An investigation by Agence France-Presse into the strike in southern Lebanon on October 13 that killed a Reuters journalist and injured six others, including two from AFP, points to a tank shell only used by the Israeli army in this high-tension border region.

Two strikes hit the group of journalists in quick succession as they were working near the border village of Alma al-Shaab in an area that sees the Israeli army and armed Lebanese and Palestinian groups engaged in near-daily clashes.

Israeli forces shelled and carried out air strikes on southern Lebanon Thursday, with Hezbollah also claiming several attacks on Israeli troops and positions.

Hezbollah said it has targeted the Ramim barracks, al-Marj military post, Hadb al-Bustan, al-Jerdah, Bayyad Blida, Ma'ayan Baruch and a group of soldiers in the Mattat barracks. All targets on Israeli military positions were direct hits, Hezbollah said in a statement. Israeli media reported one death in Mattat.

The U.S. is examining the possibility of an agreement between Israel and Lebanon on the land border between them, similar to the maritime border agreement signed in 2022, Israeli officials have said.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday evening vowed to drive Hezbollah away from the border with Israel beyond the Litani River.

After concluding a highly tense meeting with the heads of frontline communities along the Lebanon border, Gallant assured them that the approximately 80,000 residents living within 9 kilometers of the border will not return to their homes until security in the area is restored.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi will make a solidarity visit to the South on Thursday at the head of a delegation from the Council of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops, the Catholic Media Center said.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea rejected Wednesday a Hamas statement that announced the establishment in Lebanon of a division called al-Aqsa Flood Vanguards and called on Palestinian youths to join it.

"This statement is unacceptable and it violates Lebanon's sovereignty," Geagea said.

A French delegation comprising diplomats and senior French army officials arrived in Israel this week and Paris is trying to reach a diplomatic solution regarding Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, Israeli media reports said.

Hezbollah has agreed to the extension of the term of Army chief General Joseph Aoun, MP Sajih Atiyeh said on Wednesday.

Dialogue has resumed between Bkerki and Hezbollah, Head of the Lebanese Catholic Media Center Father Abdo Abou Kassem said.

The committee led by Bkerki spokesman Walid Ghayyad and Hezbollah official Mohammed Saeed al-Khansa is positively discussing points of national and political disagreements.

Eleven Lebanese banks on Wednesday submitted a memo to the Finance Ministry demanding that the Lebanese state pay its debts and obligations to the Central Bank (BDL) to allow it to pay its obligations to the Lebanese banks, to allow them in turn to return the trapped funds to depositors, the Association of Banks in Lebanon (ABL) said.