Prime Minister Nawaf Salam held a meeting Friday at the Grand Serail with MPs Amin Sherri and Hassan Fadlallah of Hezbollah.

Following the meeting, Fadlallah stated: "My colleague and I met with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam to discuss a range of issues of concern to all Lebanese, especially as we continue to witness this ongoing Israeli aggression against our country, as happened today and as happens on most days.”

U.S. President Donald Trump has said that there are “countries that wanna come in and take care of Hezbollah in Lebanon.”

“And I say that right now you don’t have to do that -- you may have to do that. We have countries that are volunteering to literally come in and take care of the whole thing. We have great peace in the Middle East, it’s never happened before, and I think it’s very strong actually,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

Lebanon has received warnings from Arab and international parties that Israel is preparing for a large-scale military operation against Lebanon, Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji said Friday.

"We are intensifying our diplomatic contacts to protect Lebanon and Lebanese facilities from any Israeli strike," the LF minister told Qatari al-Jazeera news channel, adding that Lebanon is currently far from a peace treaty with Israel.

President Joseph Aoun announced Friday that the return of the Lebanese captives held in Israel “represents a priority in the negotiations,” adding that “contacts are ongoing for their release.”

Former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat said he hoped Hezbollah's leader Sheikh Naim Qassem "understands that Iran cannot use Lebanon, or a segment of the Lebanese Shiites," to negotiate its nuclear program "or anything else".

Jumblat said Thursday night that Lebanon is "between the Israeli hammer and the Iranian anvil" that is trying to send messages to the U.S. through Lebanon.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he was surprised that his Lebanese counterpart declined an invitation to visit Iran, proposing instead to meet Araghchi in a "neutral third country".

Minister Youssef Rajji said on Wednesday that he could not accept Araghchi's invitation to visit Tehran "under the current circumstances."

Israeli warplanes carried out Friday a series of strikes on several regions in south Lebanon and West Bekaa, despite Lebanon recently moving to negotiations with Israel.

The strikes targeted several regions including Ansar-Zrariyyeh, Iqlim al-Tuffah and al-Rihan heights in south Lebanon, and Zillaya in West Bekaa.

State Prosecutor Jamal al-Hajjar has lifted the travel ban imposed on Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar to allow him to travel to Bulgaria to question Igor Grechushkin -- the Russian-Cypriot owner of the ship that brought the ammonium nitrates that eventually exploded at the port, MTV said.

Speaker Nabih Berri said Thursday that the Lebanese Army has implemented 90 percent of the cessation of hostilities agreement in the South Litani area and will completely finalize what’s left by year’s end.

“This is what UNIFIL, the Mechanism and Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal have confirmed,” Berri added, in a meeting with a delegation from the Press Syndicate.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri met Thursday with U.S. Ambassador Michel Issa in Ain el-Tineh, for the second day in a row.

On Wednesday, Berri met with Issa and a delegation of the American Task Force for Lebanon.