Lebanese official media said separate Israeli strikes Tuesday in south Lebanon killed five people including three Syrian children, with Hezbollah announcing rocket fire at Israel in retaliation.

"Three Syrian children" were killed "in an enemy raid that targeted farmland in the village of Umm Toot," the National News Agency (NNA) said.

HSBC on Wednesday named chief financial officer Georges Elhedery as the bank's next chief executive to drive "the next phase of development and growth."

The new boss will take the helm on September 2, the bank said, as it looks to push on with a transformation undertaken by current CEO Noel Quinn, who announced his shock retirement in April.

An Israeli drone strike targeted a motorcycle on the Kfar Tebnit-Khardali road on Tuesday, killing two Syrian nationals.

Heavy-caliber artillery shells meanwhile targeted the outskirts of the southern town of Deir Mimas.

Kataeb Party chief MP Sami Gemayel has stressed that “the most important step today would be deactivating the southern front so that we take care of our country, economy, hospitals and education.”

“Once the current war ends, regardless of its results, there should be a frankness session among the Lebanese to think of solutions for all problems, without eliminating anyone or drawing wars,” Gemayel told a Kataeb delegation from Zahle that visited him in Bikfaya.

Almost two years after Michel Aoun's term ended in October 2022, Lebanese MPs still haven't managed to agree on a president or even on a dialogue to elect one.

Opposition MPs have started a presidential initiative, calling for consultations or an open election session, as they refuse a dialogue chaired by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. Berri's camp believe that a dialogue in parliament must be chaired by its Speaker, Berri.

The Israeli army has said that it has a shortage of tanks after many were damaged in the ongoing war on the southern and northern fronts.

Ammunition is also in short supply, the military said.

The Vatican’s Secretary of State Pietro Parolin proposed a list of five presidential candidates during his latest visit to Lebanon, a media report said.

“The candidates can be considered consensual and they enjoy the acceptance of all parties,” Kuwait’s al-Anbaa newspaper has reported.

A Lebanese man accused of being a member of the Hezbollah militant group and procuring drone components that were to be exported for use in attacks against Israel has been arrested in Germany, prosecutors said Monday.

The suspect, identified only as Fadel Z. in line with German privacy rules, was arrested in Salzgitter in northern Germany on Sunday, federal prosecutors said in a statement. He is suspected of membership in a foreign terrorist organization.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has said that, because of the ongoing fighting with Israel, Hezbollah will not hold rallies in much of southern Lebanon this week commemorating the martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Hussein.

Ashoura is one of the most important dates on the Shiite calendar, but this year's solemn holy day comes as Hezbollah and Israeli troops have been exchanging fire on an almost daily basis since war broke out in Gaza.

An Israeli air strike has killed a Hezbollah fighter and his sister in south Lebanon, the National News Agency (NNA) and the group said.

Later, Hezbollah said it fired rockets at northern Israel in response.