Israel appears to be trying to create a buffer zone in south Lebanon to remove the threat from Hezbollah but its effectiveness in preventing cross-border attacks remains to be seen, observers say.

U.S. President Joe Biden and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron discussed overnight efforts towards a ceasefire in Lebanon, where Israel is fighting with Hezbollah, the White House said.

Lubnan Baalbaki, the conductor of the Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra, watched on his phone screen as an aerial camera pointed to a village in southern Lebanon. In seconds, multiple houses erupted into rubble, smoke filling the air. The camera panned right, revealing widespread devastation.

He zoomed in to confirm his fears: His family's house in the border village of Odaisseh, where his parents are buried, was now in ruins.

An Israeli drone strike killed one person and injured another on the beach of the southern port city of Tyre on Saturday, according to the state-run National News Agency.

The agency said the victims were fishermen.

The U.N. has voiced concern that conditions were so dire in Syria that some Lebanese residents who had fled there seeking refuge from the Israel-Hezbollah war were opting to return to Lebanon.

Four U.N. peacekeepers from Italy have been wounded by rockets in Lebanon fired by Hezbollah, Italian officials said.

An Israeli airstrike killed the director of a university hospital and six others at his home in northeastern Lebanon, state media said.

The strike targeted Dr. Ali Allam’s house near Dar Al-Amal Hospital, the largest health center in Baalbek-Hermel province, which has provided vital health services amid Israel's campaign of airstrikes, the Health Ministry said. State-run media reported that the strike came without warning.

An Israeli air strike in central Beirut killed at least 11 people early Saturday, bringing down a residential building and jolting residents across the city out of bed as Israel kept up its air campaign against Hezbollah.

Four Italian soldiers have been lightly hurt in an "attack" by two rockets on the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Italian authorities said Friday.

The World Health Organization says nearly half of the attacks on health care in Lebanon have been deadly since the Middle East conflict erupted in October last year, the highest such rate anywhere in the world.

The U.N. health agency says 65 out of 137, or 47%, of recorded “attacks on health care” in Lebanon over that time period have proven fatal to at least one person, and often many more.