Extract from ABC News
An Israeli airstrike hit a car in the Lebanese coastal town of Jiyeh, south of Beirut. (AP Photo/Mustafa Jamalddine)
In short:
Israeli strikes on vehicles have killed at least 12 people in Lebanon, according to Lebanon's health ministry.
Militant group Hezbollah and Israel have continued trading blows despite a US-mediated ceasefire announced last month.
What's next?
Representatives from Israel and Lebanon are due to meet for two days of peace talks in the United States.
Israeli strikes have killed at least 12 people in Lebanon, including two children, according to Lebanon's health ministry, on the eve of a new round of peace talks between the two countries.
Militant group Hezbollah and Israel have continued trading blows despite a US-mediated ceasefire announced last month.
The hostilities have largely focused around southern Lebanon, where Israeli forces are occupying a self-declared security zone.
But, according to Lebanese security sources, seven drone strikes targeted vehicles, including some on a coastal highway, just south of Beirut, well beyond the main area of conflict.
According to Lebanon's health ministry, eight people, including two children, were killed in those strikes while three others were killed in strikes on cars further south in the Tyre district while one person was killed near the southern city of Sidon.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strikes.
It said it was striking Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon and told residents to leave nine towns and villages where it intended to act against the group.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah announced new attacks on Israeli forces in the south, including using kamikaze drones.
The United States is set to host two days of talks between Israel and Lebanon on Thursday and Friday.
The talks will build on an April meeting led by US President Donald Trump and aim to advance "a comprehensive peace and security agreement", according to US State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott.
But Hezbollah has strongly opposed the face-to-face contact between the two nations.
A building was damaged during an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, last week. (AP: Hassan Ammar)
The militant group has confirmed that the commander of its Radwan force was killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs last week - the first attack on the capital since the April 17 ceasefire.
Ahmed Ali Balout was one of the most senior Hezbollah figures killed in the war so far.
UN worried about ongoing fighting
Beirut claims 380 people had been killed in intensified Israeli attacks since the ceasefire took effect.
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem vowed to turn the battlefield into "hell" for Israeli forces.
The UN peacekeeping force deployed in southern Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, said it was increasingly concerned about fighting between Hezbollah and Israeli soldiers near its positions, putting peacekeepers at risk, including with explosions of drones in and around UN bases.
During a meeting with the US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa on Monday, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun urged the US to put pressure on Israel to cease fire and stop home demolitions in the south.
Israel has been razing villages in the south, where it says it aims to shield northern Israel from Hezbollah militants embedded in civilian areas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has maintained that Hezbollah's disarmament would be a fundamental demand in peace talks with Lebanon.
But Hezbollah refuses to disarm, saying the subject of its weapons is a matter for national dialogue after the war.
The Lebanese health ministry says 2,896 people have been killed since the war broke out on March 2, including 587 women, medics, and children.
About 1.2 million people have also been displaced from their homes in Lebanon, many of them fleeing from the south.
Reuters/AP
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