Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea insists on boycotting a presidential dialogue initiated by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, as Lebanon remains without a president since Michel Aoun's term ended in October 2022, almost two years ago.

"I am flexible," Geagea said in a radio interview on Thursday night. "But I cannot be flexible about Hezbollah's decision to start a war in south Lebanon," he added, as he dubbed Berri's dialogue anew "unconstitutional".

The four MPs who have recently become outside the Free Patriotic Movement intend to form “a consultative parliamentary gathering, that would become a pressure group, not a bloc nor a party, and its current main mission would be to produce a solution for the presidential crises,” the four MPs’ sources told al-Jadeed TV.

French presidential envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian held a meeting overnight in Riyadh with Saudi Royal Court adviser Nizar al-Aloula, who is in charge of the Lebanese file, in the presence of Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari.

Hezbollah targeted Friday several Israeli posts while Israeli warplanes raided several times the southern border village of Aitaroun.

Hezbollah targeted the Ma'ayan Baruch post in northern Israel with a suicide drone, and later the Zebdine barracks and buildings and surveillance equipment in Metula and Menara. The group also targeted a post in the occupied Shebaa Farms.

The European arena will witness efforts aimed at contributing to a solution that would secure a ceasefire in Gaza and another between Hezbollah and Israel as soon as possible, in light of the looming U.S. presidential election, diplomatic sources in Paris said.

A U.S.-Saudi-French endeavor might focus in the coming period on convincing Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea to agree to Speaker Nabih Berri’s presidential initiative, which would secure “a significant parliamentary majority enjoying full respect for the National Pact,” sources said.

The ambassadors of the five-nation group for Lebanon will soon meet in Doha or Cairo to crystallize new ideas regarding Lebanon’s presidential file, informed sources said.

Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab and MPs Ibrahim Kanaan, Alain Aoun and Simon Abi Ramia met Thursday in Diman with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi.

Bou Saab and Aoun have been recently expelled from the Free Patriotic Movement while Abi Ramia and Kanaan have resigned from it.

French special envoy to Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian will meet with Saudi Royal Court adviser Nizar al-Aloula within hours, Lebanese television station MTV said Thursday.

Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari will attend the meeting in Riyadh, the TV channel added.

Senior officials from the U.S. and Israel held a low-profile virtual meeting on Tuesday to discuss how to ease tensions with Lebanon and prevent an all out war between Israel and Hezbollah, four Israeli and U.S. officials told U.S. news portal Axios.

“The meeting, which hasn't been announced by the White House or the Israeli government, was initiated by the Biden administration to take the pulse on the Israeli side and coordinate their policies about the situation in Lebanon,” officials said.