A U.S. State Department official said the U.S. has ordered nonessential diplomats and family members to leave Lebanon as tensions over Iran rise with the threat of a potentially imminent military strike.

The official said a continuous assessment of the regional security environment determined it was “prudent” to draw down the U.S. Embassy’s footprint so that only essential personnel remained at their posts.

Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem has emphasized that the 2025 funeral ceremony of slain Hezbollah leaders Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Sayyed Hashem Safieddine was “a pledge and renewal of the covenant to continue the resistance, a reclaiming of the initiative in rebuilding the resistance’s capabilities, and a reaffirmation of popular unity around it.”

In an interview with the Hezbollah-affiliated al-Ahed news portal marking the funeral’s first anniversary, Qassem pointed out that “its political significance is that the resistance continues -- leadership, fighters and people alike.”

Speaker Nabih Berri on Monday clarified that he has said that “the atmosphere of the five-nation group for Lebanon is in favor of postponing the elections.”

Berri added that he has not at all mentioned “any ambassador, neither from the Quintet, nor from other sides.”

Hezbollah warned that it would have no choice but to fight on after an Israeli strike on targets in Lebanon killed eight of its operatives.

Lebanon's government has vowed to disarm Hezbollah, but Israel insists it retains the right to defend itself by striking the Iran-backed militant group.

Attacks carried out by Israel on Friday in eastern Lebanon killed eight members of Hezbollah, an official from the group told AFP on Saturday.

President Joseph Aoun on Saturday strongly condemned deadly Israeli attacks on the Bekaa and the Ain al-Helweh camp carried out a day prior, the latest despite a ceasefire with Hezbollah.

In a statement, Aoun called the attacks "a blatant act of aggression aimed at thwarting diplomatic efforts" by the United States and other nations to establish stability.

Israeli strikes on the country's east and south killed at least twelve people on Friday, with Israel's army saying it targeted militant group Hezbollah and its Palestinian ally Hamas.

A Hezbollah source told AFP that a military leader from the Iran-backed group was among the dead in the strikes in the eastern Bekaa Valley.

Hamas condemned Friday an Israeli strike on the country's largest Palestinian refugee camp that killed two people.

In a statement, Hamas said the attack led to "civilian" casualties.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Friday that telling people the truth is not a choice but a must, as he defended new taxes approved earlier this week by his government.

"The financial situation we inherited is very difficult and the trust between the state and the people was damaged in the past," he said, vowing that "this won't happen again."

An Israeli strike on Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp killed two people on Friday, with Israel's army saying it had targeted the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The official National News Agency (NNA) later reported "heavy strikes" in the country's east, as Israel's army said it hit "Hezbollah command centers" in the Baalbek area.