A Libyan delegation visited Beirut this week seeking to reopen talks with Lebanese officials on the fate of a prominent Lebanese cleric who has been missing in Libya for decades, and the release of late dictator Moammar Gadhafi's son who has been held in Lebanon for years, officials said.

The talks were aimed at reactivating a long-dormant agreement between Lebanon and Libya, struck in 2014, for cooperation in the probe of the 1978 disappearance of Shiite cleric Moussa al-Sadr, judicial and security officials said.

Parliament convened Wednesday to discuss the 2024 state budget in a heated session during which MPs loudly exchanged accusations.

Change MP Melhem Khalaf left the session after an argument with Speaker Nabih Berri who did not allow Khalaf to speak as the latter criticized holding a session when "the parliament's priority should be to elect a president."

By Sara Harmouch, American University and Nakissa Jahanbani, United States Military Academy West Point

From attacks by rebels in the Red Sea to raids in northern Israel and the Oct. 7, 2023, assault by Hamas, Western analysts have pointed a finger of blame toward Iran.

After more than three months of near-daily clashes, Israel in recent weeks appears to have moved to a strategy of targeted killings as daily shelling and strikes on Lebanon's south and Hezbollah's daily attacks on Israeli posts continued.

On Wednesday, the Israeli army bombed several southern border towns, including with white phosphorus bombs.

Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon Alaa Moussa held talks Tuesday in Ain el-Tineh with Speaker Nabih Berri, after a meeting between Berri and the ambassadors of the five-nation group for Lebanon was postponed.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has praised again Hezbollah's restraint despite the elevated number of deaths of its members.

The number of people killed by Israeli fire into south Lebanon since the start of the war in Gaza has risen to more than 200, with 147 of them belonging to Hezbollah.

Qatari envoy Jassem Al-Thani has arrived in Beirut and will exert efforts to facilitate the stalled Lebanese presidential election file, al-Jadeed TV has reported.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Tuesday denied a media report claiming that he intends to quit politics.

France hopes to avoid "an escalation" on the border between Israel and Lebanon, the French Ministry of the Armed Forces reiterated on Monday in Tel Aviv, where he met political figures including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"No one, neither in Tel Aviv, nor in Jerusalem, nor in Beirut, wants war. (...) The real challenge for us is to ensure that this escalation, which may seem inevitable, does not happen," declared Sébastien Lecornu in an interview with AFP.

Hezbollah targeted Tuesday Israeli troops and positions as Israeli air strikes and artillery shelling targeted Lebanese border villages.

Hezbollah said it targeted the Israeli army's northern command center in response to "recent assassinations and repeated attacks on civilians" in Lebanon and Syria.