MP Hussein al-Hajj Hassan of Hezbollah stressed Thursday that Hezbollah “will not hand over the weapons.”

Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah lashed out Friday at President Joseph Aoun for playing "partisan" politics and "fueling division" instead of uniting the war-torn country.

Fadlallah accused Aoun of "turning the presidential palace into a partisan platform for factions whose history and alignments are well-known."

Baabda sources on Thursday categorically denied rumors circulating about a possible meeting between President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, stressing that this matter is “completely off the table, even if they happen to be in Washington at the same time.”

Syrian authorities have foiled an attempt to smuggle a shipment of advanced weapons and missiles through the Iraqi-Syrian border, the Syrian interior ministry has announced.

An Israeli-Lebanese-U.S. military meeting will be held electronically on Friday to discuss military details, finalize the two pilot zones, and determine the start date for implementation.

Israeli warplanes targeted Nabatieh al-Fawqa and the outskirts of Baraashit and Beit Yahoun in southern Lebanon on Thursday, while artillery shelled Rshaf.

The National News Agency said two strikes targeted Nabatieh al-Fawqa and a third strike targeted Ali al-Taher hill on the outskirts of the town.

The talks between Lebanon and Israel have concluded in Rome and there is a possibility of another round of virtual military talks between the two countries on Friday to discuss the implementation of pilot zones, media reports said on Wednesday.

"Talks concluded after two days of productive and positive discussions," a U.S. official said in a statement shared by the U.S. embassy in Beirut, adding that the participants "agreed on the structure and guidelines for the pilot zone process, to be finalized and implemented in the coming days".

U.S. President Donald Trump has confirmed that he would like to see Israel withdraw from “parts of Lebanon.”

Asked by Fox News whether he wants to see Israeli forces withdraw from southern Lebanon, Trump said: “Well, redeploy is another word, because we’re getting along very well with Lebanon. Israel is dealing with them very nicely – first time in many, many years.”

MP Hassan Fadlallah of Hezbollah on Wednesday noted that the latest Israeli war on Lebanon was “premeditated and planned” in advance, suggesting that Israel attacked south Lebanon to “occupy and destroy the area south of the Litani River, seize it, expel its inhabitants, and establish settlements, just as the enemy did in Palestine and in 1967 in the West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan Heights.”

Progress was achieved Wednesday in the Lebanese-Israeli talks in Rome and the implementation of the so-called pilot zones in south Lebanon will begin within days or hours, Baabda sources said.