Region

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Top US diplomat Antony Blinken on Monday urged Israel and Hamas not to derail negotiations that he said may be a "last opportunity" to secure a Gaza truce and hostage release deal.

Blinken, on his ninth regional tour since Hamas's October 7 attack triggered the war, said he was back in Israel "to get this agreement to the line and ultimately over the line".

"This is a decisive moment — probably the best, maybe the last, opportunity to get the hostages home, to get a ceasefire and to put everyone on a better path to enduring peace and security," Blinken said as he met Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv.

The US secretary of state later met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, and is due to travel on Tuesday to Cairo where ceasefire talks are expected to resume this week.

Israel and Hamas blamed each other for delays in reaching a truce accord, which diplomats say could help avert a wider conflagration in the Middle East.

"We're working to make sure that there is no escalation, that there are no provocations, that there are no actions that in any way could move us away from getting this deal over the line, or, for that matter, escalating the conflict to other places, and to greater intensity," Blinken said.

"It is time for it to get done. It's also time to make sure that no one takes any steps that could derail this process."

Months of on-off talks with US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators have failed to produce an agreement.

But the stakes have risen since the late July killings of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, and as the humanitarian crisis in the besieged Gaza Strip deepened.

Ahead of talks in Qatar last week, Hamas had called on mediators, rather than holding more negotiations, to implement a framework outlined in late May by US President Joe Biden.

Biden said Sunday that a ceasefire was "still possible" and that the United States was "not giving up", in brief comments to reporters.

Trading blame 

After the Qatar meeting, the United States had submitted what mediators called a "bridging proposal", which Hamas on Sunday said "responds to Netanyahu's conditions" and includes terms that the Palestinian group would not accept.

Hamas insisted on "a permanent ceasefire and a comprehensive withdrawal from the Gaza Strip", saying Netanyahu wanted to keep Israeli forces at several strategic locations.

It mentioned Netzarim junction, which sits between northern and southern Gaza, as well as the Rafah crossing and the Philadelphi corridor on the Hamas-ruled territory's border with Egypt, which Israel sees as important for preventing the flow of weapons.

Netanyahu was "fully responsible for thwarting the efforts of the mediators", the Palestinian movement said in a statement.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid, in a post on social media platform X, called on Netanyahu to "not miss this opportunity" and "bring them back".

On Sunday Netanyahu reiterated that Hamas "remains obstinate" and must be pressured, a day after his office said Israeli negotiators had expressed "cautious optimism" about reaching a deal.

US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators also reported progress.

Far-right members crucial to the prime minister's governing coalition oppose any truce.

In southern Gaza, mourners gathered on Monday in Khan Yunis for the funeral of photojournalist Ibrahim Muhareb who was killed the day before, an AFP correspondent said.

The Committee to Protect Journalists advocacy group has said more than 100 Palestinian media workers have been killed by Israeli forces during the war.

Israeli police said a blast in Tel Aviv late Sunday -- shortly after Blinken landed -- was a "terror attack" that wounded one person. The force had earlier reported that the explosion killed one person, who Israeli media said was the suspected assailant.

DUBAI — Flooding caused by torrential rainfall in war-torn Yemen has led to at least 60 deaths since July, with 13 others still missing and a total of 268,000 people affected, the United Nations said Monday.

Yemen, already grappling with an almost decade-long war, suffers from severe floods on a near-annual basis that are triggered by torrential rainfall, while climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of precipitation.

Since July, flash floods have caused 36 deaths in Hodeida province, nine in Ibb, eight in Marib and seven in Taiz, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in a report released on Monday.

"Public infrastructure, including schools, roads, and health facilities, have been affected. Livelihoods that were already hanging by a thread have been swept away," OCHA said.

At least 600 people were injured due to flooding in Hodeida and Marib alone, it said, adding that a total of 13 people were still missing in Hodeida and Taiz.

It added that a total of 38,285 families -- nearly 268,000 people -- have been affected, saying that "severe weather is expected to persist into September, with additional alerts for heavy rainfall."

The University of Notre Dame's Global Adaptation Initiative ranks Yemen as one of the region's most climate-vulnerable countries.

In recent years, it has experienced an increase in the frequency and intensity of rainfall due to climate change, stimulated by atmospheric circulation in the Indian Ocean, according to a 2023 report by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Norwegian Red Cross.

