Israel's air force struck areas in southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday and early Tuesday, including in the country's third-largest city.

A strike around 1 a.m. Tuesday leveled a three-story commercial building in the southern coastal city of Sidon, a few days before Lebanon's army commander is scheduled to brief the government on its mission of disarming Hezbollah in areas along the border with Israel.

President Joseph Aoun on Tuesday condemned Israel's latest strikes on Lebanon, saying they undermine efforts to prevent escalation.

Aoun's criticism came after Israel launched a series of strikes in southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday, saying it hit Hezbollah and Hamas targets.

The Israeli military launched strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday, Lebanese state media reported, after warning it would hit what it called Hezbollah and Hamas targets in four villages.

The Association of Banks in Lebanon announced Monday that the government’s draft law on financial regulation and deposit recovery was issued “without any serious study of the figures required for its implementation.”

“If it were serious, the draft law should have been preceded by determining the size of the deficit, how it will affect the Central Bank of Lebanon and the banks, an accurate assessment of non-performing assets, the amount of funds required to repay the various deposit categories, and verification of the availability of the necessary liquidity,” ABL added in a statement after a meeting.

In a climate of escalating regional tensions, Hezbollah is exploring a diplomatic settlement aimed at neutralizing threats from the "Trump-Netanyahu" alliance, a media report said on Monday.

Recent discussions between Lebanese and Saudi figures during an Arab economic conference meanwhile focused on a strategic shift: activating a Saudi economic role in Lebanon, al-Joumhouria newspaper quoted “credible sources” as saying.

An Israeli drone strike on Monday targeted a Renault Rapid vehicle in the southern town of Braiqaa.

The Health Ministry said two people were wounded in the strike.

The Israeli army is preparing for fighting on four fronts -- Iran, Yemen, Lebanon and Gaza, an Israeli media report said.

The report, published Monday in Maariv, claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held Sunday a security meeting that discussed Lebanon and the army's defense and attack readiness on all fronts.

The day after elite U.S. forces captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that Hezbollah will no longer have alleged operations in the South American state.

Speaking to CBS television, Rubio said: "It's very simple, OK? In the 21st century, under the Trump administration, we are not going to have a country like Venezuela in our own hemisphere, in the sphere of control and the crossroads for Hezbollah, for Iran and for every other malign influence in the world. That's just not gonna exist."

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen will visit Syria later this week on a first trip to the country since the fall of Bashar al-Assad, a spokeswoman said Monday.

Von der Leyen will head to Syria as part of a tour of the Middle East that will also see her visit Jordan and Lebanon, spokeswoman Paula Pinho said.

President Joseph Aoun’s latest reassurance that “specter of war has become distant” was based on “information received by the Lebanese official authorities from high-ranking international parties and Western embassies,” a prominent Lebanese official said.

“During their Dec. 29 meeting in Florida, U.S. President Donald Trump and the enemy’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed on striking Iran if it does not engage in a settlement according to the U.S. conditions,” the official told al-Akhbar newspaper.