The woman whose company was linked to thousands of pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria this week is under the protection of the Hungarian secret services, her mother told The Associated Press on Friday.

Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono has not appeared publicly since the deadly simultaneous attack that targeted Hezbollah on Tuesday and that has been widely blamed on Israel. She is listed as the CEO of Budapest-based BAC Consulting, which the Taiwanese trademark holder of the pagers said was responsible for the manufacture of the devices.

U.S. President Joe Biden said Friday he was working to allow people to return to their homes on the Israeli-Lebanon border, in his first comments since a wave of explosions targeting the Hezbollah militia sent tensions soaring.

Biden added that it was crucial to keep pushing for a Gaza ceasefire to underpin regional peace, despite a media report that his administration had given up hope of securing a truce before he leaves office in January.

Israel announced it had killed the commander of Hezbollah's elite unit in a strike Friday that Lebanese officials said left 12 dead and dozens wounded in the movement's Beirut stronghold.

- Iran embassy in Lebanon condemns 'Israeli madness'-

Israel's defense minister said on Friday that the country's "enemies" would find no refuge in the southern suburb of Beirut where an air strike killed a Hezbollah commander.

"Our enemies have no place of refuge -- not even the Dahieh in Beirut," Yoav Gallant said on X, referring to the area where Israel said Ibrahim Akil, commander of Hezbollah's elite Radwan unit, was killed along with "about 10" other top militants.

Ibrahim Akil, who Israel said it killed in an air strike on Beirut's southern suburbs Friday, headed Hezbollah's elite Radwan unit and had been on a U.S. sanctions list for nearly a decade.

The United States described Akil as a "key leader" in the group and offered a $7 million reward for information about the man who became the second top Hezbollah commander killed in nearly a year of clashes between the militant group and Israel over the Gaza war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will delay his departure to New York by a day due to the security situation in the country's north, an official in his office told AFP on Friday.

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delayed his visit to the U.S. by one day in light of the security situation in the north of Israel," the official said, asking not to be named. He said that Netanyahu will now travel on September 25, instead of September 24 as previously planned.

Israel announced it had killed the commander of Hezbollah's elite unit in a strike Friday that Lebanese officials said left 14 dead and dozens wounded in the movement's Beirut stronghold.

Ibrahim Akil, who was also wanted by the United States for involvement in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Beirut, headed the Iran-backed militant group's elite Radwan Force.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards warned Israel that it will face a "crushing response from the resistance front" after thousands of communication devices used by Hezbollah in Lebanon exploded.

Israel has not commented on the attacks that killed 37 people and wounded nearly 3,000 over two days but has said it will widen the scope of its war in Gaza to include the Lebanon front.

U.S. President Joe Biden believes there can still be a diplomatic resolution to escalating tensions between Israel and Hezbollah following a series of pager and walkie-talkie bombings and amid Israeli threats to escalate the conflict, his spokeswoman said.

French President Emmanuel Macron said that a "diplomatic path exists" in Lebanon, where fears of an all-out war between Hezbollah and Israel spiked after deadly explosions of hand-held devices.

War is "not inevitable" and "nothing, no regional adventure, no private interest, no loyalty to any cause merits triggering a conflict in Lebanon," Macron said in a video to the Lebanese people posted on social media.