Israel is drawing up plans to expand its ground offensive in southern Lebanon alongside the diplomatic efforts, Israel’s top general said, as its warplanes intensified their air campaign against targets in Lebanon.

Herzi Halevi, chief of staff of the Israeli army, said that “alongside the political attempt to reach understandings in Lebanon,” the Israeli army “must continue to formulate plans to continue the fighting in Lebanon, including expanding and deepening the ground maneuver.”

Lebanon's health ministry said three people were killed Thursday in an Israeli strike that targeted a car at the main entrance to the southern city of Sidon.

"The Israeli enemy's raid on a car in Sidon resulted in the deaths of three people," the ministry said in a statement.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will “fulfill the promises” that he had made in the letter that he had recently addressed to Lebanese-American voters, Trump’s Arab affairs adviser Massad Boulos said.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Thursday in Jerusalem he saw prospects for ending Israel's wars in Gaza and Lebanon after Donald Trump was elected U.S. president.

"I believe a window has opened for putting an end to the tragedy in which Israelis, Palestinians and the entire region have been immersed since October 7" last year, Barrot told reporters alongside outgoing Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, citing Trump's "wish to see the end of the Middle East's endless wars" as well as Israel's recent "tactical successes".

U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein is expected to return to Lebanon within a week to “continue the initiative he had proposed to Speaker Nabih Berri,” which aims to “find a diplomatic solution between Lebanon and Israel,” informed sources said.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says its alliance of militant groups opposed to Israel remains strong despite the killing of many of their senior leaders.

“God willing, the world will see a day when the Zionist regime will be defeated by them,” Iranian state TV reported the leader as saying Thursday.

Speaker Nabih Berri has said that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump had “signed a written pledge at Hassan Abbas’ restaurant (in the U.S. state of Michigan) to secure a ceasefire in Lebanon once he wins.”

Lebanese state media said an Israeli drone strike on Thursday targeted a car on a key road linking the capital Beirut with the Bekaa plain and eastern neighbor Syria.

"An enemy drone targeted a car in Araya," the National News Agency said, adding the road had been cut off by the strike that comes after two cars were targets on the same route last week, including a van loaded with Hezbollah ammunition.

Health Minister Firass Abiad told AFP on Wednesday more than 2,600 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since Israel launched intense air strikes on Lebanon more than a month ago.

The Israeli military said Hezbollah had fired about 120 projectiles across the border from Lebanon on Wednesday, as an AFP journalist reported hearing interceptions over commercial hub Tel Aviv.