More than a dozen Israeli air strikes battered a row of hilltops in southern Lebanon on Friday, security sources said, with the Israeli military saying it had attacked a damaged military site that armed group Hezbollah was seeking to restore.
The simultaneous strikes hit a mountainous strip near the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh, according to the Lebanese security sources, who said Hezbollah likely still had arms depots there. There was no immediate comment from the group.
The Israeli military said its fighter jets had attacked a site used to manage Hezbollah's "fire and defence system". It said the site was destroyed in last year's war but that Hezbollah was attempting to resume activities there in breach of the November truce that ended the conflict.
Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun on Friday fired the same accusation back at Israel, saying it was continually violating the US-brokered ceasefire deal by keeping up strikes on Lebanon.
The ceasefire deal stipulates that southern Lebanon must be free of any non-state arms or fighters, Israeli troops must leave southern Lebanon as Lebanese troops deploy there and all fire across the Lebanese-Israeli border must stop.
Israeli troops remain in at least five posts within Lebanese territory and its air force regularly kills rank-and-file Hezbollah members or people affiliated with the group.
Hopes grew on Friday for peace between Iran and the US after President Donald Trump said a deal could be signed as soon as this weekend, even as Tehran said it had not made a final decision on a pact.
Ukraine and Russia exchanged overnight drone strikes into early Friday, with Ukraine targeting a major oil processing and petrochemical region while Russia attacked railway stations and electrical substations.
Authorities in Afghanistan's western city of Herat arrested at least 30 women, accusing them of violating dress rules imposed by the Taliban government, the UN agency for women's rights said, but added that some were later released.
US President Donald Trump called off plans for renewed military strikes on Iran at the last minute on Thursday, saying negotiations with Tehran had advanced to the highest levels of Iran's leadership and had been approved by a broad coalition of regional powers.
The UAE has launched a humanitarian initiative called 'Step of Hope' to provide prosthetic limbs for Palestinians who have suffered amputations during the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip.