Israeli airstrikes overnight targeted open areas in the southern region of Iqlim al-Tuffah.

The Israeli army said claimed the strikes hit Hezbollah infrastructure including warehouses used to store weapons and missile launchers.

Ex-PM Saad Hariri on Saturday hinted that his al-Mustaqbal Movement might take part in the upcoming parliamentary elections while stressing that its political role has not ended.

Achieving a stable and prosperous future for Lebanon requires both comprehensive financial restructuring and a foundation of peace and security that rebuilds trust with the international community, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut said on Friday.

It said U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa discussed with IMF Middle East & North Africa team lead Ernesto Ramirez Rigo means to “restore Lebanon's global credibility and attract international investments.”

As Lebanon prepares for its parliamentary elections, it is still not clear if and how the expatriates will participate.

Interior Minister Ahmad al-Hajjar said that despite all the confusion, the elections will be held on time.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam met Friday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference with Melissa Parke, Executive Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, a global civil society coalition that won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize. He commended the organization's leading role in promoting nuclear disarmament and strengthening global peace.

Salam noted that “Lebanon's steadfast position -- shared by all member state of the Arab League and calling for the establishment of a zone free of nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East -- is more crucial than ever, given the ongoing wars, the alarming rise in military spending, and the increase in the number of nuclear warheads after a period of decline since the mid-1980s.”

Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri kicked off his political activity in Lebanon by meeting U.S. Ambassador Michel Issa at the Center House.

Hariri had arrived Thursday in Lebanon and will on Saturday deliver a speech marking the 21st anniversary of the assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri.

President Joseph Aoun said Friday, a day ahead of the anniversary of former PM Rafik Hariri's assassination, that "a man who dedicated his life to the project of the state" is missed, as Lebanon moves to disarm Hezbollah and extend the state's authority to all territories.

Aoun described Hariri as a man who believed in the state and dedicated his life to rebuild Lebanon after a devastating civil war, and to strengthen the country's ties with the Arab and international worlds.

Israeli troops have recently intensified their incursions into southern border villages, where they detonate houses, bulldoze lands, uproot trees, and sometimes kill or abduct people.

They've also been dropping stun grenades to scare or disperse people, sometimes during funerals.

A meeting scheduled to be held in Doha to pave the way for the Lebanese Army support conference has been postponed, local al-Liwaa newspaper said Thursday.

The daily said it had learned from informed diplomatic sources that the Doha meeting will not take place next week, as scheduled, for technical reasons.

Israeli troops advanced Thursday at dawn into al-Nouriyeh neighborhood in central Kafr Kila, where they blew up a building.

Another force had pushed into the southern border town of Odaisseh overnight, demolishing another two houses on the outskirts of the town.