U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles "CQ" Brown, the United States' highest-ranking military officer, will visit Beirut carrying a messgae to Lebanese officials, media reports said.

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned against further regional escalation on Sunday in a meeting with the United States' highest-ranking general, as cross-border hostilities between Israel and Lebanon intensified.

Sisi "warned of the dangers of a new front opening in Lebanon and stressed the necessity of preserving Lebanon's stability and sovereignty," according to a statement from the president's office.

Iran’s foreign ministry said Monday that Israel “failed to predict the time and place” of Hezbollah’s “limited and calculated attack” that “made it lose its deterrence,” referring to Hezbollah’s retaliation on Sunday to the assassination of its military chief Fouad Shukur.

Fighting resumed Monday after a short-lived calm following a heavy exchange of strikes between Israel and Hezbollah.

Israeli strikes targeted Monday the southern border village of Tayrharfa and the coastal city of Sidon. A car was hit in the latter strike near Abra's entrance.

Pope Francis called Monday for "truth and justice" over the catastrophic explosion at Beirut's port four years ago, and lamented Lebanon was "paying a price" for the war in the Middle East.

He was speaking as he met victims of the August 4, 2020 blast, one of the world's biggest non-nuclear explosions, at the Vatican.

The ferocious exchange of fire by Hezbollah and the Israeli military is raising fears of a regional war beyond the tense border.

The risks for Lebanon are far greater than in 2006, when a monthlong war with Israel ended in a draw. Lebanon has struggled with years of political and economic crises that left it indebted, without a stable electricity supply, a proper banking system and with rampant poverty.

The United States helped track the barrage of rockets and drones launched by Hezbollah against Israel on Sunday, but was not involved in strikes in Lebanon or in shooting down incoming projectiles, a U.S. defense official said.

"The U.S. was not involved in Israel’s preemptive strikes last night. We did provide some ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) support in terms of tracking incoming Lebanese Hezbollah attacks, but did not conduct any kinetic operations as they were not required," the official said on condition of anonymity.

The Israeli army said Hezbollah failed to strike a military intelligence base near Tel Aviv that the Lebanese armed group’s leader said was the target of a rocket and drone barrage on Sunday.

Britain on Sunday called for restraint in the Middle East, after the largest clashes between Israel and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah since the start of the war in Gaza.

"Further escalation in the Middle East must be avoided at all costs," British Foreign Secretary David Lammy posted on X, following a call with Israel's minister of strategic affairs, Ron Dermer.

Five-time former Lebanese Prime Minister Salim Hoss, who served during some of the most tumultuous years of his country's modern history, died Sunday at age 94, the current premier said.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati described Hoss, who was also a former government minister and member of parliament, as the "conscience of Lebanon" in a statement announcing his death. He added that Hoss "passed away at the most difficult and delicate stage in which Lebanon needs its conscience."