Israel conducted strikes on the Syrian border with Lebanon that a war monitor said killed seven people, hours ahead of a Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire.

Syria’s defense ministry said six people were killed in Israeli strikes on border crossings with Lebanon just after midnight on Wednesday.

One of the most powerful Iran-backed factions in Iraq said it would continue its operations in support of Gaza despite the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire.

Iraqi militias have repeatedly launched attacks on Israel from Iraq in the nearly 14 months since the Israel-Hamas war broke out.

The independent civilian commission of inquiry into the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel has found Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly responsible for the failures leading up to the attack, alongside former defense ministers, the army chief and the heads of the security services.

The civil commission presented its findings today after a four-month probe in which it heard some 120 witnesses. It was set up by relatives of victims of the Hamas attack, in response to the absence of any state probe.

The U.N. rights chief is gravely concerned over the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon and wants a "permanent ceasefire" there and in war-ravaged Gaza, his spokesman said Tuesday.

"The only way to end the suffering of people on all sides is a permanent and immediate ceasefire on all fronts: in Lebanon, in Israel and in Gaza," Jeremy Laurence, a spokesman for Volker Turk, told reporters in Geneva.

Syrian state television reported Israeli strikes on several bridges in the Qusayr region, near the Lebanese border on Monday.

"An Israeli aggression targeted the bridges of Al-Jubaniyeh, Al-Daf, Arjoun, and the Al-Nizariyeh Gate in the Qusayr area," state television said, with official news agency SANA reporting damage following the attacks.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said 11 people including civilians were killed in attacks by a Kurdish-led force on positions of Turkey-backed fighters in north Syria.

"A woman, her two children and a man were killed... in the bombing of a military position... used by Ankara-backed factions for human smuggling operations to Turkey," the Britain-based monitor said Monday.

Iran’s supreme leader has suggested that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be “sentenced to death” for his role in the ongoing wars in the Gaza Strip against Hamas and in Lebanon.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made the remarks Monday during an event in which he spoke to members of the Basij, the all-volunteer arm of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, the strongest of Iran's armed proxies, is expected to significantly calm regional tensions that have led to fears of war between Israel and Iran directly. It's not clear how it would affect the war in Gaza. Hezbollah had long insisted that it would not agree to a ceasefire until the war in Gaza ends, but it has now dropped that condition.

One diplomat said there are fears that if no ceasefire is reached, the war will expand further into Syria and Iraq as Israel attempts to cut off the supply of weapons from Iran to Hezbollah. Israel has carried out regular airstrikes on Iran-linked groups in Syria and has threatened to strike in Iraq, where Iran-backed militias have periodically launched drone attacks on Israel.

The United Arab Emirates said Monday police arrested three Uzbek nationals for the killing of an Israeli-Moldovan rabbi.

The statement from the country's Interior Ministry offered no motive for the slaying of Zvi Kogan.

Foreign ministers from the world's leading industrialized nations are meeting Monday, with the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East entering decisive phases and a certain pressure to advance diplomatic efforts ahead of the new U.S. administration taking over.

Hopes for brokering a cease-fire in Gaza and Lebanon are foremost on the agenda of the Group of Seven meeting outside Rome that is gathering ministers from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.