A wave of Israeli airstrikes targeted the Iqlim al-Tuffah heights and the area between Ansar and al-Zrariyeh in south Lebanon on Thursday evening, with the Israeli army claiming that the strikes hit "Hezbollah military sites, including arms depots and a rocket launchpad."

The violent strikes, which have become frequent in recent months, came a day after U.S. envoy Tom Barrack departed Lebanon after a three-day visit in which he discussed the thorny issue of Hezbollah's disarmament amid Israel's continued occupation of five hills in south Lebanon and its daily assassinations against suspected Hezbollah operatives.

Aircraft from Lebanon, Jordan, Spain and Israel were on their way Thursday to help battle a huge wildfire in Cyprus that has claimed the lives of two people. Police were investigating reports that arsonists were to blame.

The flames have scorched more than 120 square kilometers (46 square miles) of forested hillsides in one of the worst such blazes in recent memory.

The U.S. paper delivered to Lebanon by U.S. envoy Tom Barrack calls for a two-stage solution for Hezbollah’s arms, a media report said.

U.S. envoy Tom Barrack has warned that Lebanon’s failure to take tangible steps toward disarming Hezbollah would lead to perpetuating the current situation which involves airstrikes in the South and drones over Beirut, Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported.

U.S. envoy Tom Barrack has told Lebanese MPs and ministers in his meetings in Beirut that the U.S. cannot give guarantees to Lebanon in return for Hezbollah’s disarmament, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Thursday.

U.S. envoy Tom Barrack has received from Lebanon a “serious proposal” calling for a “gradual” solution for the thorny issue of Hezbollah’s arms, media reports said on Thursday.

President Joseph Aoun said Thursday that Lebanon is “at a pivotal crossroads, which might be fateful,” adding that “our unity, cooperation and solidarity are essential in order for us to confront all challenges.”

Israeli troops made an 800-meter incursion into Houla at dawn Thursday and blew up a livestock room facing the al-Abbad Israeli military post, the National News Agency said.

Sitting near a poster of Che Guevara inside his French prison cell before his release this week, pro-Palestinian Lebanese militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah said the "struggle" kept him going during his four decades behind bars.

A court last week ordered the 74-year-old -- who was jailed over the 1982 killings of two foreign diplomats in Paris -- be released from the Lannemezan prison in southern France on Friday.

The European Union on Wednesday announced a new €12.5 million project to support the Lebanese Army in "leading recovery efforts, enhancing security and helping communities in Southern Lebanon rebuild."

The project will be implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).