Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan held talks on Thursday, discussing the latest developments in Lebanon and the region, "particularly Israel's continued aggression against Lebanon, including its ongoing systematic destruction of border villages," Berri's office said.

Free Patriotic Movement leader Jebran Bassil suggested Thursday that Hezbollah "has lost its internal legitimacy" and "its justification for

The United Nations said Thursday it was "working on" maintaining a presence in Lebanon once the mandate for its UNIFIL peacekeeping force expires at the end of the year.

"In terms of the post-UNIFIL, we're currently in the process of working on these options," said Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, with the Lebanese government "very clear that they would want to keep a U.N. presence".

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has urged the Trump administration to pressure Israel to scale back its demands and end its military invasion of the country.

MP George Adwan said Thursday at a press conference held by the Strong Republic bloc in parliament that "what happened over the past two years is that a certain faction dragged Lebanon into a war in support of Gaza, and the result was the destruction of Gaza and hundreds of thousands of martyrs. This was in addition to the Israeli occupation of Lebanon and the signing of the agreement in November 2024."

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi said Thursday that negotiations are a necessity, not a concession, after he met President Joseph Aoun in Baabda ahead of a second session of direct talks between Lebanon and Israel in Washington.

"Negotiations are the only path toward ending wars and destruction, on behalf of all Lebanese people," al-Rahi said, adding that any infringement upon Lebanon's sovereignty, independence, or the rights of its people is "unacceptable."

UK Chargé D’Affaires Victoria Dunne and Deputy Defense Attaché Thomas Hobbs met Thursday senior officers of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), to deliver UK relief assistance to displaced LAF families, at the LAF logistics hub in Beirut.

The UK Ministry of Defense is providing essential and practical relief items, worth over $150,000, delivered and coordinated in partnership with the LAF. This includes personal hygiene kits, bedding, washing machines and cleaning essentials and will meet the needs of hundreds of families affected by the conflict. This is in addition to $27 million in humanitarian crisis response to Lebanon announced last week, bringing total UK support since March to $40 million.

President Joseph Aoun met Thursday with Saudi Foreign Ministry Advisor Prince Yazid bin Farhan in Baabda.

Their discussions focused on the Kingdom’s ongoing efforts to assist Lebanon in overcoming its prevailing hardships and regional challenges.

In areas of southern Lebanon it has occupied since agreeing last week to a ceasefire with Hezbollah, the Israeli army has been destroying homes it says were used as outposts by the Iran-backed militant group.

But the demolitions are happening on such a wide scale that residents, Lebanese officials and U.N. peacekeepers are increasingly worried that large numbers of people displaced by the latest war will have nowhere to return if the fragile truce holds.

Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil was killed Wednesday in an Israeli airstrike on a house in southern Lebanon where she had taken cover while reporting on the Israel-Hezbollah war. Her body was only retrieved from the rubble hours later, rescue workers said.

The daily Al-Akhbar newspaper says its reporter Amal Khalil was killed in the southern village of al-Tiri.