A minister with Yemen's internationally recognized government told AFP on Wednesday that the country's Houthi rebels were working under Iranian guidance to establish a system to impose fees for ships transiting the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

Information minister Moammar al-Eryani described "the move as a dangerous escalation aimed at transforming one of the world's most strategic maritime corridors into a permanent source of funding for the militia's military and terrorist activities".

Iranian state television on Wednesday said the United States struck a city in the country's northwest on the border with Iraq.

"A few minutes ago, a location in the Piranshahr border area was attacked by American enemy airstrikes," state television reported.

As Lebanon's army deploys in the southern village of Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh, Hassan Sbeih is among those reassured by the troops and hoping the move will soon extend to areas still occupied by Israel.

Last week, the Lebanese military began deploying to the devastated village, one of the first "pilot zones" under a framework agreement reached between Israel and Lebanon in June.

U.N. peacekeepers have found around four tons of mainly ammonium nitrate explosives this month in a south Lebanon border village under Israeli occupation.

On July 2 during a "routine route check" near Houla, "peacekeepers found 385 containers abandoned inside a building, containing approximately 4,000 kilograms of explosive material, consisting mainly of ammonium nitrate compounds", the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said Tuesday in a statement.

Lebanese security forces have arrested a man accused of transferring nearly half a million dollars to the Islamic State group in neighboring Syria, a judicial official told AFP on Tuesday.

Forces "arrested a man who had stolen $400,000 from his father's safe, and investigations showed that he had transferred the money to Syria" for IS, the official said on condition of anonymity.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi called on Monday for an investigation into Saudi Arabia's claim that drones targeting its territory had been launched by pro-Iran groups in Iraq, his spokesman said.

Zaidi directed "the competent security authorities to investigate the statement issued by the ministry of defense of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia regarding the targeting of the kingdom with drones launched from Iraqi territory", spokesman Sabah al-Numan said in a statement.

Israeli defense minister Israel Katz on Tuesday said that American warplanes used Israeli bases during their attacks on Iran, reiterating that his country was prepared to retaliate if targeted.

Fighting between the U.S. and Iran has been paused since Friday after 13 nights of U.S. strikes on the Islamic republic, after an April ceasefire collapsed.

The Israeli military said on Tuesday it intercepted a drone near the Jordanian border and was looking into its origin.

"A short while ago, the Israeli Air Force intercepted a UAV in the area of the Jordan border," the military said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held separate phone calls on the Strait of Hormuz with his Omani and Saudi counterparts Badr Al-Busaidi and Faisal bin Farhan, state TV said Tuesday.

During the calls, "they stressed the need to strengthen cooperation and advance joint diplomatic efforts to establish stability in the region and eliminate the insecurity imposed on the Strait of Hormuz due to the aggressive actions of the United States," the state broadcaster added.

The U.S. State Department confirmed Monday that the next round of talks between Israel and Lebanon will be held in Rome on August 4 through 6, as Israel prepares to withdraw from two "pilot zones" in southern Lebanon.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani first announced the next round of U.S.-mediated talks last week, with a State Department official detailing the talks to AFP on the condition of anonymity.