Israel and Hezbollah indicated they were clashing deeper inside Lebanese territory. An escalation could undermine efforts to reach a cease-fire, as Iran’s leader signaled he supported ending the war with Israel.

A senior Lebanese official has signalled that Hezbollah is ready to pull its forces away from the Lebanese-Israeli border in any ceasefire, while rejecting Israel's demand for freedom to act against the Iran-backed group in Lebanon in the future.

An Israeli airstrike flattened a building near one of Beirut's busiest traffic junctions on Friday, shaking the Lebanese capital as Israel kept up its intensified bombardment of Hezbollah-controlled areas of the city.