U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein has held behind-the-scenes talks with Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab, who is the official Lebanese “channel” for talks regarding the situation in the south, informed sources said.

Hochstein is seeking to devise a Lebanon-Israel settlement that would follow the cessation of hostilities in Gaza and that would put an end to the daily clashes between Israel and Hezbollah on the Lebanese-Israeli border, the sources told ad-Diyar newspaper in remarks published Thursday.

British foreign minister David Cameron discussed defusing deadly tensions on the Lebanon-Israel border Thursday in Beirut talks with Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati, the premier's office said.

Since the outbreak of war between Hamas and Israel on October 7, the border has seen near-daily exchanges of fire between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, a Hamas ally.

There is a deep disagreement between Saudi Arabia and the U.S. on one side and Qatar on the other side over Doha’s continued support for General Security acting chief Elias Bayssari’s presidential nomination, a media report said.

“During his presence in Beirut, Qatari envoy Abou Fahad re-proposed the third (presidential) choice as a middle-ground solution, voicing support for the nomination of Bayssari, whose candidacy is serious contrary to what many think,” informed sources told ad-Diyar newspaper in remarks published Thursday.

French President's Special Envoy to Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian will carry new ideas to Beirut in his upcoming visit in a bid to push the presidential election file forward, informed diplomatic sources said.

Israeli artillery shelled Thursday several border towns in southern Lebanon as Hezbollah targeted an Israeli post in the occupied Shebaa farms.

Hezbollah said it has attacked surveillance equipment in the Radar post, while Israel shelled Yarine, al-Jebbayn, Em el-Tout, and the outskirts of al-Hebbariye.

The U.S. has slapped sanctions on three companies and one person in Lebanon and Turkey, accusing them of funneling funds to Iran's Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah.

The U.S. Treasury announced sanctions on Turkish company Mira Ihracat Ithalat Petrol (Mira), which it said "purchases, transports, and sells Iranian commodities on the global market;" on its chief executive, Ibrahim Talal al-Uwayr; and on Lebanon-based Yara Offshore SAL and Hydro Company for Drilling Equipment Rental, both of which it said have sold large quantities of Iranian goods to Syria.

The prospect of a full-scale war between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah terrifies people on both sides of the border, but some see it as an inevitable fallout from Israel's ongoing war on Gaza.

Such a war could be the most destructive either side has ever experienced.

Paris might send to Lebanon an envoy other than Jean-Yves Le Drian, whose performance has been “criticized by Arab and Western officials,” a media report said.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati carried out international contacts over the past few days in an effort to prevent any major war on Lebanon, a ministerial source said.

The Constitutional Council on Wednesday held a session at its headquarters without managing to reach a decision on the appeal filed by the Free Patriotic Movement against the recent extension of the army chief’s term, which means that the extension will not be annulled, the National News Agency said.

Parliament had extended the army chief's mandate on December 15, averting a military power vacuum as the country faces spillover of the Israel-Hamas war without a president or a fully functioning government.