Israel warned Sunday that its military would step up its attacks against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, a day after the Lebanese health ministry reported four people killed in an Israeli air strike.

U.S. envoy Tom Barrack has called Lebanon "a failed state" in remarks underscoring Washington's frustration with what he called Beirut's "paralyzed government."

Speaking at the Manama Dialogue summit in Bahrain during a panel on "U.S. Policy in the Levant," Barrack pointedly said Lebanon is the only state in the region "not jumping in line" with the new Middle East realignments.

Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad has carried to Beirut an initiative calling for a three-month ceasefire during which Israel would completely halt attacks and hand over the Lebanese captives in return for “fully ending Hezbollah’s presence south of the Litani River,” al-Liwaa newspaper reported on Saturday.

Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem noted Friday that Israeli attacks on Lebanon increase whenever a U.S. official visits the country or talks about it.

“What is America's stance on 5,000 Israeli violations against Lebanon?” Qassem asked, in a televised address.

Lebanon placed its army on high alert Thursday after President Joseph Aoun ordered troops to confront any Israeli incursion into the country’s south, following a deadly overnight Israeli army ground raid in the village of Blida near the border.

According to Lebanese media reports, the army began deploying reinforcements and setting up new positions in southern villages, including in Blida.

Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji on Friday asked his visiting German counterpart Johann Wadephul to "help put pressure on Israel to stop its attacks."

"Only a diplomatic solution, not a military one, can ensure stability and guarantee calm in the south," Rajji was quoted by the National News Agency as saying.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam held talks Friday in Bkirki with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi.

Speaking after the meeting, Salam said “the parliamentary elections will be held on their constitutional time.”

One person was killed and another wounded in an Israeli drone strike Friday on a motorcycle in the southern town of Kounine.

The Israeli army identified the slain man as Ibrahim Mohammad Reslan, claiming that he served as a maintenance officer for Hezbollah and was “attempting to rebuild Hezbollah's terrorist infrastructure.”

President Joseph Aoun on Friday called on the international community, the EU and the U.S. to press Israel to abide by last year’s ceasefire agreement and enable the Lebanese Army to deploy up the southern international border and continue implementing the plans devised for extending Lebanon’s sovereignty across its territory.

Aoun voiced his remarks in a meeting in Baabda with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul.

UNIFIL has expressed "deep concerns" at an Israeli armed incursion that killed a municipal worker in the southern border town of Blida early on Thursday.

"Such Israeli action north of the Blue Line represents a blatant violation of the Security Council Resolution 1701 and Lebanon’s sovereignty," it said in a statement.