U.S. envoy Tom Barrack met Thursday in Paris with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot and they reportedly agreed to “boost cooperation between the two countries in the Lebanese and Syrian files.”

An Israeli drone targeted Friday a car on the road between Nmairiyeh and al-Sharqiyeh in the Nabatieh district.

Despite a November ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel has kept up its strikes in Lebanon, hitting suspected Hezbollah targets and occasionally those of its Palestinian ally Hamas.

Although it is allowing Israel to carry on with its low-intensity attacks in Lebanon, the U.S. does not seem inclined to “encourage or cover a new all-out war on Lebanese soil,” influential diplomats told An-Nahar newspaper.

President Joseph Aoun ruled out Friday normalization between Lebanon and Israel, which still occupies parts of southern Lebanon.

Aoun's statement is the first official reaction to Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar's statement last week in which he expressed his country's interest in normalizing ties with Lebanon and Syria.

The U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of Justice, and Europol on July 9-10 convened the fourteenth meeting of the Law Enforcement Coordination Group (LECG) on countering Hezbollah’s “terrorist and illicit activities,” a U.S. statement said.

The U.S. has said that its position “has not changed” regarding the designation of Hezbollah in its entirety as a “terrorist organization,” following recent remarks in Beirut by U.S. envoy Tom Barrack.

President Joseph Aoun said Friday that the decision of monopolizing arms has been taken and won't be reversed, praising Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri for his efforts.

Aoun said he appreciated Berri's role in "promoting stability, supporting state rebuilding initiatives, and upholding the principle of state authority, including the monopoly on arms."

Lebanese Forces Leader Samir Geagea has again criticized President Joseph Aoun for his leniency toward Hezbollah as he urged for restoring Lebanon's sovereignty and the state's decision-making capacity to address challenges in the war and crisis hit country.

In a statement Thursday, Geagea said he shares the same goal of building a state with Aoun but they have a different approach toward Hezbollah's disarmament.

Reports circulating about the Syrian government's alleged intention to take escalatory steps against Lebanon are unfounded, a source from Syria's Ministry of Information told the state-run Al-Ekhbariya TV on Friday.

The source emphasized that the Syrian government considers the issue of Syrian detainees in Lebanese prisons a top priority and is committed to resolving it swiftly through official channels between the two countries.

An Israeli force blew up a “civilian room” in the Ghasouna area in the eastern outskirts of the southern border town of Blida, after making an 800-meter incursion into Lebanese territory, media reports said.