Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has wondered whether Hezbollah's ministers "still represent the party in the government after the cabinet declared its military and security wings banned."

President Joseph Aoun on Wednesday said he is clinging to the initiative he has launched to end the Israeli war on Lebanon.

Hezbollah said Wednesday it had targeted gatherings of Israeli soldiers near the southern border towns of Aitaroun, Odaisseh, Maroun al-Ras, Mays al-Jabal, Taybeh and Markaba, with artillery shells, rockets and attack drones.

The clashes had prevented Israeli troops from advancing into Lebanese territories, especially from the border town of khiam, one of the closest points to the Litani River, but troops were advancing Wednesday into the southern border towns of Halta and Kfarshouba, media reports said.

Israeli strikes and shelling targeted overnight into Wednesday several regions in south and east Lebanon, as Israel vowed "big surprises" and escalation.

In the south, strikes targeted Deir al-Zahrani, a hezbollah-affiliated health center in Kherbet Selem, Nabatieh, Tyre, Arab Salim, Kfartebnit, Shawkin-Zebdine, Harouf, Kafra, Burj al-Shamali, Bayt Yahoun, Burj Qalaway, Mayfadoun, Dweir, Shaqra, al-Jmayjmeh, al-Sultanieh, Shebaa, al-Litani, al-Kherdali, al-Abbasiyyah, Deir Qanoun, and Srifa, killing at least 6 and wounding at least 16.

President Joseph Aoun called Wednesday for unity and solidarity and the rejection of division and sectarian provocation, hours after Israel flattened an apartment building in central Beirut and killed ten people in other neighborhoods of the city.

Israel's military claimed the building in Bashoura was being used by Hezbollah to store "millions of dollars intended to finance its activities," without providing evidence. An apartment in the building was hit last week, and the building had also been targeted in the 2024 war.

Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem said Tuesday that Hezbollah is in a position of "legitimate defense" in the battle against Israel, "defending the land, rejecting surrender, and protecting the nation's existence and independence."

"The high level of preparation for the battle was characterized by the ambiguity surrounding our capabilities, their limits, and their deployment, the lack of need for fixed positions, and the flexibility for resistance fighters to move from anywhere in Lebanon to the front lines to engage the enemy," Qassem said in a letter to Hezbollah's fighters.

President Joseph Aoun made two phone calls Tuesday to Minister of National Defense Michel Menassa and Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal, offering his condolences for the death of three soldiers in the South as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the Zibdine-Nabatieh road.

Former Israeli minister Ron Dermer has confirmed for the first time that he has returned to work for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and that he has been appointed to lead negotiations with the Lebanese government.

"He asked me to get involved," said the former minister who retired from public life last November.

Israeli strikes and shelling targeted on Tuesday afternoon several regions in south Lebanon including al-Qsaybeh, Shhour, Jabshit-Harouf, Mayfadoun-Shawkin, Dweir and Deir al-Zahrani, al-Kharayeb, al-Taybeh, Kfartebnit, Arnoun, Aita al-Shaab, and Ramia.

At least nine people were killed in strikes on the south Tuesday, including three Lebanese army soldiers.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday reiterated that Hezbollah is a "big problem," while noting that "they're rapidly being eliminated" in the ongoing war with Israel.

"Hezbollah is a problem. It's been a problem for a long time, not just now," Trump said in response to a reporter's question.