Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has assigned former Minister Ron Dermer the responsibility of handling the Lebanese file during war, U.S. news portal Axios reported on Friday.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam warned Friday that Lebanon is "facing one of the most dangerous chapters in its modern history."

"The truth is, this is a conflict they (Lebanese people) did not choose and did not want. In the past few weeks, as hostilities intensified, more than 900,000 people—nearly one in five residents—have been forced to flee their homes and seek refuge across Lebanese territory," said Salam in a speech at the Grand Serail during the launch of the "2026 Emergency Humanitarian Appeal for Lebanon," in the presence of U.N. chief Antonio Guterres, U.N. officials and foreign ambassadors.

Speaker Nabih Berri on Friday reaffirmed to visiting U.N. chief Antonio Guterres Lebanon's commitment to U.N. Resolution 1701, stressing that "there is no alternative to the UNIFIL force for implementing it in ccordination with the Lebanese Army."

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said Friday in an interview with Al-Arabiya's Al-Hadath channel that "Hezbollah is an Iranian faction present in Lebanon."

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Friday the strikes on Lebanon so far were "just the beginning" and warned that Lebanon will suffer increasing damage to its infrastructure, after the Israeli army targeted a bridge over the Litani river that it said Hezbollah had been using as a passageway for its fighters.

"This is just the beginning and the Lebanese government, and the State of Lebanon will pay an increasing price in damage to Lebanese national infrastructure used by Hezbollah terrorists due to terrorist activity and launches at the State of Israel," Katz said at a meeting with army top brass.

Eight people were killed Friday and nine wounded in a strike on Sidon's al-Fawwar, as Israel targeted motorbikes and a Hezbollah-affiliated health center in Safad al-Battikh, kfartebnit and Aiteet.

The Israeli army warned of a strike on a building in Abbasiyyeh-Tyre, and struck and shelled Teffahta, al-Henniyyeh, Qlayle, al-Majadel, Zebqine, Majdal Selem, Sojod, Kfarhamam, Kfarshouba, Rashayya al-Fakhar and Qabrikha in south Lebanon.

The Iranian Chargé d'Affaires in Lebanon, Tawfiq Samadi, appeared Friday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the summons of Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji.

Israeli army chief Eyal Zamir noted Thursday that "the Lebanese government is not imposing its authority" against Hezbollah and that his army "will do so.'

Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji on Thursday summoned the Iranian charge d'affaires in Lebanon, after the Lebanese government decided to protest a declaration by Iran's Revolutionary Guard about a joint operation with Hezbollah against Israel.

Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei thanked Tehran's allied armed groups across the region including in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen on Thursday.

"I also express my sincere gratitude to the fighters of the 'Resistance Front'," Khamenei said in a statement read by a news anchor on state television, referring to the Houthis in Yemen, Lebanon's Hezbollah as well as allied groups in Iraq.