The country also suffered heavy flooding in 2019, 2020 and 2021, the report said.

Yemen has been gripped by a war that erupted nearly a decade ago when Iran-backed Huthi rebels seized the capital Sanaa in 2014, sending the internationally-recognised government fleeing to the southern city of Aden.

The conflict has triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with aid deliveries complicated by insecurity and logistical difficulties.

Last week, the UN warned that $4.9 million was urgently needed to scale up the emergency response to Yemen's extreme weather conditions.

BEIRUT, Lebanon — An Israeli soldier and two Hizbollah fighters were killed Monday in clashes, Israel's military and the Iran-backed Lebanese group said, the latest in a wave of cross-border violence.

Hizbollah has exchanged regular fire with the Israeli army in support of its ally Hamas since the Palestinian militant group's October 7 attack on Israel sparked the Gaza war.

Hizbollah and Iran vowed to respond after an Israeli strike last month on Beirut killed senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr, hours before an attack in Tehran, blamed on Israel, killed Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.

The Israeli military said Monday a member of its Bedouin Trackers Unit "fell during combat in northern Israel".

Hizbollah said two of its fighters were "martyred", after Lebanon's health ministry reported that an Israeli strike left two people dead in the border village of Hula.

Israel's military said air forces struck "Hezbollah terrorists" in the Hula area and "Hizbollah military structures" elsewhere in south Lebanon.

Hizbollah had said earlier it launched a "simultaneous air attack" with "explosive-laden drones" on two Israeli military positions -- the Yaara barracks near the border, and a base near the coastal town of Acre, around 15 kilometres from the frontier.

The Israeli military said that "multiple suspicious aerial targets were identified crossing from Lebanon".

Air defences "intercepted some of the targets, and others fell" in the Yaara area, it said.

 'Impunity' 

Hizbollah said that it responded to an Israeli "attack and assassination" in south Lebanon's Tyre area.

On Saturday, the Israeli military had said its aircraft "eliminated" a Hizbollah operative in the Tyre area, describing him as a "commander" in the group's elite Radwan force.

Early Monday, Hizbollah said its fighters targeted a group of Israeli soldiers "infiltrating" near the border and confronted them "with rocket weapons and artillery, forcing them to return".

Hizbollah also claimed attacks on other Israeli positions on Monday.

Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) reported Israeli shelling and raids on several southern areas and said "enemy warplanes" flying at low altitude broke the sound barrier twice over Beirut and its suburbs.

Imran Riza, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Lebanon, said in a statement that "nearly 150,000 people continue to live in areas impacted daily by shelling and air strikes" in Lebanon.

"Millions more are reliving painful memories of the 2006 war, traumatised by worry over the risk of further escalation," he said, referring to the last major conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

According to the UN's International Organization for Migration, the violence since October has displaced more than 110,000 people in south Lebanon.

In Israel, authorities say some 100,000 people have been displaced in the country's north.

Riza added that "21 paramedics whose duties were to save others have been killed", saying "the seeming impunity with which such actions have been committed reveals a troubling disregard for international humanitarian law".

The cross-border violence has killed some 584 people in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but including at least 128 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, including in the annexed Golan Heights, 23 soldiers and 26 civilians have been killed, according to army figures.

IZMIR, Turkey — Firefighters were battling a strong forest fire in Turkey's Aegean city of Izmir for a third day on Saturday, AFP reporters said, a day after hundreds of local people in nearby villages had to be evacuated.

Firefighters said they had partially beaten back the flames that have been threatening the port city over the last three days, although fires were still burning in the nearby forests.

In the northern suburb of Ornekkoy, AFP journalists saw the charred remains of several buildings and vehicles in an industrial zone while grey smoke billowed into the sky.

"We don't know what to do. Our workplace is located in the middle of the fire. We have lost our livelihood," said 48-year-old Hanife Erbil, who earns a living collecting paper and plastic waste.

The pine trees that once crowned the surrounding hills were also burned.

“It was such a beautiful route, it smelled of pine trees everywhere. It makes me want to cry,” said taxi driver Ayhan.

The smell of smoke was hanging over the city, the third most-populated in Turkey.

Firefighters from other Turkish cities have been sent as reinforcements and the army has been mobilised.

