Representatives of the Syrian government and Lebanon’s Hezbollah held face-to-face talks in Turkey last month to try to calm tensions ​between them, media reports said on Thursday.

The reports said the meeting went well and ​took place at the invitation of Turkish security and intelligence agencies.

The Israeli army announced Thursday that its air force targeted more than 500 goals in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip over the past month.

In a statement, the Israeli military said that the Air Force continues to operate on various fronts to eliminate what it described as "threats," as well as to support fighting forces in both offensive and defensive operations.

The Israeli army targeted overnight into Thursday the southern border towns of Mansouri, Zawtar al-Sharqiyeh, Ali al-Taher and Hadatha-Harees with airstrikes and artillery shelling.

Israeli forces also carried out detonations in Houla and al-Mansouri and fired machineguns at Hadatha and Wadi Slouqi.

Under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture, the Delegation of the European Union to Lebanon, in partnership with the Metropolis Cinema Association, and in cooperation with the European Union Member States, announced Thursday the 30th European Film Festival in Lebanon. This anniversary edition will be held at Metropolis Cinema (Mar Mikhael) from 8 to 17 October 2026.

The European Film Festival will open on Thursday 8 October with the French film La Vénus électrique by Pierre Salvadori. This romantic comedy opened the 79th edition of Cannes Film Festival this May 2026. (The opening night is by invitation only.)

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has said that Lebanon wants “a state-to-state relationship with Iran based on mutual respect,” adding that “this is what we asked of the Iranians” during his meeting with the Iranian delegation in New York.

As for the trilateral agreement with Israel, Salam told Asharq Bloomberg in an interview that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio “is aligned with us on the necessity of having a verification process for the trilateral agreement.”

Israeli leaders said on Wednesday that a "jihadist" pilot had aimed to crash a flydubai plane with mostly Israeli passengers, who overpowered him and prevented a "major disaster".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that one of the pilots of a flydubai plane bound for Tel Aviv had planned to crash it and kill its mostly Israeli passengers, who stopped a "major disaster."

"During the flight, as they approached the country, one of the pilots stabbed the other pilot, and apparently tried to crash the plane with everyone on board," Netanyahu said in a video message, calling the passengers "heroes" who "prevented a major disaster."

It appears that the political leaderships of Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement have intervened to “contain the fallout and prevent a deeper rift,” following the latest war of words between the two parties, Asharq al-Awsat newspaper has reported.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has told U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in their Monday meeting in Washington that the implementation of the framework agreement with Israel should be "reciprocal."

Salam told MTV that disarming Hezbollah is "a Lebanese demand above all else". He said he told Rubio "you need two to tango, whereas we are three today," hinting at Israel's occupation of south Lebanon.

While the mission of the UNIFIL forces in southern Lebanon is expected to end late this year, a senior European diplomatic official confirmed on Tuesday that any European security mission in Lebanon will not replace UNIFIL.

The diplomat also clarified to Al-Arabiya television that the proposed European security mission “will support the Lebanese Army in disarming Hezbollah.”