The Center for Women in Business at the Suliman S. Olayan School of Business (OSB) at the American University of Beirut (AUB) hosted a graduation ceremony marking the completion of QUDWA—an initiative supporting women in Lebanon’s informal sector.

The event honored twenty women from across Lebanon who successfully completed the QUDWA program. Over the past five years, these women have launched and grown their own businesses in regions including Tripoli, South Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley, and Baalbeck-Hermel.

Hundreds of Hezbollah supporters took to the streets of Beirut's southern suburbs to protest a government decision to disarm the group.

Lebanese media shared footage of similar rallies late Thursday, in other areas of the country where Hezbollah holds sway, while troops deployed to maintain order.

An Israeli drone strike targeted Friday a car on the Ansarieh highway in the southern region of al-Zahrani, killing a journalist.

The journalist, Mohammad Shehadeh, is a photographer and correspondent of a local news portal. His colleagues said he was killed while performing his professional duties.

U.S. envoy Tom Barrack said on Thursday Lebanon's government had taken a "historic" decision this week by moving to disarm Iran-backed Hezbollah, which Washington has pushed for.

In a post on X, Barrack congratulated Lebanese leaders "for making the historic, bold, and correct decision this week to begin fully implementing" a November ceasefire which ended more than a year of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, and stipulated that weapons in Lebanon be restricted to government agencies only.

Lebanon said an Israeli strike on the country's east on Thursday killed at least six people, in the latest attack despite a November ceasefire in a war with militant group Hezbollah.

"The Israeli strike on Masnaa Road resulted in a preliminary toll of six deaths and ten injuries," the Lebanese health ministry said in a statement.

One person was killed Thursday when an Israeli drone bombed a car in the town of Kfardan west of Baalbek, Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV said.

Brig. Gen. Iraj Masjedi, the assistant commander of Iran’s Quds Force for coordination affairs, said Thursday that “the project of removing Hezbollah’s arms in Lebanon is a failed scheme by America and the Zionist regime (Israel),” adding that “this dream will be buried with them.”

The Commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), General Rodolph Haykal attended the UK-hosted “Dragon Group” between 4-5 August, accompanied by UK Defense Attaché to Lebanon Lt Col Charlie Smith, reinforcing the strong military partnership between Lebanon and the UK.

The Dragon Group is a UK-led initiative launched in 2018 aboard HMS Dragon to bring together Chiefs of Defense from across the Middle Eastern region. Initially comprising nine nations, the group has evolved to reflect the region’s broader security landscape. "Lebanon’s inclusion this year underscores its strategic importance and longstanding partnership with the UK in promoting regional stability," the British Embassy in Beirut said Thursday in a statement.

The Lebanese Foreign Ministry on Thursday condemned remarks by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who said overnight that the Lebanese government’s plan on arms monopolization “will fail.”

Shiite members of Lebanon's Cabinet walked out of a government meeting on Thursday in protest of the government's approval of the objectives of U.S. envoy Tom Barrack's paper.

The rest of the Cabinet then voted in favor of the U.S.-backed plan to disarm Hezbollah and implement a ceasefire with Israel.