“Everyone is working hard. I’m on my 36th hour of service. We can say the fire is partially under control,” said Izmir firefighter Arjin Erol.

The fire started on Thursday and spread quickly to residential areas by winds blowing at 50 kilometres an hour.

Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said 900 residents in five affected districts had been evacuated Friday night in Izmir.

On Saturday, those villages remained empty for security reasons, except for a handful of volunteers who left food and water for animals living in the forest, AFP journalists saw.

Wild animals, cats and dogs died in the fire but no human victim has yet been reported.

The fire damaged 16 buildings and affected 78 people, with 29 of them admitted to hospital, the Turkish health ministry said.

“Currently, two planes and eleven helicopters are continuing to intervene,” said Agriculture and Forestry Ministry Ibrahim Yumakli, after the strong winds had earlier grounded the helicopters and water bombers.

Residents of the city should not be worried, he added.

Four helicopters were dropping water on the flames throughout the day, backed by two planes, AFP journalists witnessed.

Around 1,600 hectares have been affected, the minister said, adding that the challenging terrain was making it difficult to put out the fire at its origin.

Fresh flames

Five other fires continue to rage in forest areas in other cities in Turkey, including northwestern Bolu and Aydin in the west.

And new fires broke out again in Izmir late on Saturday engulfing several districts including Bayindir and the popular holiday resort of Cesme, local mayor Cemil Tugay said on social media.

The authorities have controlled the fire in Cesme that lies across the Greek island of Chios, he said.

Officials said seven people were detained in Izmir over alleged links to the fire.

To come to the aid of its regional ally, Azerbaijan has sent a water bomber plane, the Turkish presidency announced.

Scientists say climate change makes extreme weather events including heatwaves more likely, longer lasting and more intense, increasing the risk of wildfires.

In June, a fire that broke out in Mardin in southeastern Turkey claimed the lives of 15 people.

Observers however say Turkey has made progress since it was hit by the worst fires in its history in 2021.

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Lebanon's health ministry said an Israeli air strike on Saturday in southern Lebanon killed 10 Syrians, as the Israeli military reported hitting weapons stores of the Iran-backed Hizbollah movement.

The toll from the strike in the Wadi Al Kafur area of Nabatieh is one of the largest in southern Lebanon since Hizbollah and Israeli forces began exchanging near-daily fire over their border after war in the Gaza Strip began in October.

International mediators have been trying to reach a Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas Palestinian fighters, which diplomats say could help to avert a wider war in which Lebanon would be on the front line.

The death toll from the latest strike included "a woman and her two children" while five other people were wounded, most of them also Syrian, Lebanon's health ministry said in a statement.

The official Lebanese National News Agency reported that the casualties were Syrian refugees and workers.

Israel’s military, on its Telegram channel, said the air force had struck a weapons storage facility of Lebanon’s Hizbollah overnight “in the area of Nabatieh”, which is about 12 kilometres from the nearest point of the Israeli border.

Following the deaths in Wadi Al Kafur, Hizbollah said it responded with a volley of Katyusha rockets on Ayelet HaShahar, a community in northern Israel.

None of the roughly 55 projectiles caused any reported injuries but they sparked “multiple fires”, Israel’s military said.

Earlier, around 20 kilometres to the north “a projectile that crossed from Lebanon” wounded two soldiers, one of them severely, in the Misgav Am area, Israel’s military said.

The killings in quick succession in late July of Fuad Shukr, a top operations chief of Hizbollah in south Lebanon, and Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, led to vows of vengeance from Hezbollah, Iran and other Tehran-backed groups in the region which blamed Israel.

Israel claimed the killing of Shukr, in a strike on south Beirut, but has not commented directly on the killing of Haniyeh while he visited Tehran.

Shuttle diplomacy

In an effort to avert a broader conflict, Western and Arab diplomats have been shuttling around the region.

On Thursday, mediators made a new bid to push Israel and Hamas toward a ceasefire in Gaza. Talks took place in the Gulf emirate of Qatar and continued on Friday.

The negotiations are set to resume in Cairo “before the end of next week”, the Egyptian, Qatari and United States mediators said in a joint statement.

In Beirut on Friday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, after meeting his Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bou Habib, expressed hope for “good intentions and the political will to reach this urgent deal” in Gaza.

The cross-border violence between Lebanon and Israel has killed 580 people in Lebanon, mostly Hizbollah fighters but including at least 128 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, including in the annexed Golan Heights, 22 soldiers and 26 civilians have been killed, according to army figures.

Hizbollah and Israel fought a war in 2006.

DOHA — Hamas said on Friday the Palestinian group rejected "new conditions" in a Gaza ceasefire plan the United States presented after two days of talks with Israeli negotiators in Qatar.

As international pressure mounted for a ceasefire after more than 10 months of war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, US President Joe Biden said: "We are closer than we have ever been."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is to travel to Israel this weekend to advance the latest proposal, the State Department said.

"Secretary Blinken will underscore the critical need for all parties in the region to avoid escalation or any other actions that could undermine the ability to finalise an agreement," it said.

Washington has joined its European allies in pushing for a swift ceasefire in Gaza since the July 31 killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in an attack in Iran blamed on Israel prompted threats of retaliation and fears of a wider Middle East war.

Egyptian, Qatari and US mediators have been seeking to finalise details of a framework initially outlined by Biden in May, and which he said Israel had proposed.

But months of talks have so far failed to pin down the details of a truce and hostage release deal.

The mediators said that the two days of talks in Doha were "serious and constructive".

In a joint statement, they said the United States had presented a "bridging proposal" that sought to secure a rapid deal at a new round of talks in Cairo next week.

Hamas swiftly announced its opposition to what it called "new conditions" from Israel in the latest plan.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the mediators to put "pressure" on Hamas "to accept the May 27 principles", referring to Biden's framework.

Western ally Jordan however put the blame squarely on Netanyahu for blocking a deal. "He must be directly and effectively pressured by everyone who wishes to see this through to completion," Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said.

'Need for calm' 

An informed source told AFP that the conditions Hamas objected to included keeping Israeli troops inside Gaza along the territory's border with Egypt, veto rights for Israel on the Palestinian prisoners to be exchanged for Israeli hostages, and the ability to deport some prisoners rather than send them back to Gaza.

Diplomatic pressure on Israel to agree a truce has increased in recent weeks.

Hamas officials, some analysts and protesters in Israel have accused Netanyahu of prolonging the war.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his French counterpart Stephane Sejourne held talks in Israel Friday to urge a Gaza ceasefire.

Britain's foreign ministry said the two ministers would "stress there is no time for delays or excuses from all parties on a ceasefire deal".

Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz told his visiting counterparts he expects foreign support "in attacking" Iran if it strikes Israel in revenge for Haniyeh's killing.

Sejourne replied that it would be "inappropriate" to discuss responding to any attack while diplomacy is in high gear to stop it happening.

A senior US official, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, said Iran would face "cataclysmic" consequences if it strikes Israel. 

'Impunity' 

A deadly attack by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank late Thursday drew international condemnation and calls for sanctions, including against government ministers, over the upsurge in settler violence against Palestinians particularly since the Gaza war began.

The Israeli military said "dozens of Israeli civilians, some of them masked", entered the village of Jit, west of Nablus, and "set fire to vehicles and structures in the area, hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails". A Palestinian man was shot dead. 

Villager Hassan Arman said the settlers were armed with knives, a machine gun and a silencer.

The Palestinian foreign ministry described the attack as "organised state terrorism".

The British foreign minister called the attack "abhorrent". The French minister said it was "unacceptable".

The European Union's top diplomat Josep Borrell said he would propose sanctions against Israeli government "enablers" of Jewish settler violence.

"Day after day, in an almost total impunity, Israeli settlers fuel violence in the occupied West Bank, contributing to endanger any chance of peace," Borrell posted on X.

"The Israeli government must stop these unacceptable actions immediately," he wrote.

Israel's far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, a proponent of West Bank settlements, was quick to join other Israeli leaders in condemning Thursday's attack by "criminals".

Evacuation orders 

Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel triggered the war that resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Militants also seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead. More than 100 were freed during a one-week truce in November.

On Thursday, the toll from Israel's retaliatory military campaign in Gaza topped 40,000, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which does not provide a breakdown of civilian and militant casualties.

As the Gaza truce talks were underway, bombs have continued to fall in the Palestinian territory.

The Israeli military on Friday issued new evacuation orders for parts of Deir Al Balah, in central Gaza, and Khan Yunis in the south.

