Footage of a priest with a machinegun slung over his shoulder inside a church in Lebanon’s Mazraat Yachouh has gone viral on social media and stirred controversy in the country.

Syrian interim foreign minister Asaad al-Shibani has received a phone call from Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, Syria's official news agency SANA said.

Army Commander General Joseph Aoun has traveled to Saudi Arabia at an invitation from his Saudi counterpart Air Chief Marshal Fayyadh al-Ruwaili, the Lebanese Army said on Thursday.

Israeli forces on Thursday made an incursion into the southern areas of al-Qantara, Adsheet al-Qusayr and Wadi al-Hujeir in violation of the ceasefire agreement, the Lebanese Army said.

“The Israeli enemy is pressing on with its violation of the ceasefire agreement, attacks on Lebanon’s sovereignty and citizens, and destruction of southern villages and towns,” the army said.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on Thursday warned that “any actions that risk the fragile cessation of hostilities” in south Lebanon “must cease.”

Israeli warplanes targeted a two-story house at dawn Wednesday in the plain of the Baalbek district town of Taraya, causing no casualties, the National News Agency and media reports said.

United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, has vowed to help lead Lebanon into a new phase.

"I will certainly be doing everything I can do to support Lebanon enter a new phase," Fletcher said in an televised interview with LBCI.

A video that circulated online of Lebanese pop star Ragheb Alameh on a phone call with Emirati singer Abdullah Belkheir stirred outrage among Lebanese as Alameh hailed the killing of former Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

Nasrallah enjoys great popularity among his supporters and even some who do not support Hezbollah. He was killed in September in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi called Tuesday for Lebanon's return to "positive neutrality."

In a Christmas speech, al-Rahi called for one army "instead of two armies" and for distancing Lebanon from wars, conflicts, and alliances. "Lebanon must protect its sovereignty and defend itself against any occupier, without interfering in the affairs of other states."

The Lebanese Army on Monday took over an empty military post that was being used by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, in the Qousaya area near Zahle.