Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said Monday that he only supports "indirect diplomacy" as he lashed out again at Lebanon's plan for direct talks with Israel.

"There is no ceasefire, but rather a continuing Israeli-American aggression," Qassem said, adding that there are no yellow lines or buffer zones — "and there won't be".

UNESCO has released a rapid overview on the impact of escalating conflict on education systems in the Arab States, highlighting a regional emergency affecting over 100 million children.

Across the region, millions of learners are experiencing disruption through school closures, shifts to remote learning, or reduced access. Learning loss is deepening at an unprecedented scale, while the risk of permanent dropout is rapidly increasing. Psychosocial distress has reached critical levels, affecting both learners and teachers.

Israeli army chief Eyal Zamir has instructed the Northern Command and the Israel Air Force to strike the production and supply chain of Hezbollah's FPV drones, including deep inside Lebanon, Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported on Friday.

President Joseph Aoun emphasized during a Cabinet session Thursday that he and PM Nawaf Salam are continously monitoring the situation in southern Lebanon, Information Minister Paul Morcos said after the meeting.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry announced Thursday that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has again told Speaker Nabih Berri in their latest phone call that "halting Israeli attacks on Lebanon is included in our agreement with the United States."

The Israeli army said Thursday that a soldier was killed in southern Lebanon, the fourth such death since a fragile ceasefire took effect there earlier this month.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has pointed out that instead of "panting after direct negotiations, which could be a disgrace to Lebanon," the Lebanese government should instead "turn to the International Criminal Court and accuse Israel of its repeated and ongoing war crimes against Lebanon."

Trump administration officials have said that the U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel is not collapsing, despite the growing escalation between Israel and Hezbollah.

Israeli strikes on south Lebanon killed nine people including two children, the health ministry said Thursday, shortly after the president decried ongoing Israeli violations of a nearly two-week ceasefire.

A 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon came into effect at midnight on 16 April. On 23 April, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the ceasefire would be extended for an additional three weeks, following a second high-level trilateral meeting between representatives of Israel, the United States and Lebanon.

Following the announcement of the ceasefire, both the Israeli military and Hezbollah called on displaced populations not to return immediately to areas south of the Litani River.