There is constant communication between France and Saudi Arabia to explore means to “support Lebanon’s security and stability and exert diplomatic efforts with the Americans to compel Israel to halt its attacks on Lebanon, withdraw and stop escalation on the border,” informed sources told al-Binaa newspaper.

The daily added that President Joseph Aoun is holding talks with U.S. officials to record Lebanon’s rejection of the Israeli attacks and urge the U.S. to press Israel to “withdraw, halt violations and re-activate the ceasefire agreement and the monitoring committee.”

Agence France-Presse renewed its call on Thursday on Israel to conduct a full investigation into an attack in 2023 that killed a Reuters journalist in Lebanon and wounded several others, two of them from AFP.

On October 13, 2023, an attack killed Reuters video journalist Issam Abdallah and wounded six other journalists, including AFP reporters Dylan Collins and Christina Assi, who had to have her right leg amputated.

U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus will visit Israel next Sunday in diplomatic efforts aimed at "maintaining the ceasefire and preventing Hezbollah from rearming in Lebanon," Israeli media reports said.

The report said that Ortagus would discuss in Israel possible approaches that might be adopted to ensure Hezbollah does not rearm in South Lebanon.

In a regular media briefing, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Pascal Confavreux called on Israel to fully respect its commitments under the ceasefire and withdraw from its five positions in southern Lebanon.

"France has stood by Lebanon for many months, and we are doing everything in our power to preserve the November 27, 2024 agreement. Regarding the Israeli strikes, we condemn in the strongest terms all strikes that kill civilians,” he added.

The latest Israeli military maneuvers on the northern front are aimed at “implementing defense and moving to offense,” an Israeli military official told Al-Arabiya on Thursday.

“We are dealing any immediate threat in Lebanon in a direct manner,” the official said, adding that “any Hezbollah activity along the frontier is being monitored.”

Violent Israeli airstrikes on Thursday targeted hills surrounding several Bekaa towns including Hermel and Shmestar.

The strikes killed two people, according to the Health Ministry, while several children were wounded by flying glass shrapnel from their school's windows in Shmestar. Many students also fainted according to media reports.

President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri met Thursday with head of the ceasefire monitoring committee, U.S. General Clearfield, amid intensified Israeli strikes on south and east Lebanon.

Aoun and Salam urged Clearfield to pressure Israel to halt its almost-daily attacks and end its occupation of five hills in south Lebanon, stressing that Lebanon is committed to the agreement.

U.S. envoy Tom Barrack on Wednesday said that “Lebanon must resolve its own divisions and reclaim its sovereignty.”

“On October 23, 1983, 241 U.S. Marines, sailors, and soldiers, 58 French military personnel, and six Lebanese civilians were killed when a suicide bomber destroyed the Marine barracks in Beirut -- one of the deadliest attacks on Americans overseas,” Barrack said in a post on the X platform.

President Joseph Aoun stressed Wednesday the need to hold the parliamentary elections on time, adding that the participation of expats is a must.

Aoun's comments come amid tensions over the current electoral law which only allows expats to vote for six newly-introduced seats in parliament, with Sixty-five MPs -- forming a parliamentary majority -- demanding to amend the law in order to allow expats to vote for all 128 seats.

It has been agreed to intensify the meetings of the Mechanism ceasefire committee to follow up on the implementation of the Lebanese Army plan for arms monopolization, a security source told Al-Arabiya’s Al-Hadath channel.

“10,000 Lebanese Army troops are deployed in the South Litani region,” the source said.