Conflicting reports have emerged on whether the Lebanese state has obtained U.S. guarantees that Israel would not threaten the safety of the municipal and mayoral polls that will be held Saturday in south Lebanon.

Despite a rise in Israeli strikes on south Lebanon in recent days, Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem has called on supporters to go out to municipal polls in the country’s south and secure a "resounding" victory.

Lebanese state media said an Israeli air strike hit a building in southern Lebanon on Thursday after Israel's military issued an evacuation call warning of imminent action against an alleged Hezbollah site.

Israel has kept up its air strikes in neighboring Lebanon despite a November truce aimed at halting more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah that included two months of full-blown war.

British Ambassador to Lebanon Hamish Cowell visited Thursday Lebanon's eastern borders with Syria to see first-hand the UK's efforts to support the Lebanese Armed Forces' (LAF) enhanced border security capabilities.

"This visit underscores the UK's commitment to strengthening LAF capabilities in extending state authority over its border with Syria, countering smuggling activities, and safeguarding local communities," the British Embassy said in a statement.

Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday called on southerners to vote heavily in Saturday’s municipal and mayoral polls, especially in towns near the border, to tell Israel that “these dear towns will only be Lebanese.”

“The human is Lebanon’s capital and participation in everything that creates the life of the state and society is the path toward freedom, justice and development,” Berri said in an appeal.

The government must set a timeframe not exceeding a few weeks to collect Palestinian arms inside and outside camps and become in charge of security, Lebanese Forces Samir Geagea said Thursday as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas visited Lebanon.

Abbas and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun agreed that Palestinian factions won't use Lebanon as a launchpad for any attacks against Israel, and to remove weapons that aren't under the authority of the Lebanese state.

An Israeli strike targeted Thursday the southern town of Rab Tlatine, a day after the Israeli army said it killed three Hezbollah operatives in attacks on three different locations in south Lebanon.

An Israeli drone had also targeted overnight prefabricated residential units in the southern border town of Mhaibib.

MP Hussein al-Hajj Hassan of Hezbollah on Thursday lamented that Israel carried out several deadly attacks in south Lebanon on Wednesday while “the world and the five-member committee are standing idly by and while the Lebanese state has not done anything until the moment.”

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri met Thursday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ain el-Tineh.

Abbas had arrived Wednesday in Beirut beginning a three-day visit to Lebanon, his first in seven years.

Deputy U.S. Envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus has a plan to get Lebanon out of its economic crisis, the diplomat said at an Economic Forum in Qatar.

"The International Monetary Fund is not the only choice," Ortagus said, adding that she has a big plan for Lebanon and a vision that allows Lebanon to become a country of investments and maybe then it would not even need the IMF loan.