Bartender Richard Alam has poured hardly any drinks at his pub in Lebanon's seaside city of Byblos, where once-busy streets have emptied of customers scared by border tensions during the Israel-Hamas war.

"I opened this whiskey bottle two weeks ago and it still isn't empty," said Alam, 19, standing behind his empty bar in the coastal city, home to a World Heritage site north of Beirut.

Israeli warplanes and artillery bombed Thursday morning several border towns including al-Khiyam, al-Naqoura, al-Labbouneh, Aita al-Shaab, and Marjeyoun's plain, in strikes described as preemtive.

Israel later shelled Kfarkela, Ramia, Odeisseh, Markaba, Beit Leef, Dhaira, Alma al-Shaab, Houla, Mays al-Jabal, Mhaibib, Aitaroun and other border towns after Hezbollah targeted several Israeli posts including al-Assi, Miskav Am, al-Marj, al-Bayyad, Metulla, and the Yiftah barracks.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Thursday said that his government is continuing to shoulder its responsibilities amid the dire conditions in Lebanon and the region.

“With national pride, we stress that together we are continuing to shoulder the responsibility of acting in caretaker capacity, facilitating people’s affairs, protecting the country and immunizing state institutions. Against the backdrop of the Gaza war and tragedies, we raise our voice to announce that the scenes of blood and killing will not manage to kill the rights,” Mikati said during a Cabinet session.

Druze leader Walid Jumblat on Thursday defended Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi after he was attacked on social media by pro-Hezbollah journalists and activists.

“We condemn any domestic inflammatory remarks, especially against Patriarch al-Rahi, during this extraordinarily dangerous period in the history of Lebanon and the region,” Jumblat said in a post on the X platform, formerly Twitter.

A group of French diplomats are concerned that France would lose its influence in Lebanon and other Middle East countries because of its sometimes controversial statements over the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

The diplomats penned a highly unusual joint memorandum deploring what they allege is a pro-Israeli bias from President Emmanuel Macron.

The U.N. humanitarian chief has said that he and Iran's top diplomat had discussed fears of what an expansion of the Gaza war might entail, and had agreed it "would not be good".

At a Geneva press briefing, United Nations humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths voiced deep concern Israel's war against Hamas could expand beyond Gaza, "into the north".

Germany's interior minister on Thursday announced raids in seven of the country's regions on an Islamist association suspected of links to Lebanon's Hezbollah.

"At a time when numerous Jews feel particularly threatened" Germany will "not tolerate neither Islamist propaganda nor anti-Semitist incitement hostile to Israel," Nancy Faeser said, adding that the police raids targeted the Hamburg Islamic Centre and five affiliated groups.

Lebanon's military tribunal has released a man accused of killing an Irish United Nations peacekeeper almost a year ago on bail, security and judicial officials said.

The development comes as UNIFIL, the U.N.'s peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, monitors ongoing clashes along the border between Hezbollah and Israeli troops.

Israeli drones and artillery bombed Wednesday several southern towns including Markaba, Rab Tlatine, al-Khiyam, Tayr Harfa, al-Jebbayn, Yarine, Blida, Kfarkela, Jabal Blat, Aita al-Shaab, Yaroun, Houla, al-Labbouneh, Marwahine, Rmeish, Odeisseh, al-Bustan, al-Naqoura, Mays al-Jabal, Kfarshouba and al-Dhaira.

Hezbollah for its parts targeted several Israeli posts including the Ramim barracks, the Rwaisat al-Alam post on the occupied Shebaa Farms, Berket Risha, Jabal al-Tiyarat, and Jal al-Alam, "inflicting casualties", amid reports of a volley of rockets launched from Lebanon, which activated alert sirens in Kiryat Shmona, Margaliot and Misgav Am. These Israeli towns have been largely evacuated of civilians. Israeli reports said the volley of rockets has landed in open areas in the Kiryat Shmona region.

The Lebanese file has been put on the front burner after the United States reactivated its role in the region in light of the raging Israel-Hamas war, a media report said on Wednesday.

Moreover, U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein’s latest visit to Beirut was not only aimed at keeping Lebanon away from what is happening in Gaza, but also reflected “a key side of the U.S. administration’s approach in terms of putting Lebanon’s file on the front burner,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported.