A decree setting the dates of the upcoming parliamentary elections was issued Friday in Lebanon’s official gazette, signed by President Joseph Aoun, PM Nawaf Salam and Interior Minister Ahmad al-Hajjar.

The U.S. Embassy in Beirut and the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) on Friday reaffirmed that the U.S.-led Mechanism committee “remains fully in place and operational,” and that it will meet on February 25, following the latest reports about its fate.

Political forces agree that the dialogue between President Joseph Aoun and MP Mohammad Raad is currently suspended and fraught with irreconcilable differences, a media report said.

A prominent political source from the Shiite Duo meanwhile told the Asharq al-Awsat newspaper that Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem’s latest threat that Hezbollah might militarily support Iran in the event of a new war is unlikely to be translated into actions, calling them verbal solidarity.

An airstrike targeted a car Friday in the southern town of Siddiqin in the Tyre district, killing one person.

The Israeli army said it targeted a Hezbollah member in the strike.

President Joseph Aoun said Friday that the reconstruction of war-hit regions in south Lebanon is a priority, as he met a delegation from the southern border villages.

Aoun told the delegation that "the reconstruction of the destroyed and damaged villages is at the forefront of our priorities, in order to facilitate the return of the (displaced) residents."

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil lashed out overnight at Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea after the latter accused him of corruption during a live interview on MTV.

The Parliament approved the 2026 state budget on Thursday after debates that lasted for three days. 59 MPs voted in favor, 34 voted against it, and 11 abstained.

Speaker Nabih Berri asked the media to stop the live broadcast of the session as the debate over the increase of the public sector's salaries turned heated.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has rejected Sheikh Naim Qassem's remarks on the possibility of supporting Iran in case of U.S.-Israeli strikes against it.

"Qassem's remarks are rejected in all standards," Geagea said, adding that Hezbollah's chief has violated all laws and has become "an outlaw".

An Israeli military source stressed Thursday that the Israeli army “will not allow Hezbollah to possess weapons inside Lebanon,” adding that “the Lebanese government is trying to dismantle Hezbollah but its effectiveness is weak.”

Hezbollah chief Sheikh “Naim Qassem's decision last week to link his fate to Iran was a strategic mistake,” the source told Al-Arabiya’s Al-Hadath channel, referring to Qassem’s latest remarks about the possibility of supporting Iran militarily in the event of a new war.

French Ambassador to Lebanon Hervé Magro has stressed that "the current stage requires a fundamental internal step, namely the restoration of the Lebanese state's monopoly on the use of force."

In an interview with An-Nahar newspaper, distributed by the French Embassy in Beirut, he added: "The time has come to implement this principle, in line with the stances of President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam."