel Aoun “personally intervened” overnight to block a possible extension of Army chief Joseph Aoun’s term in Thursday’s Cabinet session, MTV quoted sources as saying.

“Over my dead body,” the former president reportedly told close associates.

Bartender Richard Alam has poured hardly any drinks at his pub in Lebanon's seaside city of Byblos, where once-busy streets have emptied of customers scared by border tensions during the Israel-Hamas war.

"I opened this whiskey bottle two weeks ago and it still isn't empty," said Alam, 19, standing behind his empty bar in the coastal city, home to a World Heritage site north of Beirut.

Israeli warplanes and artillery bombed Thursday morning several border towns including al-Khiyam, al-Naqoura, al-Labbouneh, Aita al-Shaab, and Marjeyoun's plain, in strikes described as preemtive.

Israel later shelled Kfarkela, Ramia, Odeisseh, Markaba, Beit Leef, Dhaira, Alma al-Shaab, Houla, Mays al-Jabal, Mhaibib, Aitaroun and other border towns after Hezbollah targeted several Israeli posts including al-Assi, Miskav Am, al-Marj, al-Bayyad, Metulla, and the Yiftah barracks.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Thursday said that his government is continuing to shoulder its responsibilities amid the dire conditions in Lebanon and the region.

“With national pride, we stress that together we are continuing to shoulder the responsibility of acting in caretaker capacity, facilitating people’s affairs, protecting the country and immunizing state institutions. Against the backdrop of the Gaza war and tragedies, we raise our voice to announce that the scenes of blood and killing will not manage to kill the rights,” Mikati said during a Cabinet session.

Druze leader Walid Jumblat on Thursday defended Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi after he was attacked on social media by pro-Hezbollah journalists and activists.

“We condemn any domestic inflammatory remarks, especially against Patriarch al-Rahi, during this extraordinarily dangerous period in the history of Lebanon and the region,” Jumblat said in a post on the X platform, formerly Twitter.

A group of French diplomats are concerned that France would lose its influence in Lebanon and other Middle East countries because of its sometimes controversial statements over the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

The diplomats penned a highly unusual joint memorandum deploring what they allege is a pro-Israeli bias from President Emmanuel Macron.