U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin expressed concern to his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant in a call on Saturday about Israel's role in escalating tensions along the border between Israel and Lebanon, three Israeli and U.S. sources briefed on the call said.

“Austin's message to Gallant reflected growing anxiety in the White House that Israeli military action in Lebanon is exacerbating tensions along the border, which could lead to a regional war,” U.S. news portal Axios reported overnight.

Two Lebanese were killed and several others were wounded Monday in an Israeli airstrike on a house in the southern Lebanese town of Ainata as Hezbollah targeted Israeli posts and infantry forces in Dhaira, Branit, al-Marj, al-Raheb, and Netu'a, causing confirmed casualties.

Israeli artillery meanwhile shelled Mhaibib, Blida, and the outskirts of Alma al-Shaab, Aita al-Shaab, Ramia, Dhaira, al-Jebbayn, Ain Azzarka, Shihine, al-Naqoura, Markaba and Houla in south Lebanon, using flare bombs on Aita al-Shaab. Israeli warplanes also bombed al-Labbouneh, Aita al-Shaab, Bint Jbeil and Ainata.

The Israeli army is preparing to deal a “strong blow” to Hezbollah in response to the escalation of its attacks today, Israeli right-wing newspaper Maariv said on Sunday.

An Israeli army spokesman later said that a fighter jet and other aircraft attacked several Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, including "a military compound containing a warehouse of weapons and military infrastructure."

Israeli fighter jets pounded suspected Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon with air strikes on Sunday, after an incoming anti-tank missile wounded 10 Israeli civilians near the border, the Israeli army said.

The Israeli army said "a number of civilians were wounded" in the anti-tank missile strike near the village of Dovev, just half 800 meters from the frontier with Lebanon.

Israeli artillery shelling on Sunday targeting the outskirts of the southern Lebanese border towns of Shihin, Umm al-Tout, Halta and Kfarshouba.

The Israeli army radio meanwhile said a rocket fired from south Lebanon landed in an open area in the Western Galilee in northern Israel.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi told caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati during a bilateral meeting in Riyadh that Hezbollah is “independent in decisions and actions and does not receive orders from Iran.”

“Hezbollah’s measures in south Lebanon are based on wisdom, rationality and deterrence in order to prevent aggression,” Raisi added.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has warned Hezbollah that launching a war would result in widespread destruction in Lebanon similar to that in Gaza, where Israel is battling Hamas militants.

"If it (Hezbollah) makes this kind of mistake here, the ones who will pay the price will be first and foremost Lebanese citizens," Gallant told soldiers on Israel's northern border in remarks relayed by his office.

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah noted Saturday that his group has escalated its attacks against Israel over the past week through introducing new weapons to the battle, noting that military “pressure” on Israeli will continue from Lebanon’s front as long as it is pressing on with its war on Gaza.

Hezbollah on Saturday said it attacked four Israeli military barracks and posts on and near Lebanon's border, shortly after Israel carried out a drone strike on a pickup truck 45 kilometers deep into Lebanon.

An Israeli drone struck Saturday a pickup truck deep in Lebanese territory, official media in Lebanon said, after weeks of skirmishes mainly limited to border areas since the Israel-Hamas war began.

Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) said "an enemy drone targeted a pickup truck" on a farmland in the Zahrani area on Lebanon's coast, some 45 kilometers from the Israeli border, without reporting any casualties. Media reports said the pickup was targeted in a banana grove and that the driver escaped unharmed.