The relentless exchanges of fire between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah of recent days have stoked fears the longtime foes are moving inexorably towards all-out war, despite international appeals for restraint.

AFP correspondents in Jerusalem and Beirut talked to officials and analysts who told them what the opposing sides hope to achieve by ramping up their attacks and whether there is any way out.

Israel is bombing targets across many parts of Lebanon, striking senior militants in Beirut's southern suburbs and apparently hiding bombs in pagers and walkie-talkies. Hezbollah is firing rockets and drones deep into northern Israel, setting buildings and cars alight.

But no one is calling it a war — not yet.

Hezbollah supporters in Lebanon turned out in force Sunday for the funeral of a top commander killed in an Israeli air strike, in a major show of support for the Iran-backed group.

Hezbollah has hailed commander Ibrahim Akil as "one of its great leaders", saying the 61-year-old died in an "Israeli assassination... in Beirut's southern suburbs" on Friday.

For almost a week, ophthalmologist Elias Jradeh has worked around the clock, trying to keep up with the flood of patients whose eyes were injured when pagers and walkie-talkies exploded en masse across Lebanon.

He has lost track of how many eye operations he has performed in multiple hospitals, surviving on two hours of sleep before starting on the next operation. He has managed to save some patients' sight, but many will never see again.