French army minister Sebastien Lecornu has said that the UNIFIL's mission might become "very dangerous" as he visited a French UNIFIL contingent in Deir Kifa.

Lecornu met with Army chief Joseph Aoun on Monday and discussed with him the U.N. mission and how to protect Lebanese and UNIFIL soldiers amid rising border tensions in south Lebanon.

Israel carried out several airstrikes in south Lebanon on Monday as its artillery struck some border towns.

Lebanon’s National News Agency said Israeli warplanes and drones bombed a house and a gas station in the border town of Kfarkila in two separate raids.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Monday stressed that the election of a president in Lebanon should not be linked to the raging war in Gaza.

“The failure to elect a president and the use of weak excuses are unacceptable,” al-Rahi said in his New Year’s Day Mass sermon.

Israel carried out a series of airstrikes in south Lebanon on Sunday, as Hezbollah claimed responsibility for attacking an Israeli border post, in a continuation of the cross-border clashes that started on October 8.

Israeli warplanes struck the border villages of Aita al-Shaab, Marwahin, Ramia and Beit Leef, as Israeli drones bombed the outskirts of Alma al-Shaab and Naqoura.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday said he rejects the spread of the Gaza war to south Lebanon, calling for a halt to the cross-border clashes and for "the protection of the Lebanese and their homes and properties."

Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz has told Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz that Berlin can play a role in removing Hezbollah’s “threat” from Israel’s northern border with Lebanon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu overnight stressed that he is committed to “restoring security” along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon so that the Israelis who were evacuated from there can return to their communities.

“On the northern border, we are landing heavy blows against Hezbollah, eliminating many terrorists and destroying the enemy’s capabilities,” Netanyahu said in a press conference in Tel Aviv.

Twenty-five people including women and children were on Thursday stranded mid-air for hours in Jounieh’s cable car system (Teleferique du Liban).

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil, who has long bragged about having no allies within the complicated Lebanese political system, still feels proud today for "maintaining his stance" unlike other politicians.

Even the FPM's old-ally, Hezbollah, is not an ally, Bassil told Nidaa al-Watan newspaper, in remarks published Friday.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin have discussed "threats to regional security, including Hezbollah’s destabilizing activities in southern Lebanon," the Pentagon said in a statement.

The two ministers also discussed, in a phone call Thursday, Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, preparations for the stabilization phase that will follow, and other attacks by Iran-aligned groups against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria and Houthi assaults against international commerce in the Red Sea.