Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati will meet with U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, al-Jadeed television reported.

Israeli artillery shelled Friday the outskirts of al-Labbouneh, Rashaya al-Fokhar, al-Fardees and al-Hebbariyeh, while Hezbollah attacked several posts in northern Israel, including the Malkia post.

Israeli warplanes had targeted overnight five villages in southern Lebanon including al-Qantara, al-Taybeh, and Blida, killing five fighters from Hezbollah and the allied Amal movement.

Hezbollah said Thursday it had fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel, a day after Israeli strikes killed 15 people, including one of its commanders.

"Islamic resistance fighters fired dozens of Katyusha-type rockets at Kiryat Shmona," an Israeli town near the Lebanese border, Hezbollah said in a statement.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant noted Thursday that the Israeli military has stepped up its attacks against Hezbollah by “one level out of ten,” warning that “the Air Force planes flying currently in the skies of Lebanon have heavier bombs for more distant targets.”

Speaking during a war simulation carried out by the so-called emergency preparedness committee, Gallant said the conferees were gathered after “an intense day in the north,” in reference to a deadly rocket barrage on the Israeli army’s Northern Command headquarters in Safad and Israel’s subsequent deadly response in south Lebanon.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday described Israel’s deadly drone strike on a building in Nabatiyeh as “a new massacre” that Israel has added to “its record that is full of murder, terrorism and genocidal wars.”

Lamenting a “premeditated massacre,” Berri called on the international envoys who are visiting Lebanon, the United Nations and human rights organizations to address “the bloodshed in Nabatiyeh, Houla, Sawwaneh and Adshit.”

A Hezbollah commander, two other fighters and seven civilians were killed in an Israeli strike in south Lebanon's Nabatiyeh, a security source said Thursday, raising the toll from a raid a day earlier.

The deaths brought to 10 the total number of civilians killed in Israeli strikes on Wednesday, the highest such toll since cross-border hostilities began in October, further raising fears of a broader conflict between Israel and militant group Hezbollah.

The U.N. peacekeeping force deployed along the Lebanon-Israel border, known as UNIFIL, expressed concerns Thursday over the latest “exchanges of fire,” and urged all sides involved to halt hostilities to prevent further escalation.

“Attacks targeting civilians are violations of international law and constitute war crimes,” UNIFIL’s spokesman Andrea Tenenti said in a statement. “The devastation, loss of life, and injuries witnessed are deeply concerning.”

Senior Hezbollah official Sheikh Nabil Qaouq said Thursday at an event in south Lebanon that his group is “prepared for the possibility of expanding the war” with Israel, a day after the fiercest escalation since the beginning of clashes.

Hussein Berjawi had invited his daughter, her husband and their two young sons to dinner in south Lebanon, but an Israeli strike nearly wiped them all out.

At least five family members -- Hussein Barjawi, his daughters Amani and Zeinab, his sister Fatima and Zeinab's son Mahmoud Amer -- were killed in the strike on the city of Nabatiyeh.

Kataeb Party leader MP Sami Gemayel on Thursday stressed that “all the Israeli excuses for targeting civilians are rejected and condemned,” hours after ten Lebanese civilians were killed in Israeli airstrikes across south Lebanon.