Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu overnight stressed that he is committed to “restoring security” along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon so that the Israelis who were evacuated from there can return to their communities.

“On the northern border, we are landing heavy blows against Hezbollah, eliminating many terrorists and destroying the enemy’s capabilities,” Netanyahu said in a press conference in Tel Aviv.

Air strikes in eastern Syria, "likely" carried out by Israel, killed at least 23 pro-Iran fighters Saturday, a war monitor said, reporting four more dead in the country's north.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said "23 pro-Iranian fighters," including five Syrians, four from Lebanon's Hezbollah, six Iraqis and eight Iranians, were killed in at least nine pre-dawn air strikes near the Iraqi border.

Hezbollah has recently told the five-nation group for Lebanon and other diplomatic circles, through Speaker Nabih Berri and other officials, that it is “willing to implement Resolution 1701, but not under an authority that would be hostile to it,” diplomatic sources said.

Hezbollah “wants a (Lebanese) authority that would represent a guarantee for it, seeing as it does not want to withdraw from the area south of Litani amid the presence of an authority and a president who would stab it in the back,” the sources told the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper in remarks published Saturday.

Twenty-five people including women and children were on Thursday stranded mid-air for hours in Jounieh’s cable car system (Teleferique du Liban).

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil, who has long bragged about having no allies within the complicated Lebanese political system, still feels proud today for "maintaining his stance" unlike other politicians.

Even the FPM's old-ally, Hezbollah, is not an ally, Bassil told Nidaa al-Watan newspaper, in remarks published Friday.

U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein is preparing to return to Beirut in the first half of January to carry out a mediation between Lebanon and Israel aimed at delineating the land border between the two sides, media reports said.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin have discussed "threats to regional security, including Hezbollah’s destabilizing activities in southern Lebanon," the Pentagon said in a statement.

The two ministers also discussed, in a phone call Thursday, Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, preparations for the stabilization phase that will follow, and other attacks by Iran-aligned groups against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria and Houthi assaults against international commerce in the Red Sea.

Hezbollah fighters targeted Friday several Israeli posts along the border.

The group said it attacked the Hadb Yaroun post twice, al-Marj post, and a crane carrying surveillance equipment in the Dovev Farms, inflicting casualties.

Hezbollah has accused Israel of hacking into CCTV cameras installed outside homes and shops in southern Lebanon and urged residents there to take the device offline.

The powerful Iran-backed armed group accused Israel of using the footage to target its fighters and urged Lebanese citizens to "disconnect the private cameras... from the Internet".

Israeli officials are stepping up threats against Hezbollah, warning that Israel is running out of patience as the two sides continue to trade fire along Israel's volatile northern border.

Benny Gantz, a member of Israel's War Cabinet, said Wednesday that if the international community and the Lebanese government don't restrain Hezbollah, Israel will. Israel's army chief, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said the military is in a state of high readiness and has approved plans in case it decides to open a second front in the north.