U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has spoken with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant regarding the “threat” posed by Hezbollah, the Pentagon said, hours after Israel said it killed Hezbollah’s most senior military commander Fouad Shukur in a rare strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs.

“They discussed the threats to Israel posed by a range of Iranian-backed terrorist groups, including Lebanese Hezbollah,” the readout said without referring to the strike on Shukur and the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, an operation also blamed on Israel.

The Israeli military said late Tuesday that it wanted to avoid any wider war with Hezbollah but that its forces were ready for "any scenario."

"Hezbollah's ongoing aggression and brutal attacks are dragging the people of Lebanon and the entire Middle East into a wider escalation," military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a statement.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic election nominee, said Tuesday that Israel had a "right to defend itself" following a strike in Hezbollah's stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs.

Harris -- who last week struck a tough tone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel's war on Gaza -- also called for a diplomatic solution to reduce the risk of all-out conflict on the Lebanon-Israel border.

U.N. Special Coordinator Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert on Tuesday said she is "deeply concerned" after Israel's strike in "the densely populated southern suburb of Beirut which resulted in multiple civilian casualties."

"The Special Coordinator underscores once again that there is no such thing as a military solution and calls on both Israel and Lebanon to avail of all diplomatic avenues to pursue a return to the cessation of hostilities and to recommit to the implementation of resolution 1701 (2006)," a statement issued by her office said.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Tuesday condemned an Israeli strike on Hezbollah's stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs that killed at least one person and wounded 68 others, days after Israel vowed to retaliate over deadly rocket fire on the occupied Golan Heights that it said came from Lebanon.

Mikati "condemned the blatant Israeli aggression on the southern suburbs of Beirut," the premier's office said in a statement, describing it as a "criminal act" in a "series of aggressive operations killing civilians in clear and explicit violation of international law."

Russia accused Israel on Tuesday of violating international law after it struck a Hezbollah stronghold in the suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut.

"This is a gross violation of international law," Russia's foreign ministry told state news agencies.

Israel carried out a rare strike Tuesday on Beirut's southern suburbs that killed at least four civilians -- two children and two women -- and wounded around 74 others, raising the stakes in the escalating tensions with Hezbollah.

The Israeli military said the strike targeted and killed Hezbollah's "most senior" military commander, Fouad Shukur, accusing him of being behind the deaths of 12 children and teens in a weekend rocket strike on a Druze village in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, as well as the deaths of numerous Israeli civilians hit in other strikes.

Following the release of the Technique Superieur (TS) vocational and technical exam results and the first round of the Baccalaureate II examination results, UNRWA congratulated Tuesday all students who passed. "Their hard work leading to excellent accomplishments is truly commendable," UNRWA said in a statement.

Siblin Training Center students scored a 100 per cent pass rate, with 60 per cent of students passing with distinction, the statement said.

Hezbollah on Tuesday said that it is taking the latest Israeli threats seriously and that it is “fully prepared” for any Israeli strike linked to Saturday’s deadly rocket fire on the Golan’s Majdal Shams.

“The enemy’s talk of a harsh and limited strike does not concern us at all, because it will be an aggression regardless of its magnitude,” a senior Hezbollah leader told Al-Jazeera television.

Three citizens were lightly wounded Tuesday in an Israeli airstrike on the outskirts of the town of Jibsheet near Nabatieh, as diplomats raced to contain escalation between Israel and Hezbollah following a deadly strike that killed 12 youths in the annexed Golan Heights.

Hezbollah said it targeted a command center in Beit Hillel with Katyusha rockets in retaliation to the strike on Jibsheet. Israel's state media said one person was killed in the rocket attack in HaGoshrim near Beit Hillel.