Cabinet on Monday decided to keep the army's report on its arms monopoly plan confidential and to keep receiving monthly reports, as it suspended the license of the Hezbollah-linked Rissalat art association pending the end of investigations over its role in the illumination of the Raouche Rock with images of slain leaders Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine.

Interior Minister Ahmad al-Hajjar said the suspension idea came from Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. The minister had requested that the association's license be revoked.

Hezbollah has voiced support for “the stance taken by the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas in coordination and consultation with the rest of the Palestinian resistance factions regarding Trump’s plan to halt the Israeli war on Gaza.”

In a statement, Hezbollah said Hamas’ stance stems out of “extreme keenness on stopping the brutal Israeli aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip.”

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has said that “foiling strife cannot occur at the expense of enforcing the law,” in reference to the latest controversy over Hezbollah’s illumination of the iconic Raouche Rock with images of its slain leaders Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine.

The Israeli army on Thursday dropped grenades near UNIFIL peacekeepers working alongside Lebanese soldiers to provide security for civilian workers in the southern border town of Maroun al-Ras, UNIFIL said on Friday.

The workers were trying to clear ruins of homes destroyed in the latest war.

Al-Manar reporter and pro-Hezbollah activist Ali Berro on Friday failed to attend an interrogation session at the Raouche police department over the issue of the illumination of the Raouche Rock and launching verbal attacks on PM Nawaf Salam.

“Berro’s lawyer showed up and said that his client is a journalist … and can only appear before the Publications Court, but State Prosecutor Judge Jamal al-Hajjar ordered that he be summoned again to interrogation before the Raouche police station, saying that the appropriate measures would be taken if he fails to show up,” the National News Agency said.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri stressed Friday that the May 2026 parliamentary elections will be held on time.

Berri added that “the remaining time does not allow for any amendment” of the electoral law, hinting that expats are supposed to vote for six newly-introduced seats and not the current 128 seats.

Following the controversy sparked by the illumination of the iconic Raouche Rock with images of slain Hezbollah chiefs Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, Interior Minister Ahmad al-Hajjar on Friday demanded the dissolution of the Lebanese Art Association-Rissalat.

Hajjar accused Rissalat of violating a memo by Beirut’s governor, the assembly notice it had submitted, “the laws that govern public properties” as well as public order, noting that it did not have “an authorization or prior permission” to illuminate the rock.

The Lebanese Foreign Ministry announced Friday that it is following up on the issue of “Israel’s detention of two Lebanese citizens who were aboard the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla.”

The Ministry is “carrying out the necessary contacts to know their fate and secure their release as soon as possible,” it said in a statement.

Cabinet will convene at 3:00 pm Monday to discuss the army's first monthly report on its arms monopoly plan, TV networks said on Friday.

Cabinet had on August 5 tasked the army with developing a plan to restrict arms to the state by year end, an unprecedented move that theoretically paves the way for disarming Hezbollah.

Violent Israeli airstrikes targeted at dawn Friday the Ali al-Taher hills in the Nabatieh region, with the sounds of explosions echoing across south Lebanon.

The Israeli army claimed that it bombed the area after detecting Hezbollah “activities” in it, saying the strikes hit “weapons, military buildings and subterranean infrastructure.”