U.S. President Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff said Friday he believes Iran will hold talks with Washington "this week" to end the month-long war in the Middle East.

A strike hit Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday afternoon without warning from the Israeli military, Lebanese state media said, as TV footage showed smoke rising from the area.

Nearly a month into the Middle East war, Lebanon is facing a deepening humanitarian crisis that now risks teetering over into a catastrophe, the U.N. refugee agency warned Friday.

Since March 2, more than a million people -- one in five residents -- have been forced to flee their homes, said the UNHCR.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards urged civilians across the region on Friday to stay away from areas near U.S. forces, nearly a month into the war with the United States and Israel.

"The cowardly American-Zionist forces... are attempting to use civilian locations and innocent people as human shields," said the Guards in a statement on their Sepah News website.

The Israeli military said on Thursday it requires additional troops for deployment in southern Lebanon, where forces are engaged in fighting Hezbollah as part of efforts to establish a buffer zone.

"On the Lebanese front, the forward defensive zone that we are creating requires additional IDF forces," military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said in a televised briefing, noting that the military is operating simultaneously across multiple fronts, including the West Bank, Gaza and Syria.

An Israeli strike hit Beirut’s southern suburbs early Friday, killing two people, according to the health ministry.

AFPTV footage showed smoke billowing from the area after the raid.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday he would not yet strike Iranian power plants as previously threatened after a request from the government in Tehran, and added that talks with the Islamic republic were "going very well."

U.S. President Donald Trump denied Thursday he was desperate for a deal to end the Middle East war, insisting that Tehran was keen to come to the table despite the Islamic republic's cool response to an American peace plan.

Hezbollah on Thursday again denied it had any presence in Kuwait, a day after the Gulf country announced more arrests of people allegedly linked to the Iran-backed group.

"For the third time, Hezbollah reiterates its complete denial of the accusations" made by Kuwait's interior ministry, the group said in a statement.

The Israeli army announced the death in combat on Thursday of a soldier in south Lebanon, just hours after reporting another death from its ranks.