Israel's army chief has said that his troops could destroy any village inside Lebanon, ramping up rhetoric against the Hezbollah militant group based across the border.

The Israeli military has been exchanging fire with Iran-backed Hezbollah -- a key ally of the Palestinian militant group Hamas -- almost every day since the war in Gaza broke out on October 7.

An Israeli strike has killed a civilian in a border town in southern Lebanon, a local official told AFP, as regional tensions soar amid the Gaza war.

Kfarkila mayor Hasan Sheyyet said a resident was killed Wednesday "during an Israeli artillery strike while he was in his garden", adding he was "a civilian with no party affiliation".

Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab said he met with Speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday was to put him in the picture of the meeting that he has held in Rome with U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein.

The five-nation group for Lebanon -- which comprises the U.S., France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt -- will hold a meeting in the weekend to discuss the situation in Lebanon, media reports said.

The Lebanese judiciary has "seized all the assets of Gabriel, Jihad and Carole Murr," accusing them of "embezzlement," Lebanese network MTV, which was founded by the Murr family, reported on Wednesday.

“The ruling seizes all the properties, real estate, companies and shares of Gabriel, Jihad and Carole Murr, which proves their embezzlement of funds, after they had accused (MTV chairman) Michel Murr of this for years,” MTV said.

U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein will carry a “serious” proposal to Lebanon regarding the border situation with Israel, while EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has conveyed an Israeli message to Lebanese officials regarding the occupied Shebaa Farms, a media report said.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati met Wednesday with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock at the Grand Serail, as increasing cross-border attacks between Hezbollah and the Israeli resumed in the south.

Mikati told Baerbock that Lebanon respects all international resolutions in order to achieve permanent stability in the south, while Baerbock stressed the need to implement the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701.

Asher Kaufman, University of Notre Dame

The killing of a Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon on Jan. 8, 2024, has raised concern that the conflict between Israel and Hamas could escalate into a regional war.

Israeli warplanes struck Wednesday the outskirts of al-Labbouneh, al-Naqoura and Kfarshouba.

Hezbollah later announced the killing of one of its members, Nabegh al-Qadiri from Kfarshouba, saying he died "on the road to Jerusalem" -- the phrase used for fighters killed by Israel.

Hezbollah has denied that a man in charge of Hezbollah’s drones in the south was killed in an Israeli airstrike Tuesday.

After Israel claimed it killed Ali Hussein Barji, who it said was in charge of Hezbollah’s drones in the south, Hezbollah denied the claim and an official said Barji was only a fighter.