Hezbollah's new leader, Sheikh Naim Qassem, on Wednesday warned Israel it would pay a heavy price if its forces remain in Lebanon, stressing his group was ready for a prolonged conflict.

The Israeli army pounded Wednesday the southern city of Nabatieh, after urging residents to leave the city and nearby villages, warning it was poised to attack Hezbollah targetsattacks.

"Hezbollah's terrorist activities force the (Israeli army) to act forcefully against it in these areas", military spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X, with Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reporting strikes had already begun on the city of Nabatieh.

Former U.S. president and current Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has addressed a letter to the Lebanese-American community in the United States, just six days prior to the U.S. presidential vote.

Two Israeli airstrikes targeted Tuesday the Sidon suburb of Haret Saida, killing at least five people and wounding several others.

The strike on Sidon marked the second such attack on the historic coastal city since the recent escalation between Hezbollah and Israel.

A rocket attack on Tuesday injured eight Austrian soldiers with a U.N. peacekeeping contingent in southern Lebanon, the Austrian defense ministry said, condemning the attack and adding it was "currently not possible to say where the attack came from".

"Eight Austrian army soldiers from the UNIFIL contingent (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) were injured today at 12:58 pm (1058 GMT) by a rocket hit in Camp Naqoura; none of them seriously," the statement said, adding the injuries were "minor and superficial".

Senior Israeli officials say the negotiations on a cease-fire deal in Lebanon are "in advanced stages," according to Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

White House special envoy Amos Hochstein may travel to Israel and Lebanon before the November 5 U.S. presidential elections to attempt to reach final agreements, the report says.

Israel is discussing an Egyptian cease-fire proposal that would see four hostages released in exchange for a two-day halt to the fighting in Gaza, an Israel official said Monday.

U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein will meet Monday in Tel Aviv with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the the possibility of halting the ongoing war on Lebanon, media reports said.

Hezbollah targeted Monday a military industrial company in Yodfat in northern Israel, southeast of Akka, with a suicide drone, in tribute to slain Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

Hezbollah later fired a barrage of advanced rockets towards a naval base in the area of Haifa, with the Israeli military saying Hezbollah launched more than 100 projectiles into Israel on Monday.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi has noted that the Vatican is “working as a moral force with foreign countries to push for the election of a president” for Lebanon, without “interfering in names” of candidates.