Justice Minister Adel Nassar announced Monday that Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar has concluded his investigations and referred the file to the Public Prosecutor's Office for its review, paving the way for the indictment.

“We expect this stage to be completed during or towards the end of October, a crucial step towards uncovering the truth and achieving justice in one of the most painful cases for the Lebanese people," Nassar wrote on X.

Israel's air force carried out two airstrikes early Monday on a southern Lebanese village, killing at least 11 people and wounding others, including women, children and medics, Lebanon's Health Ministry said.

Monday's strikes came amid a new round of escalation between Israel and Hezbollah despite a truce reached more than two months ago. The strikes also came days after Israel's military said it is in "operational control" of the strategic Ali Taher hill that overlooks several villages as well as main roads leading to the city of Nabatieh.

Israel on Monday accused Hezbollah of repeatedly violating a ceasefire agreement in recent days, as Lebanese state media reported 11 killed in overnight Israeli strikes in a southern village.

Israeli airstrikes overnight killed 12 people in a south Lebanon village, including two infants, Lebanese state media said Monday, a day after separate raids left seven dead.

Israel has been intensifying strikes in the southern Nabatieh area after it said Thursday it had seized the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge from Hezbollah, a claim the Iran-backed group has not commented on.

President Joseph Aoun urged Washington and the international community to help stop Israeli attacks, which killed at least seven people on Sunday despite a truce and a framework deal aimed at halting the violence.

Israel said it had targeted Hezbollah operatives and sites in response to a drone attack a day earlier by the Iran-backed group on its troops in the vicinity of a strategic south Lebanon ridge.

Lebanon's health ministry said four people were killed on Sunday in strikes which Israel said it carried out after Hezbollah had launched drones at its soldiers in south Lebanon, the latest escalation amid a fragile truce.

The Israeli army claimed Saturday that it struck Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure a day earlier in response to an explosive drone that was allegedly launched by Hezbollah but caused no casualties.

An Associated Press photographer who visited the village of Kfar Rumman on Friday saw no sign of Israeli military presence on the strategic Ali al-Taher hill, a day after Israel announced seizing "operational control" of the ridge.

In recent talks with Lebanon, Israel demanded information on the remains of Lebanese Jews kidnapped and assassinated during the country's civil war from 1975 to 1990 by groups linked to Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Israel carried out a series of airstrikes on Thursday evening on several areas in south Lebanon and, for the first time in three months, an area in West Bekaa.