Marking the 248th Anniversary of the United States’ Independence Day, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut held a reception attended by MP Fadi Alameh, representing Speaker Nabih Berri, and caretaker Interior Minister Bassam al-Mawlawi, representing caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.   

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson noted in her remarks: “The United States has supported Lebanon and the Lebanese people since Lebanon’s birth as a nation.  Our relationship is built on a common desire for a prosperous, free, and democratic world.  The strength of our partnership is reflected in the numerous bonds connecting our two countries. We are bonded in strength.”  

Qatari envoy Abou Fahad Jassem Al-Thani will soon visit Beirut on a trip aimed at discussing the security situation in the south, not the presidential file, a media report said.

“The Qatari envoy will meet with Hezbollah, the Amal Movement and security chiefs to discuss with them the possibility of de-escalation on the southern front” with Israel, al-Akhbar newspaper quoted informed sources as saying.

The Russian embassy in Beirut has recommended that its citizens avoid traveling to Lebanon “until the situations calm down in the south of the country,” media reports said.

Russian Ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Rudakov meanwhile told al-Jadeed television that the embassy “has not issued a new statement calling on citizens to leave Lebanon.”

Israeli warplanes raided Thursday the southern border town of Aitaroun, as fears mounted that months of cross-border fire between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah could turn into a full-fledged conflict.

Israel and Hezbollah have traded near-daily cross-border fire since the Palestinian militant group's October 7 attack on Israel sparked the war in the Gaza Strip.

U.S. officials have insisted that their diplomatic efforts to contain the confrontations between Israel and Hezbollah are not stalled.

“We have a diplomatic process under way,” a senior administration official told reporters according to the Wall Street Journal.

Germany has urged its citizens to leave Lebanon as soon as possible due to the risk of escalating violence between Israel and Hezbollah.

Israel and Hezbollah, an Iran-backed ally of Hamas in Lebanon, have traded near-daily cross-border fire since the Palestinian militant group's October 7 attack on Israel sparked the war in the Gaza Strip.

An Israeli strike on Wednesday wounded five people when it hit a two-story building in the town of Nabatiyeh in southern Lebanon, state media reported.

The report came as fears mounted that months of cross-border fire between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah could turn into a full-fledged conflict.

Israel said it does not want war in Lebanon but could send its neighbor "back to the Stone Age", as the UN's humanitarian chief warned such a conflict would be "potentially apocalyptic".

The border between the two countries has seen daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants ever since the October 7 attack on Israel by Hezbollah's ally Hamas, which triggered the war in Gaza.

The U.N. humanitarian chief voiced alarm Wednesday at the prospect of Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza spreading to Lebanon, warning that it was "potentially apocalyptic."

"I see it as the flashpoint... It's potentially apocalyptic," Martin Griffiths, whose term finishes at the end of the month, told reporters in Geneva.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Wednesday that efforts should be exerted to prevent Lebanon from being turned into “an arena for armed conflicts starting from the south.”

“The relevant U.N. resolutions must be implemented in order to put an end to Israel’s expansionist ambitions, and accordingly not linking Lebanon’s stability and interests to extremely complicated conflicts and endless wars,” Mikati added, during a joint press conference in Beirut with the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.