Leaders of the Iran-led, so-called "axis of resistance", including Hamas's Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah's Naim Qassem, discussed the war in Gaza during a meeting in Tehran on the sidelines of president Ebrahim Raisi's funeral, state media reported Thursday.

The "axis of resistance" brings together Iran's regional allies in the fight against Israel, including the Palestinian movement Hamas, Lebanon's Hezbollah, Yemen's Houthis and Iraqi Shiite armed groups.

French President Emmanuel Macron has held a phone call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that tackled the Lebanese file.

The two leaders emphasized “the need for Lebanon to exit the political crisis and elect a president who would be capable to lead the country on the path of the necessary reforms.”

The French efforts to find a solution for the Israel-Hezbollah border conflict are still ongoing, diplomatic sources in Paris said.

“The Lebanese file was at the heart of the talks that Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz held with his French counterpart Stéphane Séjourné,” the sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Thursday.

Lebanon's reforms are insufficient to help lift the country out of its economic crisis, the International Monetary Fund said Thursday.

Head of the IMF mission visiting Lebanon Ernesto Ramirez Rigo, said in a statement that Lebanon's ongoing refugee crisis, clashes with Israel at its southern border and the spillover from the war in Gaza are exacerbating an already weak economic situation.

Lebanese school children on a minibus had a narrow escape Thursday when a drone strike killed a Hezbollah fighter in the car ahead, blowing out the windscreen of their vehicle and wounding three pupils.

The injured children were hospitalised with cuts from flying glass after the aerial attack, which state media and a source close to the Iran-backed militant group blamed on Israel.

In Beirut's impoverished Palestinian refugee camp of Shatila -- a maze of alleyways where posters honor fallen martyrs -- residents expressed joy Wednesday after three European countries said they would recognize a Palestinian state.

"We hope that the whole world will recognize Palestine, and we are happy with this decision... It is a beautiful feeling," said Alaa Ghozlan, 26, whose family is originally from Haifa, now in northern Israel.

The interrogation of detainees in the so-called TikTokers case has led to the arrest of a 16-year-old boy who had been molested before he took part in blackmailing other minors, MTV reported.

“The arrest took place Monday evening and he is being questioned by the anti-cybercrime bureau of the Internal Security Forces,” the TV network added.

The Lebanese Army has seized a second truck carrying pistols smuggled from Turkey into the country.

“The Intelligence Directorate has seized at the Port of Tripoli a truck carrying 400 smuggled pistols that were concealed in it while also arresting its driver,” the army said in a statement.

There are currently French attempts to arrange an urgent visit to Lebanon by the French President's Special Envoy to Lebanon, Jean-Yves Le Drian, in a bid to “stir the stagnant waters and give impetus to the mission of the five-nation committee which has started to falter,” prominent political sources said.

The sources added, in remarks to al-Joumhouria newspaper, that “the efforts of the quintet’s ambassadors have been currently suspended.”

Israeli warplanes and drones raided Wednesday the southern border towns of Mays al-Jabal and Aita al-Shaab while artillery shelled Markaba and the outskirts of Tayrharfa and Alma al-Shaab.

"Israeli warplanes carried out an airstrike near Aita al-Shaab's school, less than an hour after a drone targeted the same area in the town," the National News agency said.