President Joseph Aoun held a meeting Friday in Baabda with Hashem Haidar, the head of the state-run Council for South Lebanon.

Haidar briefed the president on the measures taken by the council to assist the residents of the southern villages who have been affected by the Israeli attacks, the Presidency said in a statement.

Major contacts over Lebanon are being led by Washington and the Vatican and Israeli, U.S. and Iranian officials are meeting in Oman, Lebanon’s Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported on Friday.

“Shuttle meetings are taking place in the Sultanate of Oman revolving around rearranging the regional landscape, from Iran to Lebanon. Hezbollah is on the negotiating table, and both the Americans and Israelis are discussing this file; therefore, public statements do not reflect the reality of what is happening under the table,” the daily said.

President Joseph Aoun said he is incessantly urging the international community to pressure Israel to halt its attacks on Lebanon, and that Lebanon's priority is the return of the residents to their border villages and the release of detainees from Israeli prisons.

"Lebanon cannot be safe without the safety of its South," Aoun told Friday a delegation of the citizens displaced by war. "You are our people, and the state is obligated to assist you."

After two years of operations in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army’s 401st armored brigade completed its first brigade exercise on the northern border with Lebanon, the Israeli army said.

The Israeli military added that the exercise aims to maintain and strengthen readiness for “a variety of emergency scenarios and for the mission of protecting the communities on the Lebanese border.”

Dr. Fadlo Khuri, president of the American University of Beirut (AUB) and an internationally recognized oncologist, has been named among the 100 most influential people in oncology in 2025 by OncoDaily, the leading global media platform dedicated to cancer research, clinical practice, innovation, and oncology leadership.

"The 100 Most Influential People in Oncology in 2025 recognizes the changemakers in cancer care who have helped shape current practice in oncology and continue to drive innovation and research towards better outcomes, advocacy, philanthropy, leadership, and education," the announcement stated.

Two Israeli drone strikes missed twice on Friday their target, a car on a road in southwest Baalbek.

The strikes in Majdaloun and later in Douris only caused material casualties, media reports said.

Pro-Hezbollah journalist Hassan Olleik said Friday he will not appear before criminal investigators, after he was summoned by the Central Criminal Investigation Department, over a video he posted on his platform, al-Mahatta, in which he criticized President Joseph Aoun.

Olleik accused Aoun of purchasing from Serbia defective arms for the army under his command before being elected for presidency.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said Friday, after meeting with President Joseph Aoun in Baabda, that his meetings with Aoun are "always excellent".

The meeting comes amid recent tensions between Hezbollah and the President over his commitment to disarm the group.

By Mireille Rebeiz, Dickinson College and Josiane Yazbeck, Université La Sagesse

(THE CONVERSATION) More than a year after a ceasefire nominally ended active fighting, much of southern Lebanon bears the ecological scars of war. Avocado orchards are gone and beehives destroyed. So, too, are the livelihoods they supported. Meanwhile, fields and forests have disappeared under the intense fire caused by white phosphorus shelling. Shrapnel and unexploded bombs, however, remain.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil said Thursday he agrees with Saudi Arabia on many issues, including unity and the state's monopoly on arms.

Bassil said the partition of Lebanon would not benefit the Christians in the country, amid divisions and a "clear" shifting of borders in the region.