US pushes for peace as Israel, Hezbollah exchange fire

Israeli strikes have pounded Beirut's southern suburbs - and Hezbollah says it fired precision guided missiles for the first time at Israeli targets - as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken tours the region, pushing for a halt to fighting.

The Israeli strikes targeted the central Damascus neighbourhood of Kafr Sousa and a military site in the Homs countryside, killing one soldier and injuring seven other people, the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said the strikes caused "material damage", but did not elaborate.

Earlier in the day, Syrian state media said explosions were heard in Damascus after Israel struck a residential building in Kafr Sousa.

Israel has been carrying out strikes against Iranian-linked targets in Syria for years but has ramped up raids since 2023's October 7 attack on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas, which sparked the Gaza war.

On Wednesday, Israeli strikes pounded Beirut's southern suburbs and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah said it fired precision guided missiles for the first time at Israeli targets.

The strikes on the edges of Beirut sent flames shooting into the night sky shortly after an Israeli military spokesman issued evacuation warnings for the neighbourhood.

Another strike came with no warning, hitting the nearby office of pro-Iran broadcaster Al-Mayadeen, the station said.

It said the office had been empty since the conflict began.

Lebanon's health ministry said one person was killed and five others, including a child, were wounded.

The Israeli military named on Wednesday six Palestinian Al Jazeera reporters in Gaza who it said were also members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad militant groups, an allegation the Qatari network rejected as an attempt to silence journalists.

The Committee to Protect Journalists' Middle East program said on X that the allegations amounted to smearing Palestinian journalists "with unsubstantiated 'terrorist' labels".

Hezbollah said in a statement late on Wednesday it had escalated its attacks on Israel, using "precision missiles" for the first time and launching new types of drones on Israeli targets.

The Israeli military said four projectiles were identified as having been fired from Lebanon - two were intercepted and two fell to the ground.

The intensifying exchanges of fire come as Washington makes a final major push for peace between Israel and Iran-backed groups Hezbollah and Hamas before the November 5 US presidential election that could alter US policy.

Blinken is making his first trip since Israel killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, its most wanted enemy, whose death Washington hopes can provide an impetus for peace.

Washington is also aiming to head off a widening of the conflict in anticipation of Israeli retaliation for an Iranian October 1 missile attack.

Blinken said Israel's retaliation should not lead to greater escalation.

But the conflict appeared to be spreading, with new strikes on Tyre, a UNESCO-listed port city in south Lebanon, which also came after Israeli evacuation orders.

The Israeli military said it had targeted Hezbollah command and control centres including its southern front headquarters.

In Gaza, where Israel has intensified an assault on the northern edge of the territory since killing the leader of Hamas, health authorities and residents reported 42 people killed in fresh Israeli strikes, most in the north.

Among the dead were Mohammed and Bilal Abu Atwi - a driver for UN aid agency UNRWA and his brother - killed when their UN-marked vehicle was struck in Deir al-Balah.

The US has written to Israel, giving it 30 days to boost humanitarian aid access in Gaza or risk having some US military assistance cut.

Arriving in Lebanon for talks on ending hostilities, Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said providing arms to Israel posed a dilemma.

"On the one hand, Israel is attacked every day and not supporting it would mean that people are not (being) protected ... On the other, it is also Germany's responsibility to stand up for international humanitarian law."

In the year since fighters directed by Sinwar rampaged through Israeli towns killing 1200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, Israel has laid Gaza to waste to root out Hamas, killing almost 43,000 Palestinians.

The past month's strikes on Lebanon have displaced at least 1.2 million Lebanese.