Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun called on Hezbollah and other political parties on Thursday to hand over their weapons to the army, a move the powerful militant group is resisting as Washington ramps up pressures for it to remove its arsenal.

Israeli warplanes carried out a series of airstrikes late on Thursday targeting Hezbollah sites in Lebanon, the Israeli army and Lebanese security sources said. The strikes hit remote areas near the eastern town of Brital in the Bekaa Valley and the outskirts of Janta near the Syrian border.