Hezbollah political bureau member Mahmoud Qmati has warned that “Washington wants Lebanon to be a U.S. colony” and that “U.S. pressures might lead the country to chaos and civil war.”

An Israeli official told Al-Arabiya television on Friday that Israel “will work on preventing the re-arming of Hezbollah and will not settle for a monitor role.”

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil whose party is now in opposition after being excluded from the Nawaf Salam government, said Friday that the FPM is "in the state and will never again be outside the state."

"No one can take us out," Bassil said. "We might be excluded from the upcoming appointments but we have our large parliamentary bloc and our people in the administration, the military and security services, the judiciary, and various state departments."

Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji, who was named by the Lebanese Forces, has again blamed Hezbollah for more than a year of clashes with Israel, which he said caused destruction, human loss, and Israeli occupation.

"We must remember who brought about the Israeli ground invasion of south Lebanon and who caused the destruction and the human losses," Rajji said in an interview with France24.

President Joseph Aoun has stressed the importance of unity in confronting any threat and for achieving the country’s prosperity.

The message that Deputy U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Morgan Ortagus has addressed to President Joseph Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam included a call for “speeding up the formation of three working groups comprised of military personnel and civilians” in order to resolve the outstanding issues with Israel, U.S. sources said.

Lebanon is ready to repatriate about one third of the more than 2,000 Syrian detainees in its overcrowded prisons, a Lebanese judicial source said on Thursday.

The move comes as Lebanon and Syria seek a new start in bilateral ties after the December fall of longtime Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

Israel's military said it struck military sites in east and south Lebanon on Thursday, in its latest attack despite a November ceasefire that ended a war against Hezbollah.

"A short while ago, the IDF (military) struck a military site containing an underground terrorist infrastructure site in the Bekaa area in Lebanon, as well as a military site containing rocket launchers in southern Lebanon in which Hezbollah activity has been identified," the Israeli military said in a statement.

Cabinet on Thursday approved a mechanism for administrative appointments, as Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced that Lebanon’s new authorities are seeking “an upright and effective state administration that protects the citizen.”

Hezbollah MP Ibrahim al-Moussawi on Thursday blasted Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji, who is close to the Lebanese Forces, for “his insistence to accuse Hezbollah of disavowing the ceasefire agreement with the Israeli enemy.”