UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Stefano Del Col is in direct contact with the parties over Friday’s hostilities on the Lebanese-Israeli border, UNIFIL said.

The fifth meeting between President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati, following the port blast's first anniversary, was positive compared to the previous ones, according to media sources.

Sources have informed al-Joumhouria newspaper that Aoun has discussed with Miqati a “new and positive” approach, which was sent to the PM-designate through a special envoy on Wednesday.

Hizbullah said it fired "dozens" of rockets Friday at open areas of the occupied Shebaa Farms district, drawing retaliatory Israeli strikes for a second straight day.

It is the first time that Hizbullah has directly claimed an attack on Israel since 2019, as tensions boil along the border following a week of tit-for-tat exchanges.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati seemed to be upbeat Thursday after his fifth meeting with President Michel Aoun in Baabda.

“The meeting was important… and we made progress today in the consultations, albeit a slow progress, but we are determined and keen on forming the government,” Miqati told reporters.

UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Stefano Del Col on Thursday chaired a monthly Tripartite meeting with senior officers from the Lebanese and Israeli armies at a U.N. position in Ras al-Naqoura.

Leader of the Progressive Socialist Party Walid Jumblat tweeted on Thursday that “some have a selective memory,” claiming that he was “the first to call for an international investigation committee,” concerning the Beirut port explosion.

He added that “the government has refused” his suggestion.

Pro-Hizbullah journalist Salem Zahran on Thursday described a man who claimed to have transported ammonium nitrate shipments from Beirut port to south Lebanon as “Zuheir al-Siddiq 2,” in reference to a Syrian national described as a “false witness” during the international investigations into Rafik Hariri’s murder.

“At the request of the public prosecution, the central investigations department has retrieved the transcript of what Imad Kishli said about his transportation of ammonium nitrate to the South, sending it to the investigative judge into the Beirut port crime Tarek al-Bitar for the legal measures to be taken,” Zahran said in a tweet.

On the first anniversary of the Beirut explosion, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab made an intervention at the French-hosted conference in support of the Lebanese people.

Below is the full text of Raab's speech:

British Ambassador to Lebanon Ian Collard has delivered a video message on the anniversary of August 4, 2020 catastrophic Beirut explosion.

Below is the text of the full message:

President Michel Aoun considered Thursday that “submitting a complaint to the United nations is a must,” after being briefed by the Army Commander Joseph Aoun about the results of the investigations regarding the rockets fired from Lebanon.

He declared that “it’s the first time since 2016 that Israel targets Lebanese villages with its air force, which reveals Israel’s intentions to escalate its aggressions.”