The Lebanese and Syrian defense ministers are to meet Thursday in Saudi Arabia to discuss issues including border tensions, a Lebanese official with knowledge of the matter told AFP.

Instead of a visit to Damascus that has been postponed, Lebanese Defense Minister Michel Menassa is set to meet with his Syrian counterpart Murhaf Abu Qasra "in Jeddah, under the patronage of Saudi Arabia," the official said on condition of anonymity.

Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem said in a speech broadcast in the evening that Hezbollah "will not accept the continued (Israeli) occupation," referring to the ongoing presence of Israeli troops in south Lebanon after a recent war.

The Lebanese group initiated cross-border fire with the Israeli military in support of Hamas on October 8, 2023. Hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah dramatically spiraled into all-out conflict last September, and the group remains a target of Israeli air strikes despite a November 27 ceasefire.

Lebanon said Thursday that Israeli strikes killed four people in the country's south, with Israel saying it struck Hezbollah operatives.

The strikes were the latest in a series on south Lebanon, despite a November ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah after more than a year of hostilities.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam stressed Wednesday that “international and Arab diplomatic pressure on Israel to halt its attacks has not been exhausted,” noting that “no one wants normalization with Israel in Lebanon, which is rejected by all Lebanese.”

Cabinet is inclined to name Karim Soaid as central bank governor in its session on Thursday, media reports said.

Deputy U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Morgan Ortagus will visit Lebanon next week and will discuss “the need to fully disarm Hezbollah,” MTV reported overnight.

Syria's authorities delayed a visit planned for Wednesday by the Lebanese defense minister that aimed to discuss tensions along the border, officials from the two countries told AFP.

"We were informed on Tuesday by the Syrian party of the postponement of the visit" of Lebanese minister Michel Menassa, a Lebanese official said on condition of anonymity.

The French President's Special Envoy to Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian held talks Wednesday with President Joseph Aoun in Baabda.

The United Nations refugee agency said that more than 21,000 people had arrived in Lebanon this month fleeing the worst bloodshed in Syria since Bashar al-Assad's ousting.

A Syrian committee investigating the wave of sectarian killings in the heartland of the country's Alawite minority said Tuesday that it had collected scores of accounts of the violence, with its probe ongoing.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam arrived Tuesday aboard a military helicopter in the northern city of Tripoli, where he said that his visit is to “stress the government’s keenness on sustainable security in Tripoli and on protecting its sons.”