The leader of the Palestinian Hamas group thanked Lebanon’s Hezbollah chief for his support in the ongoing war with Israel in a letter released Friday by Hezbollah’s media office.

Yahya Sinwar’s letter came in response to a message sent earlier by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in which he paid his condolence for the July killing of top Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh during a visit to Iran.

The health ministry said a child was among three people killed in an Israeli strike in the country's south on Thursday, amid ongoing exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah has been trading near-daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces since Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, sparking war in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army said it had carried out two strikes in southern Syria, one of which killed a fighter of Iran-backed Hezbollah.

An air strike hit "the area of Quneitra", killing Hezbollah member Ahmad al-Jabr, while a second strike hit "the area of Al Rafeed" and "struck a terrorist who advanced terror activities against the State of Israel and operated with Iranian cooperation and direction", an army statement said.

The Israeli army announced Thursday that it managed to “rescue and return” an Israeli civilian boat from Lebanon’s territorial waters, without mentioning anything about any coordination with the UNIFIL forces.

Western and Arab diplomats have relayed new Israeli warnings to the Lebanese government, saying that “the Israeli government can no longer remain idle over what’s happening in its northern regions” and that it is “cornered” due to “pressures from the population, from key parties in the governmental coalition and from some security and military officials,” a media report said.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned three individuals, five companies and two vessels that are allegedly involved in smuggling oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to generate revenue for Hezbollah.

German airline group Lufthansa said Thursday it was extending a suspension of flights to Lebanese capital Beirut until October 15 due to heightened regional tensions.

U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein will arrive in the region carrying the following message: “Refrain from escalation” against Hezbollah, Israel’s Channel 12 reported.

Hezbollah targeted several military bases and posts in northern Israel on Thursday as the Israeli army bombed villages in southern Lebanon.

In response to attacks on southern villages and an Israeli drone strike that killed two teenagers riding a motorbike in the al-Bayyada area on Wednesday, Hezbollah said it for the first time targeted the Rosh HaNikra Israeli settlement with volleys of rockets.

Retired servicemen on Wednesday blocked roads around the Grand Serail as well as the nearby Ring highway and roads in the Bekaa and North, after caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati convened a surprise Cabinet session in an apparent bid to avoid the retirees’ protests.

The retired servicemen had managed to prevent the caretaker Cabinet from convening on Tuesday after they blocked the roads leading to the Grand Serail.