Lebanon's moves to remove weapons from all non-state groups and assert full state control are as important as financial reforms if the economy is to recover after years of crisis, the economy minister said Thursday.

"You need economic reforms, but you also need security and political reforms," Amer Bisat told The Associated Press after a cabinet session in which the Lebanese military reported progress on a plan to disarm Hezbollah and non-state groups and expand deployment in southern Lebanon.

An Israeli drone strike on Thursday targeted a car between Zaita and Bnaafoul in the Sidon district, killing one person, with Israel claiming that it hit a Hezbollah member.

Israel has intensified its strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon in recent days.

Israel's Foreign Ministry said Thursday that Hezbollah is "rearming faster than it is being disarmed," showing a map of alleged Hezbollah compounds, launch sites, and underground networks south of the Litani River.

Lebanon's military had said it had concluded the first phase of a plan to fully deploy across southern Lebanon and disarm non-state groups, notably Hezbollah.

Judge Habib Rizkallah issued an indictment Thursday in the case filed by former state prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat against Judge Tarek Bitar, the investigative judge in the Beirut port explosion case, on charges of "impersonating an investigative judge and usurping authority."

Rizkallah decided to dismiss the case against Bitar because “Oueidat had recused himself from the case as state prosecutor and therefore lacked the legal standing to prosecute Bitar.”

As the Lebanese army announced it had completed the first phase of Hezbollah's disarmament, a report in Israeli Maariv newspaper claimed that the army's statement was "far from the truth", describing army chief Rodolphe Haykal as "a clown" who would tell his government "fairy tales".

The report, published Thursday, said the Israeli army will have to act to disarm Hezbollah itself.

Israel said Thursday that Lebanon's efforts to disarm Hezbollah were encouraging but "far from sufficient", after the Lebanese army announced it had completed the first phase of the process.

"The ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States between Israel and Lebanon states clearly, Hezbollah must be fully disarmed," the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri supported Thursday the army statement about completing the first phase of its plan to disarm Hezbollah, south of the Litani river.

Berri said the South has proven that it's "thirsty for the army's presence" and called on Israel to "leave our land and sky".

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived Thursday in Beirut at a crucial time, as the government convened in Baadba to discuss its plan to disarm Hezbollah.

Araghshi said the main aim of his visit is to discuss "challenges" that Lebanon is facing amid ongoing Israeli occupation and attacks.

President Joseph Aoun voiced Thursday his support to the army, as cabinet convened at the Baabda palace to discuss the army's plan to disarm Hezbollah.

The army had announced, in a statement, earlier on Thursday, that it had concluded the first phase of their plan to fully deploy across southern Lebanon and disarm non-state groups, notably Hezbollah.

The Lebanese army will present in February an evaluation of the second phase of a plan to disarm Hezbollah in its monthly report to the government, Information Minister Paul Morcos said, after a cabinet session that discussed the matter.

Morcos said the army will start working on a plan for disarmament north of the Litani river that will be discussed by the government in February. He added that the army will also continue the process of weapons "containment" in other parts of Lebanon, meaning that they will not be allowed to be used or moved.