U.S. President Donald Trump told NBC News on Thursday he was "very optimistic" about a peace deal with Iran after their ceasefire, and that Israel was "scaling back" strikes in Lebanon.

Lebanon wants a ceasefire before starting any negotiations with Israel, a Lebanese government official told AFP on Thursday, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered his cabinet to begin direct talks with Beirut.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday he ordered his cabinet to open direct talks with Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah and establish "peace relations" between the two countries.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday that he urged his U.S. and Iranian counterparts, Donald Trump and Masoud Pezeshkian, to include Lebanon in the ceasefire reached with Iran.

At least 14 rocket alerts sounded through Thursday morning in communities near Israel's northern border with Lebanon as Israeli forces fight Hezbollah despite the U.S.-Iran ceasefire.

Iran's parliament speaker on Thursday said Lebanon was a key part of the two-week ceasefire with the United States, warning that violations would bring severe consequences, following massive Israeli strikes on Lebanon.

Israel vowed more strikes against Hezbollah on Thursday, dismissing mounting international demands that the fragile truce between the United States and Iran in the Gulf be expanded to cover the war in Lebanon.

Lebanon's cabinet on Thursday instructed security forces to restrict weapons in Beirut exclusively to state institutions, a day after Israeli strikes across the country including in the heart of the capital.

Israel's military said Thursday it had struck and killed a close adviser to Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem in Beirut a day earlier, when Israeli strikes pummelled Lebanon.

Britain's foreign minister said Thursday the UK "strongly" wants Lebanon included in the Middle East ceasefire as Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived in the United Arab Emirates.