U.N. peacekeepers are staying in their positions on Lebanon's southern border despite Israel's request to vacate some areas before it launched its ground operation against Hezbollah, the U.N. peacekeeping chief said Thursday.

Jean-Pierre Lacroix said the commander and liaison officers from the U.N. force, known as UNIFIL, also are in constant contact with their counterparts in the Israeli and Lebanese militaries. He called that key to protecting the U.N.'s more than 10,000 peacekeepers.

The Israeli military said Friday that a strike in south Beirut the day before killed Mohammed Skafi, the head of Hezbollah’s communications division.

The military said in a statement that Skafi was “a senior Hezbollah terrorist who was responsible for the communications unit since 2000” and was “closely affiliated” with high-up Hezbollah officials.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Friday that an Israeli airstrike has cut a main highway linking Lebanon with Syria.

The agency gave no further details about Friday’s airstrike that led to the closure of a road near the Masnaa Border Crossing, from where tens of thousands of people fleeing war in Lebanon have crossed into Syria over the past two weeks. It’s the first time this major border crossing has been cut off since the beginning of the war.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi landed in Lebanon's capital Friday, official media said, as Israel intensifies its air strikes against the Tehran-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon.

"An Iranian plane has landed at the Rafik Hariri International Airport with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on board," the Lebanese National News Agency said of the first visit by a top Iranian official since an Israeli strike killed Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut last week.

Japan on Thursday dispatched two Self Defense Force planes to prepare for a possible airlift of Japanese citizens from Lebanon.

Two C-2 transport aircraft are expected to arrive in Jordan and Greece on Friday, Japan NHK national television reported.

The United Nations chief is demanding a halt to the escalation of “tit-for-tat violence” that he warned is leading people in the Middle East “straight over the cliff.”

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council Wednesday that in just a week the alarming situation in Lebanon has gone from bad “to much, much worse.”

The U.S. has imposed sanctions on an Iranian man and three Chinese firms that Washington believes helped the Houthi militant group acquire materials needed to manufacture and deploy advanced missiles and drones against the U.S. and its allies.

Iranian citizen Hasan Ahmad Hasan Muhammad al-Kuhlani is named in the sanctions announced Wednesday. He is accused of facilitating weapons smuggling for the Houthis.

The Health Ministry in Gaza said at least 51 people were killed and 82 wounded in the operation in Khan Younis that began early Wednesday. Records at the European Hospital show that seven women and 12 children, as young as 22 months old, were among those killed.

Another 23 people, including two children, were killed in separate strikes across Gaza, according to local hospitals.

World shares were mixed on Wednesday, with European benchmarks mostly higher. Hong Kong's Hang Seng soared more than 6% while other Asian markets retreated as tensions escalated in the Middle East.

Oil prices extended gains after Iran fired dozens of missiles into Israel, potentially raising the risk of disruptions to supplies. That news overshadowed an upbeat report showing U.S. job openings rose unexpectedly in August as the American labor market continued to show resilience.

A dog clings to Hussein Hamza inside a car as he pans his camera around to show the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon.

"Poor thing. Look at this, he's clinging to me out of fear," Hamza says in the video he posted online. "A missile hit here," he said, his voice shaking.