The army on Saturday fired tear gas to disperse a crowd of Hezbollah supporters that again blocked the road to the airport after the group officially called for a "popular sit-in" to denounce Lebanon's banning of two Iranian planes from landing in Beirut.

Video footage shows tear gas canisters falling on peaceful protesters during a speech by Hezbollah official Mahmoud Qamati, but army sources told TV networks that the tear gas was fired after other protesters "blocked the airport road and attacked army vehicles."

Lebanese official media said an Israeli drone struck a vehicle in the south on Saturday, hours after an earlier raid and days before a deadline to complete the withdrawal of its troops.

"An Israeli drone... carried out a strike" on a vehicle in the Iqlim al-Tuffah area, the National News Agency reported, adding that the vehicle caught fire.

Hezbollah and its ally the Amal Movement appeared to be scrambling to distance themselves from Friday's attack on UNIFIL vehicles near Beirut's airport.

Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV said in a statement posted on its social media accounts that “unruly elements caused chaos with suspicious objectives on the Beirut airport road.”

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon on Friday demanded a "full and immediate investigation by Lebanese authorities" Friday after one of its vehicles was torched by Hezbollah supporters on the airport road, wounding its outgoing deputy commander.

"Attacks on peacekeepers are flagrant violations of international law and may amount to war crimes," the UNIFIL peacekeeping force said.

A vehicle emblazoned with the logo of the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon was torched late Friday as supporters of Hezbollah again blocked the road to Beirut airport.

The charred vehicle lay abandoned by the roadside as Lebanese troops deployed in response to the protest and managed to reopen the road and restore order in the area.

In a speech to a crowd of supporters at his father's tomb on Friday, ex-PM Saad Hariri stopped short of announcing a return to politics, but did say his al-Mustaqbal Movement would "stay with you and be your voice in all national milestones and in all upcoming events."

President Joseph Aoun said Thursday that he is continuing his contacts to compel Israel to withdraw its forces from south Lebanon by the February 18 deadline.

A Hezbollah delegation led by MP Mohammad Raad on Thursday handed President Joseph Aoun an invitation to attend the funerals of slain Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and his successor Sayyed Hashem Safieddine.

Israel will hold onto five strategic high points just inside Lebanon after next Tuesday’s ceasefire deadline requiring it to withdraw all troops, a top Israeli government official told U.S. news outlet Bloomberg.

The Israeli army claimed overnight that the Iranian Quds Force and Hezbollah have been exploiting civilian flights landing at Beirut airport over the past few weeks in an alleged attempt to “smuggle funds aimed at arming Hezbollah with the objective of carrying out attacks against the State of Israel.”