Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday welcomed the election of his Lebanese counterpart Joseph Aoun after the country went more than two years without a head of state, saying unity will “defeat” Israel.

Israel’s military says it carried out new airstrikes in Yemen against what it said were Houthi rebel targets. Its statement Friday said fighter jets struck “on the western coast and inland Yemen,” a day after the Houthis launched three drones at Israel.

Lebanon’s Parliament chose a U.S.-trained general as president, ending a two-year vacancy in a sign of Hezbollah’s waning influence.

Five people were killed and four wounded in an Israeli strike on the town of Tayr Debba in southern Lebanon on Friday, the Lebanese health ministry said. The Israeli military said it had conducted an airstrike on vehicles loaded with weapons used by Lebanon's Hezbollah movement in southern Lebanon.

FILE PHOTO: A Palestinian carries an aid box distributed by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, November 4, 2024. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo

1920 - The League of Nations grants the mandate for Lebanon and Syria to France, which creates the State of Greater Lebanon out of the provinces of Mount Lebanon, north Lebanon, south Lebanon and the Bekaa. 1926 - Lebanese Representative Council approves a constitution and the unified Lebanese Republic under the French mandate is declared.

Lebanon has elected a new president after two years of political indecision, but not before some unexpected characters received votes — including Sen. Bernie Sanders, an American Jew.

With the deadline looming for the terms of a fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah to be met, an American diplomat on Monday said “much progress” had been made recently.

After two years of political deadlock, Lebanon elected Gen Joseph Aoun, commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces, as its new president

At least two people were killed and two others wounded in an Israeli strike on the town of Tayr Debba in southern Lebanon on Friday, the Lebanese health ministry said.