Lebanon's compounding crises are having a "devastating" impact on children and their education, a United Nations agency said, warning of additional pressure as the Israel-Hamas war spills over into the country.

U.N. children's agency UNICEF said more than a quarter of households surveyed last month reported children not attending school, compared to 18 percent in April.

Former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat said he has faced "lame condemnations" because of his support for Hamas' October 7 attack.

Jumblat revealed in remarks published Wednesday in An-Nahar that some ambassadors have lectured him over his tweet following the attack. The tweet on the X platform lauded the attack, Hamas, and the Palestinians for breaking "the myth of Israeli superiority."

As Parliament convenes Thursday and Cabinet convenes Friday to discuss extending the term of Army chief General Joseph Aoun, ahead of his planned retirement in January, former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat said he supports Aoun's term extension in the cabinet session on Friday.

Jumblat said in remarks published Wednesday in An-Nahar that he prefers that all posts in the army be occupied, including the army command, chief of staff and the military council.

Contacts aimed at reaching “a diplomatic solution regarding Lebanon” have intensified over the past days, informed Israeli officials said.

The solution aims to “push Hezbollah’s members to the area beyond the Litani River,” Israeli media reports quoted the officials as saying.

Hezbollah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem has stressed that Hezbollah is maintaining “very high preparedness” and that “the frontier in Lebanon will remain open as long as the aggression against Gaza continues.”

Cabinet might decide in Friday’s session to delay the retirement of Army chief General Joseph Aoun for six months or appoint military intelligence director Brig. Gen. Tony Qahwaji as acting army chief, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Qahwaji’s appointment would take place “in the absence of the defense minister and without a suggestion from him, and in both cases any decision will be subject to an appeal before the State Shoura Council,” the daily said.

The Lebanese Forces accused Wednesday Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil of always obstructing the course of the state, after the latter strongly opposed the extension of the term of Army chief General Joseph Aoun, ahead of his planned retirement in January.

"Bassil is under the illusion that Lebanon is divided between those who support him and those who don't," the LF, which supports the extension of Aoun’s term, said in a statement, sarcastically adding that Bassil believes that there is a global conspiracy against him.

Hezbollah targeted Wednesday several Israeli posts including Malkia, Naqoura, Shumira, and Ramia after a calm morning in the border area in south Lebanon.

The Israeli army meanwhile struck several border towns including Jabal al-Bat, Aitaroun, Mhaibib, al-Labbouneh, al-Naqoura, al-Bustan, Merwahin, Ramia, al-Jebbayn, Yarine, Blida, Kfarshouba, al-Fardis, Rashaya al-Fokhar, al-Khiam and Maroun al-Rass with artillery shelling and warplane and drone missiles.

Israel has turned south Lebanon into a mailbox for sending messages to U.N. chief Antonio Guterres through its recurrent targeting of UNIFIL posts in south Lebanon, a prominent Lebanese political source said.

France on Tuesday said "all light" must be shed on the strike in southern Lebanon on October 13 that killed a Reuters journalist and injured six others, including two from AFP.

"All light must be shed on this tragedy," a French foreign ministry statement said, adding that international humanitarian law obliged warring parties to "protect civilians, and in particular journalists, who must be able to exercise their profession freely and in complete safety."