After around three months of fighting against Hezbollah, the Israeli army destroyed 14 tunnel routes in the strategic Ali Taher ridge with a total length of more than 5.4 km using about 1,100 tons of explosives.

According to Israel’s Maariv newspaper, the Israeli army says that about 50 Hezbollah fighters were holed up in the compound, which was built over more than 20 years.

Joelle Fares, who recently moved to Marjayoun, was sitting there Thursday when "everything shook". Israel said it was demolishing key tunnels built by Hezbollah beneath the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge in southern Lebanon. The explosions triggered a 4.1 magnitude tremor and rocks from the detonation completely blocked the Khardali road.

Elsewhere on the border, Israeli forces also carried out violent detonations in al-Mansouri, al-Khiam and Baraashit. Strikes targeted overnight into Friday al-Qantara, al-Mansouri, Harees, Nabatieh al-Fawqa, and Wadi Zebqine, and artillery shelled Wadi al-Hujair.

Speaker Nabih Berri has stated that "the situation is dangerous" in south Lebanon and "solutions remain far off," noting that "the framework agreement has fallen."

"If the Israelis want to occupy, they can do so," Berri added, in remarks to al-Joumhouria newspaper.

Lebanon’s mission to the United Nations has accused Israel of committing nearly 2,000 "land, air and sea violations" of Lebanon’s sovereignty during the month of July, according to a letter to the U.N.

The letter, published Thursday on the U.N. website, did not give details of the alleged violations. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Israel said Thursday it demolished key tunnels built by Hezbollah beneath the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge in southern Lebanon.

"This is strategic terrorist infrastructure that was built over two decades, with Iranian funding and planning," said a joint statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, adding that its destruction "completes the achievement of operational control over the Ali al-Taher ridge -- above and below ground".

President Joseph Aoun stated Thursday that the Lebanese state has "received the appeals of our people in Nabatieh, Tyre and Arab Salim.”

“I wish to tell them: We have heeded your calls and stand by your side; we certainly cannot remain distant from you. We must exert every effort to support and assist you, and to secure the essentials for your resilience to the greatest extent possible,” Aoun said during a cabinet session.

MP Ali Ammar of Hezbollah on Thursday responded to a statement released by the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, lamenting that “day by day, the United States’ blatant interference in Lebanese affairs is intensifying and Lebanon’s sovereignty is crudely violated -- whether through statements from the U.S. Embassy in Beirut or provocative remarks by its ambassador.”

“It is as if someone has appointed themselves guardian over Lebanon, imposing conditions and paths, categorizing its people and political forces, and dictating its choices and orientations,” Ammar said.

Israeli strikes targeted Thursday Nabatieh al-Fawqa, al-Mansouri and the region between Zebqine and Shihine.

Overnight into Thursday, artillery shelled Zawtar al-Sharqiyeh, Wadi al-Hujair, Nabatieh al-Fawqa and Wadi Slouqi, and Israeli forces detonated houses and infrastructure in al-Mansouri, Mays al-Jabal, Bani Hayyan, and al-Khiam.

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa has told President Joseph Aoun that Israel would escalate its attacks on Lebanon if Hezbollah doesn't disarm - and would accept nothing less, Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported Thursday.

The daily claimed that Issa conveyed this message from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting last week with Aoun, which prompted Aoun to convene on Wednesday with security chiefs in Baabda to draw up a proactive plan to counter a potential escalation.

The Constitutional Council on Thursday issued a decision suspending the effect of the general amnesty law that was recently approved by parliament, after an appeal was filed against the law by the Free Patriotic Movement-led Strong Lebanon bloc.

The law will remain suspended until the council issues a final verdict.