Israel has “received a U.S. green light” to keep its forces on five strategic hills in south Lebanon near Israel’s border, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has congratulated Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on forming a new government, the Gulf kingdom's foreign ministry said Thursday.

Israeli army chief Herzi Halevi hinted before Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's funeral on Sunday that the Israeli army was considering an attack on the event, Israel’s Channel 14 has reported.

IThe Israeli military said an air strike it carried out Wednesday targeted a "significant" Hezbollah militant in Lebanon, where state media reported one person killed and another wounded.

"A short while ago, the IAF (air force) conducted a precise and intelligence-based strike on a significant Hezbollah terrorist in the 4400 Unit in the area of Qasr in Lebanon," the military said in a statement.

Lebanon's new government on Wednesday won a confidence vote in Parliament, with the support of Hezbollah's bloc, even though the government statement adopted took a swipe at the group's weapons.

Ninety-five out of 128 lawmakers supported the government of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, a prominent jurist who previously headed the International Court of Justice. He was appointed last month to form a new government after a devastating war between Israel and Hezbollah, which killed over 4,000 people and caused widespread destruction.

Israeli Northern Command chief Major General Uri Gordin has told the heads of authorities in north Israel near Lebanon’s border that "the security situation allows for a return (by evacuated residents) to the communities.”

An Israeli drone on Wednesday targeted a car in the town of al-Qasr in the Hermel region near Syria.

Most MPs who spoke on the second day of a parliamentary session debating the new government’s policy statement announced that they would grant the government their votes of confidence.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri clapped his hands in applause Wednesday after MP Wael Abou Faour of the Progressive Socialist Party rejected any normalization agreement between Lebanon and Israel.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Wednesday stressed “the importance of building the future on firm and solid foundations based on security and stability.”