French President Emmanuel Macron has called on his Iranian counterpart to use his influence to reduce soaring tensions in Lebanon, the Elysee said.

Meeting President Masoud Pezeshkian, Macron "highlighted the responsibility of Iran to support a general de-escalation and use its influence with destabilizing actors," an Elysee statement said, in a clear reference to Iranian-backed Hezbollah.

The foreign ministers of Egypt, Iraq and Jordan condemned Israel's "aggression" against Lebanon Wednesday, warning that it is "pushing the region towards all-out war".

The ministers said that stopping the "dangerous escalation under way in the region... begins by halting Israel's aggression in Gaza", in a joint statement issued after a meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that Israel's killing of top Hezbollah commanders couldn't bring the Lebanese militant group to its knees.

"Some of the effective and valuable forces of Hezbollah were martyred, which undoubtedly caused damage to Hezbollah, but this was not the sort of damage that could bring the group to its knees," he said in meeting with military personnel and veterans of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

An Israeli airstrike hit a house in the Keserwan town of Maaysra Wednesday, killing three people and wounding nine others, the Health Ministry said.

The strikes hit the mountain village north of Beirut for the first time, while Israel said it was carrying out "extensive" strikes on Hezbollah strongholds.

A Lebanese security source said an Israeli strike hit the Saadiyat area near Beirut early Wednesday, just hours after a deadly raid on the capital's southern suburbs.

"An Israeli strike hit Saadiyat" on the coast around 20 kilometers south of Beirut, with a "warehouse" targeted, the security source said, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Pope Francis on Wednesday slammed the "terrible escalation" of the conflict in Lebanon as "unacceptable", after Israeli bombings in the south of the country targeting Hezbollah killed hundreds of people.

"I am saddened by the news coming out of Lebanon... but I hope that the international community will make every effort to stop this terrible escalation. This is unacceptable, I express my closeness to the Lebanese people, who have already suffered too much in the recent past," Francis said.

Lebanon said 51 people were killed and more than 220 injured in Israeli strikes Wednesday, including two rare strikes in mountain areas outside Hezbollah's traditional strongholds in the south and east.

An Israeli strike on the village of Joun in the Chouf mountains, southeast of Beirut, killed at least four people.

Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets into Israel on Wednesday, including a longer-range projectile that set off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv and across central Israel. It was the group’s farthest strike yet in nearly a year of exchanges.

The Israeli military said it intercepted the surface-to-surface missile, which set off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv and across central Israel, and there were no reports of casualties or damage. The military said it struck the site in southern Lebanon from which the missile was launched.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Tuesday that the Israeli military would press on with its aerial bombing campaign against Hezbollah, as Israeli jets pounded Lebanon.

"We will continue to hit Hezbollah... the one who has a missile in his living room and a rocket in his home will not have a home," Netanyahu said in a statement after visiting an Israeli intelligence base.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday urged a diplomatic solution as Israel strikes Hezbollah targets, warning against a "full-scale war" in Lebanon.

"Full-scale war is not in anyone's interest. Even though the situation has escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible," Biden said in an address to the UN General Assembly.