Iran has reduced its military footprint in Syria after a succession of strikes blamed on Israel, a source close to Iran-backed Hezbollah and a war monitor said Wednesday.

Iran has provided military support to Syrian government forces through more than a decade of civil war but a series of strikes targeting its commanders in recent months has prompted a reshaping of its presence, the sources said.

Commenting on his meeting Tuesday with the ambassadors of the five-nation group of Lebanon, Speaker Nabih Berri has said that the circumstances have not “matured” yet regarding the presidential vote.

“There is slow progress, but things have not matured enough yet,” Berri said, in remarks published Wednesday in al-Akhbar newspaper.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah acted defensive even though no one has accused him or Hezbollah of killing the LF local coordinator in Jbeil, Pascal Sleiman.

Geagea said in an interview Tuesday with Sky News Arabia that the LF had called for restraint and did not accuse Hezbollah of what he called a political assassination.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil told a delegation from the National Moderation bloc that there is a need for “consensus on a reformist, sovereign and patriotic president.”

“If that is not possible, democratic competition through voting remains much better than vacuum,” Bassil added.

Hezbollah said it fired fresh barrages of rockets across the border on Wednesday after an Israeli strike killed two civilians.

The Israeli army meanwhile said it struck 40 Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon as Israeli warplanes carried out 14 airstrikes on the outskirts of Aita al-Shaab and Ramia.

Hezbollah said it has launched dozens of rockets at northern Israel in response to the killing of two civilians in a strike blamed on Israel in Lebanon's south.

The Iran-backed Hezbollah group and Israel have exchanged regular fire in the south of Lebanon since October.

Four ambassadors of the five-nation group for Lebanon met Tuesday with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, after a series of meetings with politicians and leaders in Beirut in an attempt to break the presidential impasse in Lebanon.

The ambassadors of Egypt, France, KSA, and Qatar and the Chargé d'Affaires at the U.S. embassy in Beirut briefed Berri on the results of their meetings.

U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein will arrive in Beirut on a previously unannounced visit and it seems that the trip is linked to the meetings on Lebanon that were held Friday at the Elysee Palace, prominent parliamentary sources said.

“It also comes against the backdrop of French President Emmanuel Macron’s continuation of his endeavor to spare Lebanon a broad war,” the sources told the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper in remarks published Tuesday.

The dispute between Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil and Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab has resulted in the latter’s official separation from the FPM, a media report said.

“Bou Saab, who was one of the most prominent hawks of the FPM’s parliamentary bloc over the past years and a key adviser to ex-president Michel Aoun, is no longer part of the FPM,” senior FPM sources told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has stressed that “all efforts must be focused on finalizing the presidential juncture as soon as possible.”

As for remarks by some about serious efforts to wrap up the presidential file by May at the latest, Berri told al-Joumhouria newspaper that “what’s needed is the election of a president -- yesterday rather than today and today rather than tomorrow.”