This week (Monday) the forces of the Israeli army’s Formation 91 in the eastern Galilee, near Lebanon, practiced defense scenarios and the transition from routine to emergency, the Israeli army said on Friday.

“The exercise took place in cooperation with police forces, the settlement defense departments, MDA (the Magen David Adom national emergency medical, disaster, ambulance and blood bank service) and other security forces,” the army added.

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah on Friday said that Israel “thought that it targeted key weapons with a harsh and painful strike before realizing that it bombed its shadow.”

Fadlallah was referring to Israel’s claim that it waged a preemptive strike to foil Hezbollah’s retaliation to Fouad Shukur’s killing, an allegation that was dismissed by Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who said that Israel staged its airstrikes half an hour before his group launched over 300 rockets and several drones into Israel.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has presented the security cabinet with a document strongly advocating for a hostage-ceasefire deal and an addition to the war goals: the return of evacuees to their homes in northern Israel.

"Over the past 11 months, we have faced attacks from seven different fronts and responded effectively. In Gaza, we have defeated most of Hamas' brigades and battalions, including their military leader, Mohammad Deif, along with numerous other terrorists," Gallant noted, according to Israeli reports.

The European Union (EU) is continuing its partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Lebanon to ensure that the most vulnerable women and girls have access to affordable, accessible, and lifesaving sexual and reproductive health services, the EU and the UNFPA said in a joint statement Friday.

In partnership with local partners Amel, Salama, Nabaa, and Society for Inclusion and Development in Communities (SIDC), UNFPA is supporting six primary health centers, two dispensaries, and a safe shelter for women and girls across Lebanon to provide integrated gender-based-violence (GBV) prevention and response services while enhancing access to inclusive sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services for 42,420 people in need.

Israeli warplanes raided overnight into Friday the outskirts of Tayrharfa, Yaroun, Zebqine, al-Naqoura and Wadi Hamoul in south Lebanon.

The Israeli army also shelled with flare and incendiary bombs villages along the border, including al-Naqoura and Alma al-Shaab.

Hezbollah attacked Thursday a base in the occupied Golan Heights with an array of suicide drones in response to Wednesday's strikes on the Bekaa and al-Masnaa.

The Israeli army said that several drones have exploded in northern Golan, causing no casualties.

A number of protesting depositors on Thursday torched the entrance of Banque Libano-Française (BLF) in the Dora area, trapping employees inside the bank.

Several citizens meanwhile rushed to remove their cars from the area to avoid the spread of flames to them.

Although former President Michel Aoun stands against Hezbollah’s clashes with Israel on Lebanon’s southern border, the former president is still keen on maintaining good relations with the Iran-backed group.

Aoun told pro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar newspaper, in remarks published Thursday, that he would be happy if Hezbollah won the war with Israel, although he opposes it. "I would celebrate with them if they won, and would be sad if, God forbid, they lost."

MP Ibrahim Kanaan of the Strong Lebanon bloc on Wednesday announced his resignation from the Free Patriotic Movement led by MP Jebran Bassil.

Kanaan had on August 14 announced an initiative aimed at “unifying the ranks” of the FPM.

Israeli warplanes raided Wednesday the Taoumat Niha heights near the town of Ain al-Tineh in the Western Bekaa, hours after an air strike hit a lorry loaded with Hezbollah missiles in the Rasm al-Hadath area in the Baalbek region.

Hezbollah later announced the death of one of its members from the city of Baalbek on the road to Jerusalem.