Since last week, tensions have soared as Iran and Tehran-backed groups, including Hezbollah, vowed revenge for the killing of Hamas's political leader in Tehran and Israel's killing of the Lebanese group's military chief in Beirut.

Hezbollah has traded near-daily fire with Israel in support of its ally Hamas since the Palestinian militant group's October 7 attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war.

In Beirut, shops are open and traffic is as snarled as ever. In Tel Aviv, cafes hum with patrons and umbrellas sprout across crowded beaches.

Such scenes may seem surreal in a region teetering on the edge of all-out war — and beneath the surface there is plenty of fear and anxiety. But after 10 months of near-daily border skirmishes, strikes further afield and escalating threats, a sense of fatalism seems to have set in.

Diplomatic pressure mounted Monday to avoid an escalation between Iran and Israel following high-profile killings that have sent regional tensions soaring, while numerous governments urged their citizens to leave Lebanon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late Sunday that his country was "determined to stand against" Iran and its allied armed groups "on all fronts".

French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné will visit Beirut this week in an attempt by French President Emmanuel Macron to “prevent escalation in the region and continue to monitor the situation closely,” Annahar newspaper reported on Monday.

Macron had called King Abdullah II of Jordan on Sunday to disucss with him the explosive situations in the region.

U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken told his counterparts from the G7 countries on Sunday that an attack by Iran and Hezbollah against Israel could start as early as Monday, three sources briefed on the call told U.S. news portal Axios.

“Blinken convened the conference call to coordinate with close U.S. allies and try to generate last-minute diplomatic pressure on Iran and Hezbollah to minimize their retaliation as much as possible. He stressed that limiting the impact of their strikes is the best chance to prevent all-out war,” Axios said.

Israel's army said it had not changed "as of now" its policy for protecting civilians, as Iran and Hezbollah are expected to avenge killings blamed on Israel of two senior members.

"I would like to refer tonight to the various reports and rumors that we are on alert for the enemy's response to the territory of the State of Israel," military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Sunday in an online briefing to journalists.

Travelers waited in long lines at Beirut airport on Sunday, some after cutting summer holidays short, as airlines have cancelled flights and fears have grown of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah.

"I'm not happy to leave. I wanted to spend the whole summer in Lebanon then go back to work" in France, said Joelle Sfeir from the crowded departures hall at Beirut airport.

Urgent calls grew for foreign nationals to leave Lebanon, which would be on the front line of a regional war, as Iran and its allies readied their response to high-profile killings blamed on Israel.

While diplomats worked to avert a feared conflagration, France's Emmanuel Macron and Jordan's King Abdullah II said Sunday a regional military escalation must be avoided "at all costs", the French presidency said after they held a telephone call.

Hezbollah said it launched a drone attack early Monday on northern Israel that the Israeli military said wounded two Israeli troops and set off a fire.

The violence came as fears of an all-out regional war mount following the killings last week of a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon and Hamas’ top political leader in Iran.

An Israeli drone strike near a cemetery in the southern village of Mays al-Jabal killed two people, a Hezbollah fighter and a paramedic.

The National News Agency said one of the dead was a member of the Islamic Risala Scout Association paramedic group. The group identified the member killed as Mohammed Fawzi Hamadi. Hezbollah later announced the death of one of its fighters, Ali Shuqair from Mays al-Jabal, "on the road to Jerusalem."