Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has welcomed a plan by Saudi Arabia to bolster commercial ties with Lebanon.

"We highly value Saudi Arabia's appreciation for the efforts of President Joseph Aoun and the Lebanese government in preventing drug smuggling to our Arab neighbors," Salam said, after a senior Saudi official announced that his country plans to imminently bolster commercial ties with Lebanon after Lebanese authorities demonstrated efficacy curbing drug smuggling to the kingdom over the past months.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has lamented that the Lebanese government has shown “no perseverance” and “no determination” to disarm Hezbollah.

“There is no determination. There is no clearness, there is no perseverance. From time to time, there are some declarations, and everybody knows that these declarations are like empty declarations,” Geagea said in English in an interview with the UAE’s The National newspaper.

The U.S.-led ceasefire monitoring committee, known as the Mechanism, held its 13th periodic meeting Wednesday in Naqoura under the chairmanship of U.S. general Joseph Clearfield and in the absence of U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus.

The meeting witnessed a Lebanese explanation of the continued Israeli violations, especially the breaches of the past few days and the Israeli evacuation warnings for a number of buildings in several southern towns that were followed by airstrikes, al-Binaa newspaper reported on Thursday.

MENA adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron met Thursday in Lebanon with President Joseph Aoun and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri amid increased pressure on Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah.

Anne-Claire Legendre discussed with the two leaders economic reforms that the international community is demanding crisis-hit Lebanon to implement in order to unlock financial aid. She also discussed a ceasefire reached last year with Israel, Hezbollah's disarmament, and decreasing Israel's military pressure on Lebanon, local media reports said.

The Israeli Air Force is working on reducing the response time of helicopter gunships deployed in north Israel over fears of a potential Hezbollah attack, Israel’s Maariv newspaper has reported.

“The army’s measures are aimed at providing an instant response to any infiltration of attempted attack against the border settlements, and at preventing a scenario similar to what happened in Gaza’s envelope,” Maariv added.

The United States’ new ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa will arrive in Beirut on Friday, LBCI television reported.

“He will meet with President Joseph Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Monday,” the TV network said.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil said Thursday that the army must be allowed and equipped to defend Lebanon against any aggression and that Hezbollah would then deliberately hand over its arms.

Bassil accused the political authority in Lebanon of being powerless and taking orders from foreign countries, as Washington is pressing the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah.

U.S. special envoy Tom Barrack hailed Thursday Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s historic visit to Washington, saying that Syria will play an active role in assisting the United States in fighting armed groups including Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Hamas and Hezbollah.

On Thursday, Barrack wrote on X that "Damascus will now actively assist us in confronting and dismantling the remnants of ISIS, the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps), Hamas, Hizballah, and other terrorist networks".

The British Council and the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE) have renewed their strategic partnership under the English and School Education Program to advance education reform, strengthen school leadership, and promote inclusive and equitable learning across Lebanon.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by H.E. Dr Rima Karami, Minister of Education and Higher Education, and Mayssa Dawi Hachem, Country Director of the British Council in Lebanon, in the presence of Amir Ramzan, Regional Director, British Council MENA, Hamish Cowell, UK Ambassador to Lebanon, Dr Hyam Ishak, President of the Centre for Educational Research and Development (CERD), Dr Hilda El Khoury, Director of Counselling and Guidance Department at MEHE, and senior representatives from MEHE and CERD.

Israeli warplanes bombed Thursday the outskirts of Aitaroun and Tayrfelsay in south Lebanon, with Israel claiming they targeted "a Hezbollah arms depot and underground infrastructure."

Later in the day, an Israeli drone targeted a Renault Rapid vehicle in the Nabatiyeh district town of Toul, wounding one person.