Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati urged the international community to "stop" Israel from waging a "genocidal war" against Lebanon, following a huge Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs.

"This new Israeli aggression proves that the Israeli enemy doesn't care about all the international efforts and calls for a ceasefire," Mikati, who is in New York, said in a statement issued by his office, urging the international community to stop the "genocidal war that it (Israel) is waging on Lebanon".

The Iranian embassy in Lebanon condemned a series of intense Israeli strikes on the densely-packed Hezbollah stronghold of Beirut's southern suburbs Friday, warning of a "dangerous escalation" in the Middle East.

"This reprehensible crime... represents a dangerous escalation that changes the rules of the game," the Iranian embassy said in a post on X, adding that Israel "will receive the appropriate punishment".

The health ministry said two people were killed and 76 wounded in a huge Israeli air strike in Beirut's densely populated southern suburbs Friday, adding it was a preliminary toll.

"The successive Israeli enemy strikes on Haret Hreik in Beirut's southern suburbs, in a preliminary toll, killed two people and wounded 76, including... 15 that required hospitalization," a ministry statement said.

The Israeli military said it struck the headquarters of Hezbollah in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Friday, after violent explosions rocked Dahieh and were heard across Beirut.

"The IDF (Israeli army) carried out a precise strike on the central headquarters of the terrorist organization Hezbollah in Dahieh," military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a televised statement.

Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu signaled to the world from the United Nations on Friday that the multiple conflicts in the Middle East were far from resolved, and he vowed to continue battling the Lebanese Hezbollah and defeat Hamas in the Gaza Strip until "total victory."

Shortly after the prime minister spoke, blasts rocked the Lebanese capital Beirut and the Israeli military said it had struck Hezbollah's headquarters. The exact target wasn't immediately clear, but it appeared to be significant enough to prompt Netanyahu to cut short his trip to New York by a day and make unusual travel on the Jewish Sabbath to get home.

An Israeli security official said he expects a possible war against Hezbollah would not last for as long as the current war in Gaza because the Israeli military’s goals are much narrower.

The official said Israel has vowed to dismantle Hamas' military and political regime in Gaza, but the goal in Lebanon is just to push Hezbollah away from the border with Israel. That is “not a high bar like Gaza” in terms of operational objectives, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military briefing guidelines.

Meetings have not stopped at the diplomatic and intelligence levels and there are ideas that the Americans are working on with Qatar and Egypt that will be presented to Israel and Hezbollah, an Arab diplomat told LBCI television.

Speaker Nabih Berri has stressed that he will continue to separate the presidency file from the confrontations in the south, as he again called for “dialogue.”

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Friday called on Speaker Nabih Berri to schedule parliamentary sessions aimed at discussing the current Israel-Hezbollah escalation and electing a new president for the country.

An Israeli security official said on Friday that any ground operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon would be carried out as swiftly as possible.

"We will try to do it as short as we can," the official told journalists, speaking anonymously in line with security rules.