Eighteen months after the nation's largest Arab American community helped propel Donald Trump to a second term as president, the prayers have not stopped.

In Dearborn, just outside of Detroit, families wait restlessly for word from relatives abroad, hoping they are safe, and mourning those already lost.

There are few precedents for the direct talks between Lebanese and Israeli officials that began in Washington on Tuesday.

- 1949, Fragile armistice -

Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah called Wednesday for a referendum, claiming that more than half of the Lebanese people are against the direct Lebanese-Israeli talks that took place Tuesday in Washington.

Fadlallah lashed out at Lebanese authorities who "are giving free concessions" to Israel, saying they now "have blood on their hands".

Israel's military on Wednesday issued a fresh evacuation order for residents of south Lebanon despite talks held Tuesday in Washington.

"The airstrikes are ongoing as the Israel Defense Forces operate with significant force in the area. Therefore... we reiterate our urgent appeal for you to evacuate your homes immediately and head north of the Zahrani River," it said in a statement.

The Israeli military has said that three Hezbollah militants were brought to Israel for questioning after surrendering during close-quarters combat in southern Lebanon.

"Yesterday, IDF soldiers engaged in close-range combat with a Hezbollah terrorist cell in Bint Jbeil," the military said.

Israel's army said Hezbollah militants fired around 30 rockets into northern Israel early on Wednesday, just hours after Washington hosted the first direct talks between Israel and Lebanon in decades.

The military detected "approximately 30 launches" towards Israel since the early hours, a spokesman told AFP.

Two Israeli strikes on Wednesday hit vehicles south of Beirut, state media reported, while Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel, hours after Lebanon and Israel agreed to hold direct negotiations.

Israel is continuing its strikes on southern Lebanon, but has not targeted the Lebanese capital since a series of attacks across the country on April 8 that killed more than 350 people.

Jawad Younes, 11, and his cousins were playing soccer in the lot between their houses, as they often did. His little brother, 4-year-old Mehdi, had joined them but grew tired, so Jawad took him home and handed him off to their mother before returning to the game. Minutes later, an Israeli strike came.

The target was Jawad's uncle's home. The blast shook neighboring buildings and threw Jawad's siblings at home to the ground. As their mother, Malak Meslmani, scrambled to help them up, she could think only of Jawad.

Lebanon's ambassador to the United States Nada Hamadeh Moawad called for a ceasefire during "constructive" talks on Tuesday with Israeli officials in Washington, she said in a statement.

The "preparatory meeting was constructive," the envoy's statement said, adding that she "called for a ceasefire" and the return of displaced people to their homes, and also emphasized "the full sovereignty of the state" over all Lebanese territory.

Israel and Lebanon agreed to hold direct negotiations after "productive discussions" between the two sides in Washington, the United States said on Tuesday.

"The participants held productive discussions on steps toward launching direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon," State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement, adding: "All sides agreed to launch direct negotiations at a mutually agreed time and venue."