Israel's far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich called on Sunday for the annexation of areas of south Lebanon and the Gaza Strip currently under Israeli military control and for Israeli forces to "go to war" against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

The Free Patriotic Movement on Sunday hit back at Hezbollah official Nawaf al-Moussawi after the latter criticized FPM chief Gebran Bassil over recent statements.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam insisted at the U.N. on the need to "avert the vacuum" that would be caused by withdrawing the peacekeeping mission deployed in the country's south without a viable replacement.

Under U.S. pressure, the U.N. Security Council decided last month to fix December as the end of the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which has been deployed since 1978.

MP Hassan Fadlallah of Hezbollah on Friday snapped back at Free Patriotic Movement chief Gebran Bassil over recent remarks criticizing the Iran-backed group and the recent wars it has fought.

“Lebanon is in dire need today of honesty, loyalty, and words that unite rather than divide -- a national discourse free from incitement and deception. These qualities have been lost among many who disowned the most fundamental values of loyalty and allegiance to a single homeland, bargaining them away for the cheapest price,” Fadlallah said, apparently referring to Bassil.

In southern Lebanon, eight-year-old Yara Ajami started the academic year this week in a doorless, windowless classroom after her school was destroyed by an Israeli strike.

Well known in the area for its excellence, Ajami's elementary school in Burj Qalaway was struck by Israel in May.

President Joseph Aoun praised the army on Monday for defending all Lebanese, including those standing against it. "You defend all our people, even the very few who stand against our homeland and our state," he told army personnel.

"Your weapons are the only legitimate weapons — not by force, nor under anyone's guardianship, but by the trust of all the Lebanese in you and you alone," Aoun added, emphasizing that the people's trust "is the most important and powerful weapon."

MP Hassan Fadlallah on Friday announced that Hezbollah and the Amal Movement are not opposed to a “political solution” for south Lebanon.

"We are not warmongers; rather, these wars were imposed upon us because our destiny -- especially as the people of the South -- is to live next to this Zionist entity. Our people have endured a history rife with aggression, expansionist ambitions, and attempts to seize our villages and towns,” Fadlallah said.

Iran has submitted a proposal to the United States to end their war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days, its foreign minister told media outlets in New York.

"If certain conditions are met, the strait will be open within seven days and talks will start," Abbas Araghchi, who is in the U.S. for the U.N. General Assembly, told media outlets including the New York Times and The Guardian.

Israeli strikes targeted Friday Bani Hayyan, a region between Kfartebnit and Nabatieh al-Fawqa, the outskirts of Zawtar al-Sharqiyeh and a valley between Froun and Ghandourieh, while artillery shelled Zawtar al-Sharqiyeh, Mayfadoun, Nabatieh al-Fawqa, Wadi al-Hujeir, Majdalzoun and the outskirts of Kfartebnit.

Later in the day, Israeli forces set several homes on fire in the southern border town of al-Khiam and carried out a massive detonation in Deir Seryan.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam told Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Thursday that his country did not want to be an arena for regional wars.

Lebanon has repeatedly accused Iran of interfering in its affairs, especially since the start of the latest war, alleging that Tehran was using it as a "bargaining chip" in talks with the United States.