Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich warned Thursday that a southern Beirut suburb, a stronghold of Hezbollah, will face devastation similar to Gaza after the Israeli military told residents to evacuate.

The Lebanese government said on Thursday it would ban any activity by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps -- a main backer of Hezbollah -- and seek to deport its members from Lebanon.

Information Minister Paul Morcos said the country's cabinet had decided to "prevent any activity" that members of the Iran Guards "may carry out from Lebanese territory... and to have them detained by the competent judiciary to deport them".

Engaged in a new war with Hezbollah, the Israeli army announced this week its intention to establish a buffer zone in southern Lebanon while its forces began advancing into border towns.

What is the purpose of creating this buffer zone and what risks does it pose?

Israel issued an unprecedented evacuation warning on Thursday for the entirety of Beirut's southern suburbs, a stronghold of Hezbollah, sending residents in the district of hundreds of thousands of people fleeing in a panic.

Iran's military said on Thursday that it had launched a drone attack against a U.S. military site in Kuwait.

"Drone units of the armed force's navy targeted a site of the U.S. forces Camp Udairi in Kuwait using combat drones," the army said in a statement broadcast by state TV.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday they had targeted Israel's Ben Gurion airport and an air force base in the area.

"The heavy Khorramshahr-4 missiles carrying one-ton warheads were launched at dawn today ...  toward the heart of Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion airport and the base of the Israeli air force's 27th squadron located at the airport," the Guards said in a statement carried by Tasnim news agency.

Iranian state television said Iran had struck a U.S. oil tanker in the Gulf with a missile on Thursday, the latest Iranian attack on the energy industry in the region.

The ship "was hit by a missile in the north of the Persian Gulf" and "is currently on fire", Iran's Revolutionary Guards said in a statement reported by state television.

Israel carried out strikes on Dahieh and South and east Lebanon Thursday, while Lebanese state media reported an Israeli drone strike killed a Hamas official in Tripoli's Beddawi.

Two people were also killed in an Israeli strike on the Zahle highway Thursday.

Three people were killed in a pair of Israeli strikes on vehicles near Beirut, Lebanon's health ministry said late Wednesday, after a third day of Israeli bombardments in response to renewed Hezbollah attacks.

France's President Emmanuel Macron said he urged Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to "refrain from a ground offensive" in Lebanon in their first phone call since last summer.