"During each round of negotiations, they exert pressure by forcing evacuations and committing massacres," Issa Murad, a Gazan displaced to Deir Al Balah, said of the Israeli forces.

GENEVA — Sudan's paramilitaries have agreed to cooperate on humanitarian deliveries, following the Sudanese government's decision to open a key border crossing with Chad, countries staging talks in Switzerland said on Saturday.

War has raged since April 2023 between the Sudanese army under the country's de facto ruler Abdel Fattah Al Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The brutal conflict has triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

The United States is staging ceasefire and aid talks, which began at an undisclosed location in Switzerland on Wednesday.

While an RSF delegation has come to Switzerland, the Sudanese armed forces (SAF) are unhappy with the format and are not participating.

The talks are co-hosted by Saudi Arabia and Switzerland, with the African Union, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and the United Nations acting as a steering group.

In a joint statement, the five countries, the UN and the AU welcomed the decision to open the crossing from Chad into North Darfur for the coming three months.

"We also welcome the RSF's commitment to cooperate with humanitarian deliveries, notably through the crucial Dabbah route to Darfur and Kordofan, and to protect humanitarian personnel in their work," they said.

"These constructive decisions by both parties will enable the entry of aid needed to stop the famine, address food insecurity and respond to immense humanitarian needs in Darfur and beyond.

"The parties should immediately communicate and coordinate with humanitarian partners to efficiently operationalise these corridors with full and unhindered access."

The statement also called on the international community and humanitarian organisations to "seize this moment" to move aid and help save the lives of the most vulnerable.

The fighting has forced one in five people to flee their homes, while tens of thousands have died.

More than 25 million across the country -- more than half its population -- face acute hunger. Famine has been declared in a Darfur displacement camp.

The closure of the Adre crossing has been a longstanding concern for aid groups struggling to get food and supplies into Sudan's Darfur region.

DOHA — The United States hailed a "promising start" to Gaza ceasefire talks Thursday, as pressure mounted for a deal to halt the spread of a war that the territory's health ministry said has killed 40,000.

Talks involving CIA director William Burns opened in the Qatari capital Doha, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.

It was not immediately clear if Hamas had sent any delegates to the meeting, which Israel planned to attend.

"Today is a promising start," Kirby told reporters in Washington, adding: "There remains a lot of work to do."

The talks were expected to continue on Friday, he said.

"We need to see the hostages released, relief for Palestinian civilians in Gaza, security for Israel and lower tensions in the region, and we need to see those things as soon as possible," he added.

A Hamas official said the Islamist movement would demand the implementation of the plan that Biden said would start with an initial six-week "complete ceasefire", the release of hostages and a "surge" in humanitarian aid as the warring sides negotiate "a permanent end to hostilities".

The latest diplomatic push comes as the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said the death toll in the besieged Palestinian territory had surpassed 40,000 -- which UN human rights chief Volker Turk called a "grim milestone".

"Most of the dead are women and children. This unimaginable situation is overwhelmingly due to recurring failures by the Israeli Defense Forces to comply with the rules of war," he added.

The Gaza ministry, which does not provide a breakdown of civilian and militant casualties, said the tally included 40 deaths in the previous 24 hours.

Consultations 

US news website Axios, citing US officials, said former president Donald Trump, who is seeking re-election, spoke with Netanyahu on Wednesday and discussed the Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal.

The latest mediation push follows the July 31 killing of Hamas political leader and truce negotiator Ismail Haniyeh during a visit to Tehran. His killing sent fears of a wider conflagration soaring.

Iran and its regional allies blamed Israel and vowed retaliation. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack.

Western leaders have urged Tehran to avoid hitting Israel over Haniyeh's killing, which came hours after an Israeli strike in Beirut killed Hezbollah's military commander.

A spokesman for Netanyahu told AFP that the heads of the Mossad spy agency and Shin Bet internal security service would attend the Doha talks.

Qatar was "working to ensure that there is Hamas representation as well", State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said.

Bloodied children 

Fallout from the conflict has drawn in Iran-aligned groups from Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria.

More than 370 Hizbollah members have been killed in 10 months of near daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces, according to an AFP tally, more than the Iran-backed movement lost in the 2006 war with Israel.

On the Israeli side, 22 soldiers and 26 civilians have been killed, including in the annexed Golan Heights, according to military figures.

