Ex-PM Saad Hariri extended a thank you note on Thursday after the UAE’s capital, Abu Dhabi named a downtown street in al-Ain after Lebanon’s capital, Beirut.

France's Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian arrived in Beirut and first held talks on Thursday with President Michel Aoun in Baabda to double down on a message that no international aid for Lebanon until the government carries out much-needed reforms.

Baabda sources told LBCI TV station that “Le Drian carried a message from President Emmanuel Macron affirming support for Lebanon and for bilateral relations between the two countries, and encouraging negotiations with the IMF.”

The Israeli army began on Thursday deploying military reinforcements on the border with Lebanon “in accordance with the situational assessment."

The Israeli army announced earlier that it had decided to send military reinforcements and deploy its forces on the border with Lebanon.

An Israeli soldier was killed and an officer was wounded Wednesday when their military vehicle flipped over in the occupied Shebaa Farms, the Israeli army said.

Earlier in the day, two shells landed in the occupied Farms after being fired during an Israeli drill in the Golan Heights, sparking fires in the area and prompting Israel to scramble firefighting vehicles.

Lebanon recorded a significant tally of 124 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry announced Wednesday evening.

In its daily statement, the Ministry said 115 of the cases were recorded among residents and nine among expats.

Prime Minister Hassan Diab met Wednesday at the Grand Serail with U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea.

The National News Agency said the talks tackled “the government’s efforts to address the economic and social crisis and the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund.”

French President Emmanuel Macron will unveil a "comprehensive plan" to assist Lebanon, a French diplomatic source said on Wednesday.

The plan “might include the opening of lines of credit,” the source told Al-Arabiya’s Al-Hadath TV.

The AMAL Movement-led Development and Liberation parliamentary bloc warned Wednesday that any attempt to revise U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 -- which ended the 2006 war between Hizbullah and Israel -- would represent "tampering with the region's security" and "a blatant attempt to plunge it into the unknown."

Motorists queued at fuel stations across the country on Wednesday amid a renewed gasoline and diesel shortage crisis linked to the scarcity of U.S. dollars in the country.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Wednesday revealed that he intends to call for “an inclusive dialogue meeting that doesn’t exclude anyone” regarding his call for Lebanon’s neutrality.

“Neutrality is at the heart of the Lebanese composition and history,” the patriarch said during a meeting with MP Antoine Habshi of the Lebanese Forces and a delegation from Deir al-Ahmar and other Baalbek-Hermel villages and towns.