Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi has noted that the Vatican is “working as a moral force with foreign countries to push for the election of a president” for Lebanon, without “interfering in names” of candidates.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Lebanon's prime minister Friday that U.N. peacekeepers in the country must be protected, the State Department said, after the force reported further firing by U.S. ally Israel.

Blinken during the meeting in London "expressed support for the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon and underscored that the safety and security of their personnel is essential", the State Department said in a statement.

The UK has delivered more than 12,500 ration packs and 79 battlefield medical kits to the Lebanese Armed Forces.

This package of medical supplies and provisions, delivered by the RAF, is funded by the UK’s Integrated Security Fund and will help support the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF).

Hezbollah said its fighters launched a drone attack on Friday targeting a military base in northern Israel, near the border, after claiming rocket fire at the same area.

Hezbollah fighters launched "an air attack with a swarm of explosives-laden drones" on the base located east of Safad, the group said in a statement, shortly after announcing it had fired "a salvo of rockets" at the town.

Transport minister Ali Hamieh said Friday that Israeli bombing put a second border crossing between the country and Syria out of service -- leaving one official passage between the two nations operational.

"The Qaa crossing has been put out of service after an Israeli strike on Syrian territory, hundreds of meters from Syrian border guards," Hamieh told AFP, adding that the strike blocked the passage of vehicles.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed Friday to work with "real urgency" for a diplomatic resolution to end Israel's offensive in Lebanon but said it was first critical to reach understandings on disarmament of Hezbollah.

Shortly after meeting Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati in London, Blinken also pleaded for protection of civilians but stopped short of urging an immediate ceasefire by Israel, which relies on US diplomatic and military support.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Friday said the international community must speed up efforts for a political solution in Lebanon to prevent fighting between Israel and Hezbollah spiraling into a "conflagration".

"We are currently engaged in a race against time between the possible start of a political process in Lebanon and a generalized conflagration with incalculable consequences," Borrell said in a statement.

Israel estimates it has killed 2,000 Hezbollah militants since its military began fighting the Lebanese group along its northern border in October 2023.

The army did not explain how it arrived at that number on Thursday. It was not possible to independently corroborate its count.

Caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati accused Israel of intentionally targeting journalists after a strike in the country's south on Friday killed three media workers, in what he called a "war crime".

"The new Israeli aggression targeting journalists" was among the "war crimes committed by the Israeli enemy", Mikati said in a statement, adding the attack was "deliberate" and "aims to terrorize the media to cover up crimes and destruction".

An Israeli airstrike killed three journalists as they slept at a guesthouse in southeast Lebanon early Friday, a rare strike on an area that had so far been spared the hostilities in the rest of the region.

It was the latest in a series of Israeli attacks against journalists covering the war in Gaza and Lebanon in the past year.