The U.S. is optimistic over the Mechanism meeting that will be held on Friday and will push for a “serious and fruitful dialogue” between Lebanon and Israel, diplomats told the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper.

Several regional diplomatic sources meanwhile agreed, in remarks to the same daily, that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not seem to be in favor of going to an all-out war after the holidays, “not only for military reasons, but rather because the war option has become invalid for electoral exploitation as the date of the Israeli legislative elections expected in October nears.”

Israel has informed Washington that it has “no deadline for using force in Lebanon,” sources told Al-Arabiya’s Al-Hadath channel.

“Iran is succeeding in smuggling arms and funds to Hezbollah,” a U.S. official told the channel.

The head of the U.N. refugee agency in Lebanon said Thursday that the move by the United States to lift sweeping sanctions on Syria could encourage more refugees to return to their country.

The U.S. Senate voted Wednesday to permanently remove the so-called Caesar Act sanctions after the administration of President Donald Trump previously temporarily lifted the penalties by executive order. The vote came as part of the passage of the country's annual defense spending bill. Trump is expected to sign off on the final repeal Thursday.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has argued that Israeli strikes against Hezbollah do not violate Lebanon’s sovereignty, noting instead that the Iran-backed group is the party undermining the country’s sovereignty.

In an interview with Al-Arabiya English, Saar said Israel has only “minor” disputes with Lebanon that could be easily resolved, adding that the real problems stem from Hezbollah and Iran.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri described Thursday a series of Israeli strikes on east and south Lebanon as a "message" to a Paris conference dedicated to supporting the Lebanese army.

The meeting in Paris is taking place today with the Lebanese army chief and American and Saudi officials, at a time when France and the United States are pressuring the Lebanese government to accelerate Hezbollah's disarmament.

The Lebanese Ministry of Labor and the American University of Beirut (AUB), through its Government Engagement Platform (GEP), have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) establishing a comprehensive framework for long-term collaboration to strengthen Lebanon’s labor sector through evidence, innovation, and institutional capacity building.

The signing ceremony at AUB brought together Dr. Mohamad Haidar, minister of labor; Dr. Fadlo Khouri, AUB president; Dr. Imad Baalbaki, AUB senior vice president for advancement and business development; Dr. Yousof Sidani, dean of the Suliman S. Olayan School of Business at AUB; Dr. Kamal Badr, deputy vice president and dean of the Faculty of Medicine at AUB; Dr. Abla Sibai, dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at AUB; Dr. Mohamad Karaki, director general of the National Social Security Fund; and Marlene Atallah, acting director general of the Ministry of Labor, alongside senior university leadership, faculty members, researchers, and representatives from the Ministry of Labor.

A parliamentary session convened Thursday with the attendance of 67 MPs -- barely meeting the required quorum --, despite a boycott by the Lebanese Forces and Kataeb MPs in protest against Speaker Nabih Berri's refusal to amend the electoral law regarding expatriate voting rights.

The session will discuss a loan by the World Bank for the reconstruction of war-hit regions in Lebanon.

Israeli strikes targeted Thursday heights in Jouroud al-Hermel in eastern Lebanon and several other regions in the south.

In the east, the strikes targeted Zaghrine. In the south, the Israeli military struck Iqlim al-Tuffah, al-Jabbour and al-Rihan heights, and Zawtar near the Litani river.

A meeting was recently held between Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and some U.S. officials concerned with the south Lebanon file, who were led by U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa and a number of U.S. experts and security officials involved in the work of the Mechanism committee, a ministerial source said.

The Lebanese Army found “an entrance to a small room containing no arms or equipment” in the southern town of Touline on Wednesday, following a request from the Mechanism ceasefire committee, which “conveyed an Israeli claim about the presence of a tunnel,” the al-Akhbar newspaper reported.

Al-Jadeed television said the site had been previously targeted by an Israeli airstrike.