The Israeli foreign ministry said Thursday that Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem's "rejection of the ceasefire" and "rocket interceptions over Kiryat Shmona" tell "the story: Hezbollah continues to attack Israel and destabilize the region."

U.S. officials followed Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem's defiant remarks on Thursday and "we judge actions not words," U.S. sources told LBCI television.

The Israeli government announced on Thursday that negotiations with Lebanon in Washington had achieved what it described as an "unprecedented accomplishment," noting that they removed Hezbollah from the equation.

Drone alert sirens sounded in several border communities in northern Israel on Thursday shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials wrapped up a visit to the area, Israeli media reports said.

The Israeli military later said the sirens were triggered by attempts to intercept several drones that hit near soldiers in southern Lebanon. No injuries were reported.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday said that France backed the ceasefire in Lebanon after the announcement of an agreement in Washington.

The French head of state told reporters on a visit to Montenegro: "We support the ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel and everything that helps restore peace, combat terrorist activities, and fully establish Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

A Hezbollah official told AFP on Thursday that the group had informed Lebanese authorities that it rejects a ceasefire announced after Israel-Lebanon talks in Washington a day earlier.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Thursday that the army would begin deploying in "pilot zones" in the country's south, a day after Israel and Lebanon agreed in Washington to implement a ceasefire.

"The next step is practical and tangible: the deployment of the Lebanese army in pilot zones as a first phase," Salam said, according to remarks read out by Information Minister Paul Morcos after a cabinet meeting, adding that "this does not prejudice our right to a full (Israeli) withdrawal, but brings us closer to it."

The European Union signed off Thursday on a new 100-million-euro ($116 million) support package for the Lebanese Army, as it seeks to bolster the military amid a fragile ceasefire in the country.

Israel and Lebanon have agreed to renew their shaky ceasefire, with an aim to continue talks later this month for a comprehensive peace deal.

The U.S.-brokered agreement, announced in a joint statement by the U.S., Israel and Lebanon Wednesday, comes after Israeli forces made their deepest incursion into Lebanon in more than a quarter century.

Hezbollah resumed its rocket fire days after Israel and the United States launched their surprise attack on Iran on Feb. 28. Before then, Israel had regularly carried out strikes in Lebanon against what it said were militant targets, often killing civilians, despite an earlier truce reached in 2024.

In the southern city of Sidon, many residents reacted to the ceasefire announcement with skepticism, saying previous agreements had failed to stop the violence.