President Joseph Aoun said Thursday that he would always choose the state and that Lebanon will not pull out of negotiations with Israel despite pressure.

"Our choice remains the State, as it protects us all, and we must be convinced that we are a sovereign nation," Aoun said.

The U.S. supports the Lebanese demands in direct talks with Israel in Washington, a senior political source said.

The source told Nidaa al-Watan newspaper, in remarks published Thursday, that the U.S. pressured Israel to retract a previously proposed draft declaration of intent, in favor of the Lebanese demands -- a comprehensive ceasefire before moving to the next pilot zone phase.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Youssef Rajji said Hezbollah is a military organization and there is no difference between its political and its military wings.

In an interview with the French news channel LCI, Rajji said that "distinguishing between the political and military wings of Hezbollah is completely unrealistic."

Israel early Thursday warned residents in the north to seek shelter after the detection of suspected incoming fire from Lebanon, as the army struck several towns and villages in south Lebanon.

Israeli strikes and shelling targeted Kfarshouba, Taraya, Deir Kifa, Majdalzoun, al-Mansouri, al-Qatrani, Shehabiyeh, Qalaway, Kherbet Selem, Srifa and Nabatiyeh.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday called on the Lebanese people to join Israel's fight against Hezbollah, saying their country had been taken "hostage" by the militant group.

"Israel is not at war with you. We are at war with Hezbollah, that has taken your country hostage... We yearn for peace with you, with Lebanon," Netanyahu said in a video statement directed at the Lebanese people.

Hundreds of people rallied on Wednesday evening in Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, in support of Iran and its allies in the Middle East war, AFP correspondents said.

The rally came despite the ongoing war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah, with Israel pounding south and east Lebanon daily and still occasionally striking Beirut's southern suburbs, known locally as Dahieh, most recently on Sunday.

Saudi Arabia announced Wednesday the end of a ban it imposed on Lebanese imports five years ago, marking a major step in attempts to rebuild relations between Lebanon and Gulf countries.

The kingdom slapped a ban on Lebanese fruits and vegetables in 2021, saying they were being used to smuggle drugs. In one notable case, Saudi Arabia announced it had seized over 5 million pills of the amphetamine drug Captagon hidden in a shipment of pomegranates coming from Lebanon.

President Joseph Aoun stressed Wednesday that "it is impossible to live outside the framework of the state, as experience has proven," warning that "anything else is a sin" against the country.

the Israeli army abducted Wednesday a municipal council member and a local worker in the southern border village of Kfarshouba, as they were pumping water to the village, the National News Agency said.

The Israeli military later said the two men had approached troops in southern Lebanon and that they were taken to Israel for questioning.

The U.N. rights chief said Wednesday he would send a mission to Lebanon to collect evidence on alleged rights abuses since the war began between Hezbollah and Israel.

"I have agreed with the government of Lebanon to conduct an impartial and independent assessment mission in the country," Volker Turk told journalists, adding: "I will soon be deploying a team to collect information and evidence on alleged violations and abuses of international human rights law, and violations of international humanitarian law and related law committed by the parties to the armed conflict in the country since March 2."