Bilal Erdogan, the son of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, paid an visit to the northern city of Tripoli on Friday, where he began his tour at the al-Tal Square and inspected the historic Sultan Abdul Hamid Clock Tower, which served as a symbolic gift to the city of Tripoli. He then toured the city's old souks and visited Salam al-Sibai, one of Sultan Abdul Hamid's granddaughters.

Erdogan later moved to the Grand Mansouri Mosque, where he was received by the Mufti of Tripoli and the North, Sheikh Mohammad Imam, the Mayor of Tripoli, Abdul Hamid Karimeh, and a crowd of the city's prominent figures, inspecting the Relic of the Noble Prophet section.

The judicial investigator into the Beirut port explosion case, Judge Tarek Bitar, on Friday interrogated a new defendant in the file, Lebanese Army chief warrant officer Roudy F., who had been tasked by the army with inspecting Hangar 12 prior to its explosion, the National News Agency said.

NNA reported that the interrogation took place in the presence of Attorney General Judge Mohammad Saab and the lawyers representing the defendant.

Israeli forces carried out a series of artillery strikes, detonations, and drone overflights across southern Lebanon and the capital on Friday, the National News Agency said.

An Israeli drone dropped a stun grenade on the southern town of Yater while Israeli troops carried out a heavy detonation in the town of Khiam.

President Joseph Aoun discussed Thursday Lebanese-Turkish relations with Bilal Erdogan, son of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Baabda.

"Lebanon looks forward to a new phase of cooperation and partnership, particularly in the fields of investment, reconstruction, trade, tourism, and infrastructure," Aoun told Erdogan, as he praised "the role that Turkey can play in supporting the stability of Lebanon."

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri affirmed Lebanon’s sovereignty on Thursday after Kataeb Party leader and MP Samy Gemayel urged him to respond to recent statements by Iran's parliament speaker, who said Iran and Lebanon are a unified front in peace and war.

During Thursday's parliamentary session, Gemayel raised the remarks made by the Iranian parliamentary speaker and called on Berri to publicly reject them, urging him to declare that Lebanon is independent and that no external party can drag the country into war.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Thursday at the U.N. climate summit in Antalya, Turkey, that Lebanon's climate challenges are inextricably linked to its ongoing geopolitical and economic struggles, citing the environmental impacts of the Israeli war on south Lebanon.

Salam said years of financial crisis have weakened Lebanon's institutions and public facilities, while successive wars have caused widespread destruction affecting infrastructure, agricultural lands, forests, and ecosystems.

President Joseph Aoun said Wednesday that no one can claim sovereignty or pretend to love their country while attacking the army and security forces tasked with safeguarding security, stability, and state authority.

The remarks come after Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and some lawmakers criticized army chief Rodolphe Haykal.

The Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, has stressed in an interview on al-Mayadeen television that "any new U.S. attack will be met by targeting distant American military bases as well."

He also pointed out that "ending the war on all fronts in West Asia (the Middle East), especially Lebanon, is one of our fundamental conditions."

Kataeb Party Leader MP Sami Gemayel said Wednesday that Hezbollah has "lost its way to the south," ending up in Fanar, Bsharri, Tannourine, and Dahr al-Baidar.

The remarks, posted Wednesday on the X platform, come after security forces arrested five Hezbollah members on the outskirts of Batroun and Bsharri.

The Global Health Institute (GHI) at the American University of Beirut (AUB) and the Meem Foundation, a UAE-based philanthropic organization, joined forces to create new pathways for women’s economic empowerment and community health through the Mobile University for Health (MUH), with the aim of driving lasting social impact, particularly among underserved communities.

Through funding from the foundation, GHI will train 100 women from underserved communities as community health workers, adapt MUH’s certificate programs for digital delivery, and support continuous learning and peer exchange through a community of practice.