Speaker Nabih Berri’s Development and Liberation bloc on Friday said it condemns “any insults, unjust accusations or disdain for the presidential posts and their powers and roles.”

“The unjust accusation campaigns against the parliament speaker and his role and jurisdiction are certainly deplorable and their objectives are exposed,” the bloc said after a meeting in Ain el-Tineh under Berri.

Israel’s military said Friday that one of its soldiers was killed in combat in northern Israel as the country’s army and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah continue to trade cross-border fire.

33-year-old Israeli reservist Master sergeant Valeri Chefonov was killed in northern Israel Thursday in an explosive drone attack from Lebanon.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri was quoted by his visitors as dubbing Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea "ungrateful."

Ad-Diyar newspaper reported Friday that Berri told his visitors that he had refused a dialogue without the LF's attendance.

The MPs of the Progressive Socialist Party, the Free Patriotic Movement and the Moderation Bloc have advised the opposition to communicate with Speaker Nabih Berri regarding the presidential election crisis, following its latest botched initiative, a media report said.

The PSP delegation that met with the opposition “stressed the need to halt the trade of accusations that would deepen the rift between the parties, recommending communication with Berri to produce a settlement leading to the election of a president,” Asharq al-Awsat newspaper has reported.

British Ambassador to Lebanon Hamish Cowell hosted Thursday a Business and Trade reception to celebrate record-breaking bilateral trade figures between the UK and Lebanon.

In 2023, bilateral trade figures between the UK and Lebanon passed the £1bn mark for the first time ever, reaching a record high of £1.1 billion, an increase on over 45% on 2022. Export brands increased to £160 million. The top five goods exported by the UK to Lebanon throughout 2023 were mechanical power generators, cars, beverages, dairy products, and medicinal and pharmaceutical products. Services accounted for over £600m.

Hezbollah targeted Friday surveillance equipment in Metula and Israeli soldiers in Hanita in northern Israel.

The Israeli army meanwhile fired at Lebanese Army soldiers in al-Ghajar, but no casualties were reported.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has rejected the latest paper issued by the opposition’s 31 lawmakers and has not seen in it a “roadmap” for resolving the presidential crisis, sources close to him said.

“The opposition members who reject dialogue, mainly the Lebanese Forces, are only working for political bickering,” the sources quoted Berri as saying, in remarks to Annahar newspaper published Thursday.

Crisis-hit Lebanon remains without a president since Michel Aoun's term ended in October 2022, as tensions boil on the border with Israel since October 7.

In a bid to break the impasse, opposition lawmakers started an initiative Tuesday, announcing two suggestions to facilitate the election of a president.

Hezbollah launched Thursday an array of suicide drones on an artillery base in Israel's Kabri in response to attacks on Lebanese civilians and villages.

The group later targeted the al-Malkia post, surveillance equipment in Hadb Yarine and a group of soldiers in Hanita in northern Israel.

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday said that his group “will not tolerate any attack in Lebanon should there be a ceasefire in Gaza.”

“Should there be a ceasefire agreement, which we hope for, our front will undoubtedly cease fire, as happened during the previous truce,” Nasrallah announced in a televised speech commemorating slain Hezbollah commander Mohammad Nasser.