Israeli airstrikes on Friday targeted several areas in south and east Lebanon, with the Israeli army claiming that they struck alleged Hezbollah sites, a day after the Lebanese Army said it had completed the first phase of its plan to disarm the group in the south.

In the south, the strikes hit open areas near Kfarfila, Sujud, Houmine al-Fawqa and Deir al-Zahrani in the Iqlim al-Tuffah region and the al-Bissariyeh area near Sidon. The raids also targeted the outskirts of the town of al-Nabi Sheet in the Bekaa and the al-Jabbour hills in west Bekaa.

France has welcomed Lebanon's announcement that the first phase of the army's plan to disarm Hezbollah in south Lebanon has been completed.

On Thursday, after the army leadership briefed the cabinet on progress on the disarmament plan, Information Minister Paul Morcos said the government emphasized the need to continue implementing the plan "as quickly as possible".

A Lebanese pop star turned Islamic militant told a military court Thursday that he is innocent and did not take part in battles against the Lebanese army or fund a radical cleric, judicial officials said.

Fadel Shaker handed himself over to the country's military intelligence service in early October, 12 years after going on the run and hiding in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh near the port city of Sidon.

Lebanon's moves to remove weapons from all non-state groups and assert full state control are as important as financial reforms if the economy is to recover after years of crisis, the economy minister said Thursday.

"You need economic reforms, but you also need security and political reforms," Amer Bisat told The Associated Press after a cabinet session in which the Lebanese military reported progress on a plan to disarm Hezbollah and non-state groups and expand deployment in southern Lebanon.

An Israeli drone strike on Thursday targeted a car between Zaita and Bnaafoul in the Sidon district, killing one person, with Israel claiming that it hit a Hezbollah member.

Israel has intensified its strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon in recent days.

Israel's Foreign Ministry said Thursday that Hezbollah is "rearming faster than it is being disarmed," showing a map of alleged Hezbollah compounds, launch sites, and underground networks south of the Litani River.

Lebanon's military had said it had concluded the first phase of a plan to fully deploy across southern Lebanon and disarm non-state groups, notably Hezbollah.

Judge Habib Rizkallah issued an indictment Thursday in the case filed by former state prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat against Judge Tarek Bitar, the investigative judge in the Beirut port explosion case, on charges of "impersonating an investigative judge and usurping authority."

Rizkallah decided to dismiss the case against Bitar because “Oueidat had recused himself from the case as state prosecutor and therefore lacked the legal standing to prosecute Bitar.”

As the Lebanese army announced it had completed the first phase of Hezbollah's disarmament, a report in Israeli Maariv newspaper claimed that the army's statement was "far from the truth", describing army chief Rodolphe Haykal as "a clown" who would tell his government "fairy tales".

The report, published Thursday, said the Israeli army will have to act to disarm Hezbollah itself.

Israel said Thursday that Lebanon's efforts to disarm Hezbollah were encouraging but "far from sufficient", after the Lebanese army announced it had completed the first phase of the process.

"The ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States between Israel and Lebanon states clearly, Hezbollah must be fully disarmed," the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri supported Thursday the army statement about completing the first phase of its plan to disarm Hezbollah, south of the Litani river.

Berri said the South has proven that it's "thirsty for the army's presence" and called on Israel to "leave our land and sky".