Lebanon has adopted a draft law on restructuring its banking sector, a condition for unlocking international aid to help it emerge from an economic crisis it has suffered since 2019.

It was an ordinary day in Beirut. In one part of Lebanon's capital, a church was inaugurated, with the leader of the Christian Kataeb party there. In another, Palestinian factions held a military parade. Kataeb members and Palestinians had clashed, again, that morning.

What happened next on April 13, 1975, would change the course of Lebanon, plunging it into 15 years of civil war. It would kill about 150,000 people, leave 17,000 missing and lead to foreign intervention. Beirut became synonymous with snipers, kidnappings and car bombs.

The Lebanese Army has started entering certain Hezbollah bases in several areas north of the Litani River, sources close to the Baabda Palace and the Grand Serail have told Lebanon’s L'Orient Today news portal.

The Lebanese judge investigating the massive 2020 Beirut port explosion questioned two former security chiefs on Friday, including former General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim, who appeared in court for the first time since being summoned nearly four years ago, according to four judicial and two security officials.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media. The hearings mark a rare breakthrough in the long-stalled probe.

The conflict in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah caused more than $700 million in agricultural damage and losses, a report from the United Nations and Lebanese authorities said.

"The agriculture sector in Lebanon has incurred an estimated $118 million in damages and $586 million in losses," said the assessment by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization with Lebanon's agriculture ministry and the National Council for Scientific Research.

Lebanon has been clearly informed that it can't rebuild what Israel has destroyed in more than a year of war with Hezbollah unless Hezbollah is disarmed.

Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji told Asharq al-Awsat, in remarks published Friday, that Deputy U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Morgan Ortagus has herself, among others before her, told Lebanese leaders that Lebanon will not receive foreign aid before disarming Hezbollah.

President Joseph Aoun is communicating with Hezbollah’s leadership to “coordinate over the issue of Hezbollah’s arms south of the Litani River and over the mechanism that the Lebanese Army Command is adopting to remove Hezbollah’s weapons,” al-Binaa newspaper reported on Friday.

MP Ali Fayyad of Hezbollah has stressed that the party is “open to any domestic dialogue course launched by the Lebanese state to address the pending files.”

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has criticized calls for dialogue with Hezbollah over its arms, calling for a deadline for disarming the group south and north of the Litani river.

In an interview on Thursday night with MTV, Geagea said there is no room for defense strategies and dialogues, calling instead for immediately setting a deadline of six months for the disarmament of Hezbollah.

President Joseph Aoun on Friday inspected the Port of Beirut and met with acting Customs chief Raymond Khoury, the Presidency said.