A Turkish official said Thursday that Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and intelligence chief İbrahim Kalin held a series of diplomatic and security contacts to de-escalate the clashes in Syria's Sweida.

They worked with the U.S. special envoy for Syria, Israel, and regional officials and leaders, including Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblat, said the official who requested anonymity to discuss the issue.

Lebanese authorities intend to shut down all money exchange firms that deal with Hezbollah and the Central Bank intends to shut down Al-Qard Al-Hasan’s branches across Lebanon, Al-Arabiya’s Al-Hadath channel quoted unnamed sources as saying on Thursday.

President Joseph Aoun on Thursday told a delegation from the families of the Beirut port blast victims that he has a “clear commitment” to “unveil the full truth” and “hold accountable all those who caused this tragedy.”

Druze spiritual leader in Lebanon Sheikh Sami Abi al-Mona has expressed his fear of sectarian tensions in Lebanon against the backdrop of Syria's Sweida events.

In an interview, published Thursday in local An-Nahar newspaper, Abi al-Mona warned against transferring the conflict to Lebanon and urged both Sweida armed groups and Lebanese Hezbollah to hand over their arms to the state.

All armed men who appeared in a video carrying machine guns during a Ashoura procession in Zoqaq al-Blat have been handed out to Lebanese security agencies, media reports said.

Change MP Ibrahim Mneimneh had published a video on his X platform showing young men with machine guns in Beirut during Ashoura. The video sparked widespread criticism.

EU and member state ambassadors met with President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on respectively 10, 11, and 17 July 2025, the EU Delegation to Lebanon said.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam discussed in a phone call Thursday with former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat the latest developments in Syria and reactions in Lebanon.

The two leaders stressed the importance of preserving Syria's unity under the Syrian state's umbrella, as well as the need for prudence and wisdom in Lebanon to avoid reactions that could create internal tensions.

A French court Thursday ordered the release of pro-Palestinian Lebanese militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, who has been imprisoned for 40 years for the 1982 killings of two foreign diplomats.

Abdallah, 74, was sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for his involvement in the murders of US military attache Charles Robert Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov. He is one of the longest serving prisoners in France.

An Israeli drone on Thursday bombed a car between the southern towns of Toul and al-Kfour, killing one person and wounding two others, the Health Ministry said.

Lebanon’s Druze leader and former Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat told Syria’s state TV on Wednesday that “Israel is not protecting the Druze in (the unrest-hit Syrian city of Sweida), but is rather using some of the weak-minded to claim that it is protecting them.”