U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein communicated with Lebanese officials over the past hours and urged a restrained retaliation from Hezbollah against Israel so that things do not spiral out of control, a media report said.

A proposal has been made to the Iran-led axis in the region, promising that the efforts to reach a Gaza truce will be expedited if Iran and Hezbollah choose not to retaliate against Israel over the recent assassinations, an informed source told Kuwait’s al-Anbaa newspaper.

Lebanon’s al-Liwaa newspaper for its part said that “the U.S. is leading serious negotiations” in this regard.

Air France has extended the suspension of flights between Paris and Beirut until at least Sunday "due to the security situation" in Lebanon.

Air France and its low-cost subsidiary, Transavia, have halted flights to the Lebanese capital since July 29 after Israel vowed to retaliate following rocket fire from Lebanon that killed 12 people in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was hitting its enemies and "continuing forward to victory" as the country braced for an expected attack by Iran and Hezbollah.

Israel was "determined to defend" itself following threats of retaliation after its killing of a top Hezbollah commander and following the death of Hamas's former chief Ismail Haniyeh.

An Israeli drone targeted Thursday a car between the southern towns of al-Jebbayn and Yarine, wounding three people.

Hezbollah, for its part, targeted al-Malkia with artillery shells and a group of soldiers in the al-Marj post with a suicide drone.

Batoul and her family have been scrambling to secure housing outside Beirut's southern suburbs where an Israeli strike killed a senior Hezbollah commander last week, but spiking demand has sent prices soaring.

Many in the southern suburbs -- a packed residential area known as Dahieh which is also a Hezbollah bastion -- have been trying to leave, fearing full-blown war between the Iran-backed group and Israel in the wake of the commander's killing.

French President Emmanuel Macron has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "avoid a cycle of reprisals" in the Middle East, his office said, as fears of a regional war soar.

After earlier telling his Iranian counterpart to "avoid a cycle of reprisals that would put the populations and stability of the region at risk", Macron urged Netanyahu in a telephone call on Wednesday to adopt the same reasoning, the French presidency said in a statement.

Speaking to troops during a drill simulating a war in Lebanon, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned Wednesday that Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah may cause the Lebanese state to “pay heavy prices.”

MP Simon Abi Ramia of the Strong Lebanon bloc on Wednesday announced his resignation from “the organizational structure of the Free Patriotic Movement.”

British troops are on standby in the Middle East for a possible major evacuation of expats from Lebanon amid the soaring tensions in the region, British media reports said.