The fresh raids, which also targeted various areas of the country’s south, came on the eve of a new round of direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel in Washington brokered by the United States, as Hezbollah remains strongly opposed to the move.

Lebanon’s health ministry said three strikes on cars along or near the coastal highway around 20 to 30 kilometres (12-19 miles) from capital Beirut “resulted in eight martyrs, including two children”.

Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) said two strikes hit cars on the busy highway linking Beirut to the country’s south, while a third struck nearby.

An AFP photographer saw a burnt-out car and rescuers carrying a body at one of the sites, near Jiyeh.

A fourth strike hit a car in Sidon, southern Lebanon’s largest city, around 40 kilometres south of Beirut, with the health ministry reporting one dead there.

The ministry also said Israeli strikes on another three cars in south Lebanon’s Tyre district killed three more people.

Under the terms of the April 17 ceasefire released by Washington, Israel reserves the right to act against “planned, imminent or ongoing attacks”.

Drone attacks

Israeli attacks since the ceasefire have killed more than 400 people in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of health ministry figures.

Israel’s army said it struck Hezbollah infrastructure, weapons storage facilities and rocket launchers in south Lebanon on Wednesday.

The NNA reported strikes on several south Lebanon locations, including in the Tyre district.

An AFP correspondent saw thick smoke from Burj al-Shemali, one of nine areas where Israel’s army issued evacuation warnings on Wednesday.

Hezbollah claimed several attacks on Israeli troops who have invaded southern Lebanon, including with drones, and said its fighters “ambushed” and clashed with Israeli forces in one area.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said it was “increasingly concerned” about the activities of Hezbollah fighters and Israeli soldiers near UN positions in south Lebanon.

That includes “the increased use of drones, which has resulted in explosions in and around our bases and put peacekeepers at risk”, a UNIFIL statement said.

It noted several incidents in recent days in which drones presumed to belong to Hezbollah detonated in or near UN positions, including the force’s Naqura headquarters.

Hezbollah has increasingly been using cheap fibre-optic drones for its attacks on Israeli forces.

Civil defence funeral

In Sidon, an AFP correspondent saw dozens of mourners at the funeral for two Lebanese civil defence personnel killed in an Israeli strike a day earlier.

Fellow civil defence personnel holding Lebanese flags lined up for an honour guard as the coffins passed, also draped in the national flag, with a rescue helmet and flak jacket placed on top.

This week Beirut asked Washington to pressure Israel to halt its strikes ahead of the talks on Thursday and Friday.

Veteran diplomat Simon Karam will head the talks for Lebanon for the first time, as Washington seeks a historic breakthrough between the two sides despite the ongoing hostilities.

On Tuesday, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem warned that his fighters would turn the battlefield into “hell” for Israel.

Since Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the wider regional war in early March, authorities say more than 2,800 people have been killed, including at least 200 children.

Hezbollah says the toll includes its fighters.

Israeli troops are operating inside an Israeli-declared “yellow line” which runs around 10 kilometres north of the Israel-Lebanon border.