U.S. President Donald Trump is still convinced of the actions being taken by President Joseph Aoun and of what the government of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has achieved and intends to achieve, according to “exclusive information” obtained by the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper.

Trump has informed U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus of “the necessity of urging President Aoun and PM Salam to complete what they have started. He also informed the new U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa, of the need to convince Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri of the necessity of securing the interests of the Shiite community in Lebanon in the post-Hezbollah phase,” the daily said.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam held a meeting Friday at the Grand Serail with MPs Amin Sherri and Hassan Fadlallah of Hezbollah.

Following the meeting, Fadlallah stated: "My colleague and I met with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam to discuss a range of issues of concern to all Lebanese, especially as we continue to witness this ongoing Israeli aggression against our country, as happened today and as happens on most days.”

The state-run Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation reported late Thursday that the Israeli army finalized a plan in recent weeks to launch a large-scale offensive against Hezbollah positions should the Lebanese government and army fail to dismantle the party's weapons before the end of 2025.

It quoted unnamed Israeli security sources as saying that the plan was prepared by the Israeli army command, the Northern Command and the Intelligence and Operations directorates, as part of preparation for the potential collapse of political efforts led by Beirut to disarm Hezbollah.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said that there are “countries that wanna come in and take care of Hezbollah in Lebanon.”

“And I say that right now you don’t have to do that -- you may have to do that. We have countries that are volunteering to literally come in and take care of the whole thing. We have great peace in the Middle East, it’s never happened before, and I think it’s very strong actually,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

Lebanon has received warnings from Arab and international parties that Israel is preparing for a large-scale military operation against Lebanon, Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji said Friday.

"We are intensifying our diplomatic contacts to protect Lebanon and Lebanese facilities from any Israeli strike," the LF minister told Qatari al-Jazeera news channel, adding that Lebanon is currently far from a peace treaty with Israel.

President Joseph Aoun announced Friday that the return of the Lebanese captives held in Israel “represents a priority in the negotiations,” adding that “contacts are ongoing for their release.”

Former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat said he hoped Hezbollah's leader Sheikh Naim Qassem "understands that Iran cannot use Lebanon, or a segment of the Lebanese Shiites," to negotiate its nuclear program "or anything else".

Jumblat said Thursday night that Lebanon is "between the Israeli hammer and the Iranian anvil" that is trying to send messages to the U.S. through Lebanon.

Lebanon has recently appointed a civilian, Former Lebanese Ambassador to the United States Simon Karam, to lead Lebanon's delegation to the ceasefire committee.

Speaker Nabih Berri, a staunch ally of Hezbollah, said the negotiations' priority must be a halt to the Israeli attacks and that Israel must show its readiness to withdraw from at least one position of the five hills it is occupying in south Lebanon.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he was surprised that his Lebanese counterpart declined an invitation to visit Iran, proposing instead to meet Araghchi in a "neutral third country".

Minister Youssef Rajji said on Wednesday that he could not accept Araghchi's invitation to visit Tehran "under the current circumstances."

Israeli warplanes carried out Friday a series of strikes on several regions in south Lebanon and West Bekaa, despite Lebanon recently moving to negotiations with Israel.

The strikes targeted several regions including Ansar-Zrariyyeh, Iqlim al-Tuffah and al-Rihan heights in south Lebanon, and Zillaya in West Bekaa.