The U.S. government is concerned that Israel is preparing to take military action against Iran, and has stepped up contingency planning to safeguard U.S. facilities in the region, The Wall Street Journal reported late Friday.

The newspaper said President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and other top officials have delivered a series of private messages to Israeli leaders, warning about the dire consequences of a strike.

Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is expected to criticize U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon on Saturday after he expressed “deep concern” about the military prowess of the party.

Nasrallah is scheduled to make a televised speech on the occasion of Arbaeen, which marks the end of 40 days of mourning following the anniversary commemorating the killing of Imam Hussein, one of Shiite Islam's most revered figures.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday said he was "deeply concerned" about the military prowess of Hizbullah and noted that the frequent Israeli violations of Lebanon’s territory and airspace continue to undermine UNIFIL’s credibility and Lebanon’s sovereignty.

"I am deeply concerned about the military capacity of Hizbullah and also concerned about the lack of progress in disarmament," the U.N. chief told a news conference after holding talks with Lebanese leaders.

Thai authorities said Friday they had detained a Lebanese man with suspected links to Hizbullah, after the United States warned of a terrorist threat against tourists in the kingdom.

Hizbullah politburo member Ghaleb Abu Zainab denied the arrest.

Israelis and Palestinians fought across the Gaza border on Friday, with Israeli tank fire wounding two men at the frontier and Palestinians firing a rocket into southern Israel, medics and the army said.

Israeli tanks fired at a group of Palestinians who appeared to be attempting to plant explosives along the border fence, in the early hours of Friday a military spokeswoman told Agence France Presse.

Iran's supreme leader has accused the U.S. and Israeli intelligence services of being behind the "abominable" assassination in Tehran this week of a nuclear scientist who was to be buried Friday.

The "cowardly murder" on Wednesday of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a deputy director of Iran's main uranium enrichment plant, was committed "with the planning or support of the intelligence services of the CIA and Mossad," said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will on Sunday begin a week-long European tour to Britain, Germany and Russia, his spokesman said on Thursday.

"Abbas will go on Sunday to London, and meet with Prime Minister David Cameron and other British officials on Monday and will brief them on the latest political developments in the region," Nabil Abu Rudeina to Agence France Presse.

A rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel on Thursday morning and hit without causing any damage or injuries, an Israeli police spokesman said.

"A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip exploded in the Sdot Negev region without causing any injuries or damage," he told Agence France Presse.

Israel troops on Thursday demolished an unauthorized settler outpost made up of 10 wooden huts in the southern West Bank, police and the military said.

COGAT spokesman Guy Inbar said forces operating in the early morning had removed "10 illegal structures in Mitzpe Avichai near Kiryat Arba," a settlement just north of the city of Hebron.

The Saudi hacker who posted details of thousands of Israeli credit cards online, said overnight he had exposed 200 more and threatened to continue exposing the same number every day.

In a message on Pastebin.com, the hacker who calls himself 0xOmar, posted two links including what he said were "200 fresh working Israeli cards" a day after an Israeli hacker exposed than 200 details of what he claimed were Saudi-owned credit cards.