The situations in the South “will change with the presence of the army,” whose strength “stems from its legitimacy and people’s embracement and firm confidence,” President Joseph Aoun said on Friday.

“The order for the army to confront any Israeli land incursion was aimed at sending a message to everyone that the army has become in charge of decisions in the South and is tasked with protecting it,” the president added.

French President's advisor Anne-Claire Legendre met Friday with Hezbollah's head of Arab and International Relations Ammar al-Moussawi, al-Manar TV said.

Legendre and al-Moussawi discussed Israel's violations of a ceasefire agreement reached in November last year, with al-Moussawi urging France to pressure Israel to halt its attacks.

As Lebanon prepares for its 2026 Parliamentary elections, a debate over the voting law drags on with many MPs forming a parliamentary majority pushing for amending the law to allow a large Lebanese diaspora to vote for the 128 seats.

Earlier this month, cabinet approved to send an urgent draft law demanding the amendment to Parliament, after Speaker Nabih Berri refused to discuss it in a legislative session, prompting the LF and Kataeb MPs to boycott it.

Despite rising tensions on the Israeli-Lebanese border, Israel and the U.S. detect a shift in Shiite sentiment against Hezbollah, Israel’s Ynet news portal has reported.

“The rising tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border and between Jerusalem and Beirut do not, according to sources in Washington and Jerusalem, reflect the full picture. Information obtained by Ynet indicates that the current assessments in both Israel and the United States regarding the situation in Lebanon are far more optimistic than what recent media reports suggest,” Ynet said.

Lebanon's central bank announced on Friday that money changers and transfer companies must comply with stricter rules as the country faces heavy U.S. pressure to regulate its cash economy and cut off Hezbollah funding.

MENA adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron, Anne-Claire Legendre, has reaffirmed during her visit to Lebanon France's commitment to hold a conference in support of the Lebanese army in Riyadh.

Legendre said France and Saudi Arabia are discussing Lebanon's progress in implementing the government's plan to disarm Hezbollah.

Israel is readying a limited operation on Lebanon's Bekaa and Beirut, Israeli media reports said, adding that Hezbollah is re-arming and rebuilding itself and that the Lebanese army is incapable of implementing the government's decision to disarm the group.

The Israeli army would strike underground weapon-production sites in Beirut and the Bekaa, the report said, claiming that some of the sites are hidden among residential buildings.

Former PSP leader Walid Jumblat criticized a proposition by Kataeb leader Sami Gemayel to introduce Lebanon's neutrality into the Lebanese constitution.

"Before we amend the constitution, hold on, will Israel withdraw from the occupied (Lebanese) territories?" Jumblat asked Thursday on the X platform.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has welcomed a plan by Saudi Arabia to bolster commercial ties with Lebanon, saying that he is "very thankful for the Kingdom's kind initiative".

"We highly value Saudi Arabia's appreciation for the efforts of President Joseph Aoun and the Lebanese government in preventing drug smuggling to our Arab neighbors," Salam said, after a senior Saudi official announced that his country plans to imminently bolster commercial ties with Lebanon after Lebanese authorities demonstrated efficacy curbing drug smuggling to the kingdom over the past months.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has lamented that the Lebanese government has shown “no perseverance” and “no determination” to disarm Hezbollah.

“There is no determination. There is no clearness, there is no perseverance. From time to time, there are some declarations, and everybody knows that these declarations are like empty declarations,” Geagea said in English in an interview with the UAE’s The National newspaper.