Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has criticized calls for dialogue with Hezbollah over its arms, calling for a deadline for disarming the group south and north of the Litani river.

In an interview on Thursday night with MTV, Geagea said there is no room for defense strategies and dialogues, calling instead for immediately setting a deadline of six months for the disarmament of Hezbollah.

President Joseph Aoun on Friday inspected the Port of Beirut and met with acting Customs chief Raymond Khoury, the Presidency said.

Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar on Friday interrogated former General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim in the case, in the latter’s first appearance before the magistrate.

An Israeli infantry force on Friday crossed the border into the al-Wazzani parks in south Lebanon, the National News Agency said.

President Joseph Aoun announced Thursday that “Hezbollah has shown a lot of leniency and flexibility in the issue of cooperating in the weapons file according to a specific timeframe.”

The Israeli army ordered Thursday the evacuation of neighborhoods in the southern border town of Aita al-Shaab, media reports said.

On Wednesday, Israel bombed homes in the southern town of Yater after warning residents to evacuate the properties through phone calls.

Hezbollah’s media relations unit on Thursday commented on “the recent news and reports attributed to Hezbollah sources or officials.”

MP Hassan Fadlallah denied Thursday that Hezbollah is smuggling arms through the port of Beirut, describing these claims as "lies".

Al-Arabiya television had quoted Tuesday a Western security source as saying that Hezbollah has "re-imposed its control over Beirut’s port," following the 2020 blast and is receiving arms and cash through the port.

President Joseph Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam are “directly communicating with the aim of finding a complete solution for the file of the handover of Hezbollah’s arms,” MP Michel Moussa of Berri’s parliamentary bloc said on Thursday.

The Lebanese Army carried out a thorough inspection of a site in Choueifat that the Israeli army claimed Wednesday it was a Hezbollah “arms production” facility.