Norway has issued an international wanted notice for a man linked to a Bulgaria-based company that may have been involved in the dissemination of exploding electronic devices to the militant Hezbollah group that killed dozens and wounded thousands in Lebanon last week.

The notice is part of a multi-country investigation trying to piece together how thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies were rigged to explode and their trail to Lebanon.

The Philippines is preparing to evacuate thousands of its citizens from Lebanon

The Philippine government is bracing to evacuate thousands of Filipino workers in Lebanon in case the deadly conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group further escalates, Philippine officials said Friday.

Authorities in Lebanon said a family of nine was killed in an Israeli airstrike in a town near the border with Israel.

The state-run National News Agency reported the deaths in the strike early Friday in Shebaa. It put the strike at 3 a.m. local.

An Israeli air strike on Friday killed five Syrian soldiers near the border with Lebanon, the official news agency SANA reported, citing a military source.

"The Israeli enemy carried out an aerial attack... on one of our military positions near Kfar Yabous on the Syrian-Lebanese border," SANA said, adding that five Syrian soldiers were killed and one was wounded.

Hezbollah said its forces fired a salvo of rockets at the Israeli city of Tiberias on Friday.

In a statement, Hezbollah said it was responding to Israel's "savage" strikes on Lebanese towns and civilians.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said overnight that Israel "shares the aims" of a U.S.-led initiative for achieving a ceasefire on Lebanon, after remarks by him and other Israeli officials appeared to pour cold water on the proposal hours earlier.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday the world is united in calling for a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah and will be seeking approval from Israeli officials after the release of a proposal for a temporary 21-day halt in fighting.

“It is now the G7 countries, the European Union, the leading Arab countries, everyone speaking with one clear voice about the need to get that cease-fire in the north,” Blinken said in an interview with MSNBC before he met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s top strategy advisor, Ron Dermer, in New York.

Dimming hopes for a cease-fire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel plans to continue striking Hezbollah "with full force" and will not stop until all of its goals are achieved.

Netanyahu spoke as he landed in New York to attend the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting and as U.S. and European officials were pressing for a 21-day halt in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah to give time for negotiations.

Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, who is close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, informed U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein Thursday in New York that “Israel is continuing its war in Lebanon and will not agree to the presented proposals,” an Arab diplomat said.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has said that he has done “everything necessary to protect Lebanon” in the face of Israel’s escalation, noting that foreign and Arab powers have supported Lebanon’s stance.