The Israeli army carried out Thursday a series of airstrikes on the heights of the Iqlim al-Tuffah region in south Lebanon.

The strikes targeted al-Jarmaq and al-Mahmoudiyyeh, heights that Israel frequently targets despite a ceasefire reached last year.

Former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat condemned Thursday a statement by the advisor of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after other Lebanese politicians including LF leader Samir Geagea and Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji condemned what they described as an interference in Lebanese affairs.

Khamenei's adviser Ali Akbar Velayati had said Wednesday that "Hezbollah’s presence has become more necessary to Lebanon than water and bread," to which Geagea responded that Lebanon is a sovereign country and that Iran has no right to interfere in its affairs.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Hezbollah would not disarm amid Israeli occupation and Israel would not withdraw unless Hezbollah disarms, although the ceasefire stipulates that Israel withdraw.

Salam told The New York Times, in remarks published Wednesday, that he had unsuccessfully urged Chairman of the ceasefire committee Major General Jasper Jeffers to pressure Israel to withdraw. Salam said he raised the issue with Jeffers for several months and reached no result.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi has said that “Bkirki believes that the solution for the file of Hezbollah’s arms should be through diplomacy and not armed confrontation.”

“This is what President Joseph Aoun has adopted and it is the right thing to do,” al-Rahi added, in an interview with An-Nahar newspaper.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea told Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his advisor that they do not have the right to interfere in Lebanese affairs, after Khamenei's adviser Ali Akbar Velayati said Wednesday that "Hezbollah’s presence has become more necessary to Lebanon than water and bread."

"Lebanon is an independent state with its own constitution, governed by a Lebanese authority that was democratically elected, and you have no right to interfere in its affairs," Geagea said.

United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said Thursday that uncertainty remains despite a ceasefire reached a year ago between Lebanon and Israel.

The ceasefire de-escalated two months of devastating hostilities and human suffering on both sides of the Blue Line, offered a ray of hope and raised expectations of more durable solutions, but uncertainty remains, Plasschaert said.

By Asher Kaufman, Professor of History and Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame

An already troubled ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon is looking shakier than ever.

Lebanese officials have been informed that U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus will visit Lebanon on the day that follows Pope Leo’s trip to Lebanon, MTV and al-Akhbar newspaper have reported.

Informed officials sources meanwhile told the al-Joumhouria daily that Ortagus might be coming to take part in the Mechanism committee’s next meeting, ruling out any meetings for her with senior political officials.

Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Wednesday that “Hezbollah’s presence has become more necessary to Lebanon than water and bread.”

“Hezbollah has been a rescuer of the Lebanese people,” the adviser suggested.

In one afternoon, Amani Bazzi went from being a doting mother-of-four to a widow grieving three young children.

An Israeli strike in south Lebanon killed them as the family was returning home after having lunch with her parents.