After an emergency government meeting on Sunday, Lebanon’s caretaker Economy Minister Amin Salam said officials were “feeling a bit more optimistic” about a de-escalation between Israel and Hezbollah.

“We feel more reassured since both sides confirmed that the expected operations ended,” he said, referring to Sunday morning's heavy exchange of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday announced that Hezbollah’s attack on Israel on Sunday morning had targeted an intelligence base just outside Tel Aviv and an air defense base in the heart of Israel.

“We targeted the Glilot military intelligence base near Tel Aviv, around 110 kilometers from Lebanon's border,” said Nasrallah in a speech dedicated to explaining Hezbollah’s response to the killing of its top military chief Fouad Shukur, who was assassinated in an airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs around a month ago.

Israel has told foreign parties that it moved to thwart a major Hezbollah attack on Sunday morning and that it does not intend to “turn that into a broad war,” the Israel Hayom newspaper said.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on Sunday called on Israel and Hezbollah to “cease fire and refrain from further escalatory action,” in light of the “worrying developments across the Blue Line since the early morning.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Sunday "to do everything" to ensure the security of residents of northern Israel after the military launched massive air strikes against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon and the Lebanese group said it had avenged the killing of its military chief Fouad Shukur.

"We are determined to do everything to protect our country, return the residents of the north safely to their homes and continue to follow a simple rule: whoever hurts us, we hurt them," Netanyahu said in a statement issued by his office.

Hezbollah said its chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah will speak later Sunday after the Lebanese group announced it had launched a large-scale attack on Israel in response to Fouad Shukur's assassination, and Israeli forces struck Lebanon.

Nasrallah will speak at 6:00 pm (1500 GMT), addressing "the latest developments," a statement from the group said.

Israel launched a wave of airstrikes across southern Lebanon early Sunday in what it said was a pre-emptive strike on Hezbollah, as the group said it had launched hundreds of rockets and drones to avenge the killing of one of its top commanders last month.

The Israeli military said its fighter jets attacked "thousands" of Hezbollah rocket launchers in south Lebanon that were aimed at northern and central Israel.

U.S. Ambassador Lisa A. Johnson toured Friday the Berbara Fishermen Cooperative to view the newly renovated facility, which is now a vibrant destination that drives economic opportunity for the local community.

With support from the United States Government through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Berbara Fishermen Cooperative recently upgraded their infrastructure with a pre-built kiosk and restroom (accessible to People with Disabilities – PWDs); bolstered their operations with a new wastewater treatment unit and kitchen equipment; and built local fishermen's’ expertise in food safety, operations, and management, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut said.

Eight people, including a child and six Hezbollah fighters, were killed Friday in Israeli strikes on south Lebanon.

Two people, a seven-year-old child and a Hezbollah fighter, were killed in a drone strike on a house and a car in the southern village of Aita al-Jabal in the Nabatiyeh district, hours after a strike on Tayrharfa killed three Hezbollah fighters.

MP Marwan Hamadeh sparked panic on Wednesday by saying that an Israel-Hezbollah war would erupt within days or even “hours,” citing diplomats informed on the negotiations in the region.

A few hours later, Hamadeh appeared to downplay his own remarks, telling al-Jadeed television that his statement was “blown out of proportion” and that he based his analysis on “alarming developments on the ground that took place over the past 48 hours.”