Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel "will not allow the terrorist Hamas to establish itself in Lebanon".

Netanyahu vowed at a news conference Monday to restore security "on all fronts" after surging violence that included rocket fire from Lebanon and Syria and two more deaths on Monday.

Should consensus be secured over a new president, Saudi Arabia has expressed desire to see ex-PM Tammam Salam designated to form a new government, sources said.

It was a cold night 50 years ago when an Israeli commando team led by a man disguised as a woman infiltrated a posh Beirut neighborhood and shot and killed three top officials from the Palestine Liberation Organization in their apartments.

The anniversary is little noted, but the April 10, 1973 operation has a relevance that continues today.

Hezbollah’s media department announced Sunday that the group’s chief, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, received a Hamas delegation headed by the Palestinian group’s leader Ismail Haniyeh.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday stressed that the country’s new president should enjoy the “confidence” of the people and the world.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has defended his government’s response to the latest cross-border escalation with Israel, which was the most serious flare-up since the 2006 war.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Saturday condemned the use of Lebanese territory to fire rockets at Israel, in the wake of the most serious cross-border escalation since the 2006 war.

The European Union on Saturday condemned deadly attacks in Israel and a barrage of rockets fired from Lebanon that triggered Israeli strikes and called for "restraint."

"The EU expresses its total condemnation of these acts of violence. This must cease," the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement after Friday's attacks in Israel.

The United States has said it supports ally Israel's "right to self-defense" after deadly attacks as well as rocket fire from Lebanon that triggered Israeli strikes.

"The targeting of innocent civilians of any nationality is unconscionable. The United States stands with the government and people of Israel," State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said in a statement.

Israel's military said soldiers had shot down a drone that entered its airspace from Lebanon a day after a barrage of rockets was fired into Israel.

Friday's incident came hours after Israel bombarded Lebanon following the rocket fire that the Israeli army blamed on Palestinian militants.