Israeli artillery shelled Thursday several border towns in southern Lebanon as Hezbollah targeted an Israeli post in the occupied Shebaa farms.

Hezbollah said it has attacked surveillance equipment in the Radar post, while Israel shelled Yarine, al-Jebbayn, Em el-Tout, and the outskirts of al-Hebbariye.

The U.S. has slapped sanctions on three companies and one person in Lebanon and Turkey, accusing them of funneling funds to Iran's Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah.

The U.S. Treasury announced sanctions on Turkish company Mira Ihracat Ithalat Petrol (Mira), which it said "purchases, transports, and sells Iranian commodities on the global market;" on its chief executive, Ibrahim Talal al-Uwayr; and on Lebanon-based Yara Offshore SAL and Hydro Company for Drilling Equipment Rental, both of which it said have sold large quantities of Iranian goods to Syria.

The prospect of a full-scale war between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah terrifies people on both sides of the border, but some see it as an inevitable fallout from Israel's ongoing war on Gaza.

Such a war could be the most destructive either side has ever experienced.

Paris might send to Lebanon an envoy other than Jean-Yves Le Drian, whose performance has been “criticized by Arab and Western officials,” a media report said.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati carried out international contacts over the past few days in an effort to prevent any major war on Lebanon, a ministerial source said.

The Constitutional Council on Wednesday held a session at its headquarters without managing to reach a decision on the appeal filed by the Free Patriotic Movement against the recent extension of the army chief’s term, which means that the extension will not be annulled, the National News Agency said.

Parliament had extended the army chief's mandate on December 15, averting a military power vacuum as the country faces spillover of the Israel-Hamas war without a president or a fully functioning government.

Lebanon’s gasoline, diesel and gas importing companies announced overnight that they would be suspending the delivery of fuel to distributors as of Wednesday morning as well as importation operations, in protest at parliament’s decision to impose an extraordinary tax on the companies that “imported subsidized goods in 2020 and 2021.”

Urging “solutions,” the importers said they would be willing to reopen and supply the market with fuel, even on Sundays, when the issue gets resolved.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has said that Israel is preparing for a potential war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah, warning that the war would be devastating for the crisis-hit country.

"If the Israeli army goes into action in the north, it will destroy Lebanon and Hezbollah," Gallant said. He added that in case of an escalation, the situation in Haifa won't be good, but in Beirut "the situation would be devastating."

The ambassadors of the five-nation group for Lebanon did not propose an initiative or a presidential candidate in their meeting Tuesday with Speaker Nabih Berri, a source informed on the meeting said.

“They presented their role as a support front and told the Lebanese to choose the candidates after consultations and support and assistance” from the five-nation group, the source told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Wednesday.

Hezbollah targeted Wednesday a group of Israeli soldiers on the hill of al-Tayhat and surveillance equipment in the Hanita post, as Israel shelled the outskirts of Tayr Harfa, Dhaira, Alma al-Shaab, and Majdalzoun.

Israeli warplanes also carried out airstrikes on several locations in southern Lebanon, including Haddatha, Rshef and al-Tiri.