In Gaza, where the war has destroyed much of the territory's housing and other infrastructure, relatively few incidents were reported on Thursday.

In the most deadly bombing, rescuers said air strikes killed five people in Gaza City.

Israel's military said troops had killed about 20 militants in Rafah, southern Gaza.

On Wednesday, dead and wounded including bloodied children arrived at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Yunis after an Israeli strike.

"I was not pro-Hamas but now I support them and I want to fight," one grieving man shouted.

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Ten months of cross-border violence between Hizbollah and Israeli forces has killed senior commanders and several hundred fighters from the Iran-backed group, causing destruction and displacing tens of thousands on both sides.

Hizbollah has seen more fighters killed since October than when it last went to war with Israel in the summer of 2006.

AFP looks at the mounting toll for the Shiite Muslim movement, which has been trading near-daily fire with the Israeli army in support of Hamas since the Palestinian militant group's October 7 attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war.

Commanders killed 

Israeli strikes have killed key Hizbollah commanders in recent months, the most senior of them top operations chief in south Lebanon Fuad Shukr, who died in a raid on Beirut's southern suburbs on July 30. Hizbollah has vowed to respond to his killing.

In January, a commander in Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force, Wissam Tawil, was killed in an Israeli strike on his vehicle in south Lebanon.

Two out of its three area commanders in south Lebanon have also been killed -- Mohammed Nasser and Taleb Abdallah.

Hizbollah divided its operations in south Lebanon into three areas following the 2006 war, each with its own "military formation, commander, personnel, weapons and capacities", the group's chief Hassan Nasrallah said last month.

He said south of the Litani river comprised two areas: a western sector, covered by Hezbollah's Aziz unit, and an eastern sector running to the contested Shebaa Farms manned by the group's Nasr unit, which opened Hezbollah's cross-border attacks in October.

The third sector, north of the Litani river up to the coastal city of Sidon, is covered by the group's Badr unit.

Aziz unit commander Nasser was killed in an Israeli strike last month, while Nasr unit commander Abdallah was killed in a raid the month before.

Israel has repeatedly said it has killed other Hezbollah fighters whom it has called "commanders".

Dead fighters 

The violence has killed some 570 people in Lebanon, most of them fighters from Hizbollah but also including dozens from allied armed groups including Hamas, according to an AFP tally, with at least 118 civilians among the dead.

On the Israeli side, including in the annexed Golan Heights, 22 soldiers and 26 civilians have been killed, according to military figures.

Hizbollah has issued statements announcing the deaths of more than 370 members who have been killed in Lebanon, according to the AFP tally.

The Lebanese group has mostly described them as "martyred on the road to Jerusalem", the phrase it uses to refer to those killed in Israeli strikes.

Another 25 have been killed in neighbouring Syria, where Israel has for years carried out strikes on army positions and pro-Iran fighters, also seeking to cut off Hezbollah supply lines to Lebanon from Tehran.

According to the statements, around 320 of the slain Hizbollah fighters were from south Lebanon, with some 60 from the eastern Bekaa Valley, which borders Syria.

Several south Lebanon villages close to the Israeli border each count around a dozen slain fighters, the statements have indicated.

Around 70 per cent of the more than 230 fighters killed since late January, when Hezbollah began to provide the year of birth on its death statements, were aged 40 or under.

At least six were aged 20 or under, with three born the same year as the 2006 war or after it.

A source close to Hizbollah, requesting anonymity, told AFP that fewer than 300 fighters from the group were killed in the 2006 conflict.

Hizbollah operations 

Hizbollah has said it is seeking to tie up Israeli military resources in the country's north in support of ally Hamas.

The escalating attacks have raised fears of a broader conflict, and Lebanon has been on edge since Shukr's death.

Earlier this month, the heavily armed group said it had carried out 2,500 "military operations" against Israel since October.

It claimed to have targeted "border positions" 1,328 times and "military barracks" 391 times, using a variety of weapons including artillery, rockets, "guided missiles" and "air defence weapons".

The group has also released three videos purportedly showing surveillance drone footage taken by the group across the border, widely viewed as a potential bank of targets in case of all-out war.

The footage includes aerial images of military positions in northern Israel and the annexed Golan Heights, as well as sensitive areas in and around the port city of Haifa.