Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced Friday that the Lebanese state has managed to “halt” the financial collapse and begin “serious recovery.”

“We’ve managed to halt the collapse and begin serious recovery. We have at Account 36 at the central bank more than LBP 100,000 billion and $1 billion, including $150 million in fresh dollars and 850 million lollars (Lebanese dollars),” Mikati said in his defense of the 2024 state budget in parliament.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz has met with his Italian counterpart Antonio Tajani in Jerusalem and asked for Rome’s assistance in finding a diplomatic solution to Hezbollah’s presence on Israel’s northern border.

Former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat walked back Friday a statement he had previously made, in which he described a March 14 slogan as ridiculous.

In an interview with al-Akhbar, Jumblat said "time has changed since the days when we raised the ridiculous 'Lebanon First' (Loubnan Awwalan) slogan at the time of the so-called March 14 Alliance."

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has spoken with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant and reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to resolve tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border and to avoid regional escalation.

"Secretary Austin reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to the pursuit of diplomacy to resolve tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border and the shared goal of avoiding regional escalation," the U.S. Department of Defense said Thursday in a statement.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea slammed again Hezbollah in a televised interview, as he accused the group of worsening the situation instead of helping in reaching a solution to ease the tension in the region.

Since the outbreak of war between Hamas and Israel on October 7, the Lebanese-Israeli border has witnessed a near-daily exchange of fire between Israel's army and Hezbollah. At least 202 people have been killed in south Lebanon, 147 of them belonging to Hezbollah. At least 26 civilians have also been killed, including three journalists and two rescuers in addition to a Lebanese soldier.

Hezbollah targeted Friday a group of Israeli soldiers near the Hunin Castle in Margaliot and the Ma'ale Golani post as Israeli artillery shelled several border towns.

Earlier on Friday, an Iron Dome interception missile exploded over al-Naqoura and artillery shells hit the southern border towns of Houla, Kfarkila, Mays al-Jabal and Wadi Hamoul.

Hezbollah attacked Thursday several Israeli targets including air defense systems and posts in northern Israel while Israeli drones carried out airstrikes deep inside Lebanon.

Hezbollah said it has attacked with two suicide drones an air defense site and Iron Dome launchpads near the settlement of Kfar Blum and Israeli drones and warplanes later bombed the Hanine Mountain area in al-Bazouriyeh near Tyre and the Jabbour heights in the Jezzine district.

Parliament resumed Thursday a session on the 2024 state budget after a heated session Wednesday ended with fights and bickering.

Change MP Melhem Khalaf had left the session Wednesday after an argument with Speaker Nabih Berri, Amal MP Ali Hassan Khalil described the Change MPs as Mafias, Change MP Paula Yacoubian reminded Khalil that he was charged in connection with the 2020 Beirut port blast, Free Patriotic Movement MP Ibrahim Kanaan said the government is "dishonourable" and Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan said that “there is no benefit from any state budgets” if “the war and peace decisions” are not “in the state’s hands.”

A war of words flared Wednesday between the Kataeb Party and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party after Kataeb chief Sami Gemayel derogated Habib Shartouni, a fugitive SSNP member convicted of the 1982 assassination of president-elect Bashir Gemayel.

Former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat is growing impatient as Lebanon remains without a president after more than a year of vacuum and political bickering.

"We've been waiting for the Christians to reach an agreement for two years with no progress," Jumblat told al-Akhbar, in remarks published Wednesday.