Israeli army chief Eyal Zamir visited the 36th Division area on Friday together with the chief of the northern command after the Israeli army blew up the Hezbollah tunnels of the strategic Ali Taher ridge.

“After the Hamas attack on October 7, it was Hezbollah that initiated and launched the war against Israel on the northern front. Hezbollah is fighting and destroying Lebanon on behalf of the Iranian regime,” Zamir said.

The U.S. Treasury Department announced that it has taken action against entities and individuals that support Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iraq’s Kata’ib Hezbollah.

In a statement, the Treasury charged that the two groups “fuel Iran’s destabilizing influence in the Middle East, endanger U.S. and partner forces, and facilitate extensive sanctions evasion schemes.”

Israel said Friday it was prepared to strike Hezbollah further at new locations after a massive demolition of tunnels built by the Iranian-backed group in southern Lebanon.

After around three months of fighting against Hezbollah, the Israeli army destroyed 14 tunnel routes in the strategic Ali Taher ridge with a total length of more than 5.4 km using about 1,100 tons of explosives.

According to Israel’s Maariv newspaper, the Israeli army says that about 50 Hezbollah fighters were holed up in the compound, which was built over more than 20 years.

Speaker Nabih Berri has stated that "the situation is dangerous" in south Lebanon and "solutions remain far off," noting that "the framework agreement has fallen."

"If the Israelis want to occupy, they can do so," Berri added, in remarks to al-Joumhouria newspaper.

Lebanon’s mission to the United Nations has accused Israel of committing nearly 2,000 "land, air and sea violations" of Lebanon’s sovereignty during the month of July, according to a letter to the U.N.

The letter, published Thursday on the U.N. website, did not give details of the alleged violations. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Israel said Thursday it demolished key tunnels built by Hezbollah beneath the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge in southern Lebanon.

"This is strategic terrorist infrastructure that was built over two decades, with Iranian funding and planning," said a joint statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, adding that its destruction "completes the achievement of operational control over the Ali al-Taher ridge -- above and below ground".

President Joseph Aoun stated Thursday that the Lebanese state has "received the appeals of our people in Nabatieh, Tyre and Arab Salim.”

“I wish to tell them: We have heeded your calls and stand by your side; we certainly cannot remain distant from you. We must exert every effort to support and assist you, and to secure the essentials for your resilience to the greatest extent possible,” Aoun said during a cabinet session.

MP Ali Ammar of Hezbollah on Thursday responded to a statement released by the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, lamenting that “day by day, the United States’ blatant interference in Lebanese affairs is intensifying and Lebanon’s sovereignty is crudely violated -- whether through statements from the U.S. Embassy in Beirut or provocative remarks by its ambassador.”

“It is as if someone has appointed themselves guardian over Lebanon, imposing conditions and paths, categorizing its people and political forces, and dictating its choices and orientations,” Ammar said.

Israeli strikes targeted Thursday Nabatieh al-Fawqa, al-Mansouri and the region between Zebqine and Shihine.

Overnight into Thursday, artillery shelled Zawtar al-Sharqiyeh, Wadi al-Hujair, Nabatieh al-Fawqa and Wadi Slouqi, and Israeli forces detonated houses and infrastructure in al-Mansouri, Mays al-Jabal, Bani Hayyan, and al-Khiam.