Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has hurled a new jab at Hezbollah in connection with the ongoing conflict with Israel, saying “delusional are those who think that they can control the rest of the citizens and still defeat Israel.”

“It should go without saying that we should preserve our national unity and our state and its institutions, and that we should have a president so that he be the first resistance fighter in the face of any attack, occupation or violation, whether it comes from terrorism or from the Israeli enemy,” Bassil said during an iftar banquet in Jbeil.

An Israeli airstrike on a house in southern Lebanon has killed three Amal Movement fighters, the Hezbollah-allied movement said.

Israel said warplanes bombed what it described as an Amal military compound and said the group was planning an attack against Israel. The military statement said its jets also struck several locations used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, and a jet attacked a person doing "drone observation activity" near the border.

Swiss International Air Lines said Friday it had turned back a flight in mid-air heading from Zurich to Beirut because the security situation in Lebanon had become "difficult to assess."

The flight, with 138 passengers and five crew on board, did not have permission to land back in Zurich overnight Thursday so was instead diverted to Vienna, SWISS said.

President of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides will visit Lebanon on Monday with a ministerial delegation.

On his one day visit to Lebanon, Christodoulides will meet with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday warned that Israel “will regret it if it launches any war on Lebanon,” stressing that Hezbollah is “fully prepared for any war.”

State Security chief Maj. Gen. Tony Saliba has been charged by State Commissioner to Military Court Judge Fadi Akiki in the case of the detainee Dany al-Rashid’s escape from prison, judicial sources said.

The sources told the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper that Saliba has been charged with the misdemeanors of abuse of power and misuse of influence.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has demanded “a ceasefire in south Lebanon” and “separating the matter from the developments of the war in Gaza.”

Calling for “solidarity in this critical period that the country is going through and is witnessing an unprecedented collapse,” Bassil stressed, in remarks to Kuwait’s al-Anbaa newspaper, his “support for the resistance in repelling any Israeli attack on Lebanon.”

An Israeli strike on the southern border town of Aita al-Shaab killed two people and injured one Friday, the National News Agency said, while another strike on Kfarkela injured one person.

One Israeli soldier and three Lebanese civilians were earlier wounded in overnight cross-border fire between Hezbollah and the Israeli army.

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea has held Hezbollah responsible for the losses resulting from its cross-border conflict with Israel.

Two years ago, on 7 April 2022, Lebanon and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed on a program of actions and reforms.

Its implementation would have unlocked over $3 billion in assistance, additional support from donors, put Lebanon back on the path of economic recovery and restored its international credibility.