Israel's demolition on Thursday of a tunnel network used by Hezbollah as a command center in southern Lebanon, near the border, represents a significant setback for the Iran-backed group.

Experts said that while Hezbollah is far from defeated, the group was now exposed after two fierce wars with Israel in which it suffered major blows including the loss of much of its top leadership and Israel's occupation of parts of southern Lebanon.

President Joseph Aoun on Sunday marked the the 44th anniversary of the assassination of president-elect Bachir Gemayel by saying that "he fell to the bullets of treachery before assuming his constitutional duties, ascending as a martyr upon the altar of the nation."

A group of men and children gathered at a vantage point overlooking their village in southern Lebanon, watching from a distance as Israeli drones descended, carrying boxes laden with explosives to be dropped on houses.

It has become a daily ritual for residents of Mansouri, who fled the village weeks ago and now are watching its destruction from the neighboring village of Hanniyeh.

President Joseph Aoun visited the country's south on Saturday morning, in a surprise trip to Nabatieh, a city close to a strategic Hezbollah position recently captured and blown up by Israel.

The next round of negotiations between Israel and Lebanon in Rome has been delayed until October, a U.S. official said.

The Lebanese Army has arrested a relative of ousted Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, as well as the son of famous Lebanese drug lord Nouh Zaiter, a security source told AFP.

The source, requesting anonymity, said that the military "arrested three people, including Suleiman Hilal al-Assad, the son of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's cousin" while they were caught using drugs in the eastern Bekaa region.

Israeli army chief Eyal Zamir visited the 36th Division area on Friday together with the chief of the northern command after the Israeli army blew up the Hezbollah tunnels of the strategic Ali Taher ridge.

“After the Hamas attack on October 7, it was Hezbollah that initiated and launched the war against Israel on the northern front. Hezbollah is fighting and destroying Lebanon on behalf of the Iranian regime,” Zamir said.

The U.S. Treasury Department announced that it has taken action against entities and individuals that support Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iraq’s Kata’ib Hezbollah.

In a statement, the Treasury charged that the two groups “fuel Iran’s destabilizing influence in the Middle East, endanger U.S. and partner forces, and facilitate extensive sanctions evasion schemes.”

Israel said Friday that it was prepared for more strikes on Hezbollah after demolishing tunnels built by the Iran-backed group in southern Lebanon with a massive explosion.

After around three months of fighting against Hezbollah, the Israeli army destroyed 14 tunnel routes in the strategic Ali Taher ridge with a total length of more than 5.4 km using about 1,100 tons of explosives.

According to Israel’s Maariv newspaper, the Israeli army says that about 50 Hezbollah fighters were holed up in the compound, which was built over more than 20 years.