The Delegation of the European Union to Lebanon and the Samir Kassir Foundation have announced the results of the 19th edition of the Samir Kassir Award for Freedom of the Press, in a ceremony held at the Sursock Palace Gardens, in Beirut.

This Award, established and funded by the European Union, is recognized internationally as a flagship prize for press freedom and the most prestigious journalism award in the Middle East, North Africa and Gulf region.

Hezbollah targeted Wednesday groups of soldiers in the Berkat Risha and the Malkia posts, after Israeli drones raided overnight the southern coastal town of al-Naqoura and the outskirts of al-Jebbayn, Aita al-Shaab and Ramia.

Hezbollah also said it had attacked soldiers in the Hanita forest Tuesday evening.

A Syrian was arrested after a shooting near the U.S. embassy in Beirut on Wednesday, the Lebanese army said, with the embassy saying its staff were safe.

The embassy, in the northern suburb of Awkar, "was subjected to gunfire by a person holding Syrian nationality," the army said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.

Mohammad Hammoud, in his late 70s, was at home with his wife in a south Lebanon border village when Israeli bombing hit. This time, the attack was different.

"Fire broke out in front of the house... there was a strange smell... we had trouble breathing," he told AFP by telephone from his village of Hula.

A global human rights group said that Israel has used white phosphorus incendiary shells on residential buildings in at least five towns and villages in conflict-hit southern Lebanon, possibly harming civilians and violating international law, in a report published Wednesday.

Human Rights Watch said in its report that there was no evidence of burn injuries due to white phosphorus in Lebanon, but that researchers had "heard accounts indicating possible respiratory damage."

Israeli army chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi has toured fire-affected areas in Kiryat Shmona and said Israel "was approaching a point where a decision will have to be made".

Munitions fired from Lebanon by Hezbollah on Monday evening had ignited several blazes across northern Israel.

The Progressive Socialist Party kicked off Tuesday a series of meetings with the Lebanese political parties to discuss the ongoing presidential crisis.

In Maarab, a PSP delegation comprising MPs Taymour Jumblat, Marwan Hamadeh, Akram Shehayyeb and Wael Abou Faour met with Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, in the presence of MPs Ghassan Hasbani and Nazih Matta.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has called for “a dialogue tackling issued related to economy and the political system alongside the discussions over the presidency.”

“Doesn’t dialogue over a president necessitate that we carry out a dialogue over three main issues, which are structural reforms in the Lebanese economy and model; the defense strategy and the meaning of neutralizing Lebanon; and the Lebanese system in terms of continuing the implementation of the Taif Accord and fixing its gaps through consensus among all Lebanese,” Bassil said in an interview on LBCI television.

Over the past days, Lebanon has received diplomatic messages carrying a threat of an imminent Israeli strike, a media report said.

“Most international envoys carried their concerns over the seriousness of the Israeli threat, but the most notable message came from the British side, which specified a mid-June date for the Israeli strike,” al-Akhbar newspaper quoted “prominent sources” as saying.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said the Israeli military should invade Lebanon and push "hundreds of thousands of Lebanese" away from the border area.

Hezbollah has traded regular cross-border fire with Israel since the Gaza war began almost eight months ago, but clashes have intensified in recent days.