Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil, who has long bragged about having no allies within the complicated Lebanese political system, still feels proud today for "maintaining his stance" unlike other politicians.

Even the FPM's old-ally, Hezbollah, is not an ally, Bassil told Nidaa al-Watan newspaper, in remarks published Friday.

U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein is preparing to return to Beirut in the first half of January to carry out a mediation between Lebanon and Israel aimed at delineating the land border between the two sides, media reports said.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin have discussed "threats to regional security, including Hezbollah’s destabilizing activities in southern Lebanon," the Pentagon said in a statement.

The two ministers also discussed, in a phone call Thursday, Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, preparations for the stabilization phase that will follow, and other attacks by Iran-aligned groups against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria and Houthi assaults against international commerce in the Red Sea.

Hezbollah fighters targeted Friday several Israeli posts along the border.

The group said it attacked the Hadb Yaroun post twice, al-Marj post, and a crane carrying surveillance equipment in the Dovev Farms, inflicting casualties.

Hezbollah has accused Israel of hacking into CCTV cameras installed outside homes and shops in southern Lebanon and urged residents there to take the device offline.

The powerful Iran-backed armed group accused Israel of using the footage to target its fighters and urged Lebanese citizens to "disconnect the private cameras... from the Internet".

Israeli officials are stepping up threats against Hezbollah, warning that Israel is running out of patience as the two sides continue to trade fire along Israel's volatile northern border.

Benny Gantz, a member of Israel's War Cabinet, said Wednesday that if the international community and the Lebanese government don't restrain Hezbollah, Israel will. Israel's army chief, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said the military is in a state of high readiness and has approved plans in case it decides to open a second front in the north.

A group calling itself Lobby 1701, comprised of Israelis evacuated from their settlements near Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, have told U.S. officials in a letter that American support in a move against Hezbollah is crucial for their safe return.

The organization, representing 60,000 residents of northern Israel who were evacuated from their homes, issued a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden and the head of the U.S. National Security Council, demanding that Israel be allowed to ensure the return of the displaced residents to their homes, either through diplomatic means or via a military operation.

The Israeli army intercepted Thursday a drone that crossed from Lebanon over the Kiryat area.

An uneasy calm had settled over the south in the morning before Israeli airstrikes targeted the al-Salhani area - between Ramia and Marwahin - and the outskirts of Aita al-Shaab in south Lebanon.

Senior political officials have expressed optimism that the presidential election might be finalized within a few weeks, a media report said, citing “credible information.”

The United Nations' peacekeeping mission in Lebanon on Thursday called on authorities to investigate an attack in the country's south that left one of the force's members wounded.

Groups of young men in Lebanon's south -- a stronghold of the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah group, where the U.N. force had previously suffered attacks -- blocked UNIFIL patrols twice since Wednesday, it said.