Former Lebanese ambassador to the U.N. Nawaf Salam, whose name was once floated as a potential PM candidate, has been elected as the head of the International Court of Justice for a three-year period.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati called Salam and congratulated him on the new post.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has accused Hezbollah of seeking to “obtain the presidency and Lebanon’s government in return for withdrawing weapons from the border” with Israel.

A civilian was killed Wednesday in a drone airstrike on a house in the southern border town of al-Khiam. Two other civilians were injured, media reports said.

Israeli warplanes had earlier at dawn targeted al-Wazzani water pumps, after two airstrikes overnight on the southern border towns of Houla and Bani Hayyan.

France's top diplomat has warned officials in Beirut that Israel is threatening to wage war on its northern neighbor to return citizens displaced by cross-border fire, Lebanon's foreign minister said.

Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging fire on a daily basis for nearly four months in the wake of the Gaza war, forcing tens of thousands of people out of their homes on both sides of the border.

Black clouds loom over grapevines in northern Israel on hills that stretch to the Lebanese border, where months of violence have raised fears of a wider war.

The tense border area -- where the Israeli army has traded deadly fire with Hezbollah for months -- can be seen from atop the Dalton Winery's fermentation vats.

Six civilians and two Hezbollah fighters were among 10 people killed in Israeli air strikes on the central Syrian city of Homs early Wednesday, a war monitor said.

"Ten people, including six civilians and two Hezbollah fighters, were killed in Israeli strikes on a building in the Hamra neighborhood of Homs," the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP.

French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné, who arrived in Beirut on Tuesday, is carrying a message from Israel containing proposals for resolving the border conflict, a media report said.

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea has long opposed electing a president through dialogue. "All possible dialogues have led to nowhere," Geagea told MTV on Monday night.

Geagea revealed that MPs from his party have been talking to Amal MPs but that all dialogues were "fruitless," accusing Hezbollah and its allies of clinging to their presidential candidate, Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh. "This won't be a real dialogue," he said.

Kataeb Party chief Sami Gemayel has accused Hezbollah of seeking to “legalize its weapons through a certain alignment and a loyal president.”

Armed forces retirees protested Tuesday their low salaries and blocked the Karantina road with burning tires.

"Our demand is to live in dignity," a protester said.