An ordinary Cabinet session kicked off Thursday morning at the presidential palace in Baabda.

The Israeli defense minister says his country's troops will stay in "security zones" in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Syria indefinitely, after Israel unilaterally expanded its frontiers in the war unleashed by Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

Israel says it needs to hold on to the zones to prevent similar attacks, but the takeovers appear to meet the dictionary definition of military occupation.

Qatar is sending scores of military vehicles to the Lebanese army and a new, $60 million donation to help it pay salaries to officers as the small Mediterranean country recovers from the fighting in Hezbollah's latest war with Israel, the two Arab countries announced Wednesday.

Gas-rich Qatar has been a main backer of the Lebanese army since an unprecedented economic crisis engulfed the country in late 2019. Qatar was first sending food aid for the military while cash donations began in 2022.

The Lebanese army has arrested several people suspected of firing rockets at Israel from Lebanon, with a security official telling AFP that three Hamas members were among those held.

Despite a November 27 ceasefire that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, including two months of all-out war, rockets were fired at Israel on March 22 and 28.

The Israeli military said Thursday it struck Hezbollah infrastructure sites in south Lebanon overnight.

"Overnight, the IDF struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure sites in southern Lebanon," the military said. "The IDF will operate against any attempts by Hezbollah to rebuild or establish a military presence under the guise of civilian cover."

Hezbollah political bureau member Mahmoud Qmati clarified Wednesday that “Hezbollah is cooperating with President Joseph Aoun in his stances” and that his remarks a day earlier about “severing the hand that will extend to the resistance’s arms” were in response to a “provocative” rhetoric from some Lebanese rivals.

President Joseph Aoun helds talks Wednesday in Doha with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, thanking Qatar for “the support it has offered Lebanon in the various fields.”

Lebanese Army intelligence agents arrested Hamas members at the Ain el-Helweh, Tyre and Nahr al-Bared camps in connection with the plot unveiled in Jordan, military sources told Al-Arabiya’s Al-Hadath channel on Wednesday.

President Joseph Aoun held a phone call with Jordanian King Abdullah II to “inquire about the outcome of investigations into the rocket manufacturing cell that was unveiled in Jordan,” expressing his “full readiness for coordination and cooperation between the two countries.”

Lebanon reported two dead in separate Israeli strikes on the country's south Wednesday, as Israel's military said it had killed a Hezbollah operative, despite a ceasefire between the two sides.

A "drone strike launched by the Israeli enemy on a vehicle in Wadi al-Hujair killed one person," Lebanon's health ministry said in a statement, referring to an area around 12 kilometers (seven miles) from the border.