Free Patriotic Movement leader Jebran Bassil considered, amid domestic and American pressure to disarm Hezbollah, that it is time for the group to admit that its arms have become a burden to Lebanon.

"I call on Hezbollah to act responsibly and to admit that these arms have become a burden," Bassil said in an interview Thursday with Lebanese TV channel MTV, also urging the group to do some "serious thinking" and "not to buy time."

Morgan Ortagus will return to being the U.S. special envoy to Lebanon and Tom Barrack is no longer in charge of the Lebanese file, Lebanese TV networks reported on Friday.

Ahead of Lebanese Army Day on August 1, the UK Chargé D’Affaires Victoria Dunne, accompanied by UK Defense Attaché Lt. Col. Charles Smith, inaugurated a new military accommodation facility in Hamat on Thursday, July 31.

The building, funded by the UK Ministry of Defense, will support UK personnel to deliver a variety of training and support to various Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) units. This includes leadership development for junior officers and infantry skills courses, including for female LAF personnel.

President Joseph Aoun held a meeting Thursday with MP Mohammad Raad, the head of Hezbollah’s Loyalty to Resistance parliamentary bloc.

In a ceremony that honored the courage and sacrifice of healthcare professionals working in conflict zones, the American University of Beirut (AUB) inaugurated the Abu Sittah-Gilbert Humanitarian Award. Established in 2024, this award recognizes health workers and first responders who risk their lives and livelihoods to protect and care for people facing war, siege, and occupation.

The event, which was hosted by the Palestine Land Studies Center at AUB, opened with a minute of silence in respect for all victims of wars and conflicts, followed by a performance by soprano and educator Ghada Ghanem, who recited short poems by Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha and sang ‘If I Must Die,’ by the late Refaat Alareer. Ghanem is a faculty member at AUB and collaborates with the Edward Said Conservatory to bring music to children in Gaza.

The UN refugee agency's representative in Lebanon said Thursday he hopes that at least 200,000 Syrian refugees return from Lebanon by the end of the year under a new government-backed return plan.

Before former President Bashar Assad was ousted in a lightning insurgent offensive in December, only about 1% of the Syrian refugees in Lebanon said they were planning to return, UNHCR's outgoing Lebanon Representative Ivo Freijsen said.

Israeli warplanes on Thursday bombed areas in northeastern and southern Lebanon, a day after a defiant speech by Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem.

President Joseph Aoun met Thursday in Baabda with U.S. Central Command chief General Michael Kurilla, who was accompanied by a U.S. military delegation and U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson.

The threats against Lebanon due to failing to hand over Hezbollah’s arms will not be limited to military action, Al-Arabiya’s Al-Hadath channel quoted unnamed diplomatic sources as saying Thursday.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday hailed the Lebanese Army on the 80th anniversary of its founding.

“Eighty years have passed since the creation of this unifying national institution and it still baptizing our holidays with loyalty, safeguarding sovereignty through great sacrifices, and protecting unity with the honor of belonging," Berri said in a statement.