A truck carrying oils went up in flames Monday in the Batroun town of Basbina after which it turned out that it was also carrying 304 smuggled pistols, the army said on Tuesday.

The guns were hidden above the engine along with a quantity of magazines, the army said in a statement, adding that it has arrested a number of individuals suspected of being involved in the smuggling operation.

The five-nation group on Lebanon, which comprises the U.S., France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt, will meet in the coming hours, ad-Diyar newspaper said.

The daily said Tuesday that the quintet has received positive feedbacks from the Lebanese blocs, except for some trivial remarks.

Hezbollah targeted Tuesday a group of Israeli soldiers in the al-Raheb post, a day after four of its fighters were killed in Israeli strikes on south Lebanon.

The group later targeted a group of soldiers in the occupied Shebaa Farms.

Amal Clooney helped the International Criminal Court weigh evidence that led to the decision to seek arrest warrants for top Israeli and Hamas leaders, the human rights lawyer said.

The high-profile British-Lebanese barrister posted a statement on the website of the Clooney Foundation for Justice, which she founded with her husband, American actor George Clooney.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has noted that “the presidency is a Lebanese issue par excellence,” calling on MPs to “shoulder their responsibilities, especially the parliament speaker.”

“We are awaiting the visit of French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian to Lebanon, because he is following up on the issue from all its aspects and is informed on the steps, especially in terms of specifying the characteristics that were announced for the election of a president during the meeting that was held in Doha around a year ago,” Geagea said in an interview with MTV.

Israel should not shy away from launching a military takeover of southern Lebanon if Hezbollah does not withdraw from the border, far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said.

Speaking at a faction meeting of his far-right Religious Zionism party held, unusually, in northern Israel, Smotrich demanded that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu make a clear announcement of a plan to deal with Hezbollah’s threat, saying that if necessary, Hezbollah must be dealt with through military action.

Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib called Monday on head of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Lebanon Ivo Freijsen not to interfere in Lebanon’s sovereign powers.

After he met with Freijsen, Bou Habib warned in a press conference, that Lebanon will be forced to take measure against the UNHCR if it doesn't cooperate.

Unknown assailants riding an SUV opened fire overnight towards Kataeb Party’s headquarters in Beirut’s Saifi area, the National News Agency said.

“Security agencies are following up on the issue through the cameras that are fixed at the site in order to identify the car and its type,” NNA said.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Monday declared three days of national mourning over the death of Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi, foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and a number of officials in a helicopter crash.

According to Mikati’s memo, flags will be flown at half-mast at all public administrations and institutions while radio and TV programming will be adjusted to suit the situation.

Ireland's top diplomat in a visit to Lebanon on Monday expressed his concern over the slow progress in criminal proceedings against several Lebanese men charged with the killing of an Irish peacekeeper in 2022 in the tiny Mediterranean country.

Micheál Martin, Irish foreign and defense minister, said he was "very, very concerned" about the case. He met with Irish peacekeepers in south Lebanon and with Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib and a representative of the Lebanese defense ministry.