Israeli artillery shelling targeted several Lebanese border areas on Saturday, as an Israeli airstrike wounded a cameraman from Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television.

State-run National News Agency said artillery shelling hit the Ain al-Zarqa area between the border towns of Tayr Harfa and Alma al-Shaab. Violent artillery shelling also targeted the outskirts of the border town of Deir Mimas and the Khardali Valley area.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and urged him to “avoid escalation in Lebanon,” amid continuing cross-border clashes between Israel and Hezbollah, the U.S. State Department said.

“Secretary Blinken stressed the importance of measures to prevent the conflict from expanding, including affirmative steps to de-escalate tensions in the West Bank and to avoid escalation in Lebanon,” the State Dept. said.

In the Lebanese border village of Qlayaa, the priest urged his parish to keep the Christmas spirit alive despite clashes between Hezbollah and Israel forcing many to flee.

Nestled among lush, green fields and flowing olive groves, Qlayaa has echoed to the sound of bombing on an almost daily basis since October 7.

Israel's military says rocket fire from Lebanon has killed one of its soldiers and wounded another near the border, where violence has flared during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

The soldiers were hit during "operational activity" in the Shtula area in northern Israel, the army said in a statement.

Lebanon has been warned that the Israeli Mossad intends to assassinate Palestinian officials in Lebanon, topped by Hamas senior leaders Saleh al-Arouri and Osama Hamdan and Islamic Jihad chief Ziad al-Nakhalah, diplomatic sources said.

“The threats are high and require extraordinary measures,” the sources told ad-Diyar newspaper in remarks published Friday, saying that French intelligence chief Bernard Emie had warned -- without mentioning names -- of such a scenario during his latest visit to Beirut.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi agreed, during a meeting in Bkerki, that resolving the Lebanese crises starts with the election of a president.

Lebanon has been without a president since Michel Aoun's term ended in October last year, while its government has been running in a limited caretaker capacity. The head of the General Security agency retired in March without a replacement, and the central bank governor's mandate expired in July, without a clear successor.

A statement issued by caretaker PM Najib Mikati’s office has strained the relation anew between the premier and caretaker Defense Minister Maurice Slim, after the two men held a supposedly positive reconciliation meeting on Thursday.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon David Hale has called for the implementation of U.N. Resolution 1701 and for turning the tables on Iran and its proxies in the region when the war on Gaza ends.

Since the war in Gaza began, there have been near-daily clashes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces along the Lebanon-Israel border, with fears of an escalation to a full-scale war.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will arrive Saturday in Beirut, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported Friday.

The daily said that Meloni will meet her Lebanese counterpart Najib Mikati and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and will seek to de-escalate tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border.

The European Union has decided to allocate 205.5 million Euros to address several priority areas to support the country’s stability and recovery.

"In these times of uncertainty and instability in the region, the European Union reaffirms its support to the people of Lebanon and has decided to allocate 205.5 million Euros to address several priority areas to support the country’s stability and recovery," the Delegation of the European Union to Lebanon said Friday in a statement.