Israel intensified strikes on Lebanon on Wednesday with the health ministry reporting nine people killed in attacks targeting cars between Beirut and the coastal city of Sidon despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

The strikes along with others on 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.

Hezbollah, which on Wednesday claimed several attacks on Israeli troops who have invaded southern Lebanon, is strongly opposed to the direct talks.

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

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

An AFP photographer saw a burnt-out car in the middle of the road 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.

Israeli attacks since the April 17 ceasefire have killed more than 400 people in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of health ministry figures.

The NNA also reported several strikes on villages and cars in south Lebanon’s Tyre region.

An AFP correspondent saw thick smoke from Burj al-Shemali in the same area.

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

On Tuesday, 13 people were killed in strikes on towns in the south, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

Earlier this week, Beirut asked Washington to pressure Israel to halt its strikes ahead of the talks on Thursday.

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, more than 2,800 people have been killed in the country, including 200 children, according to the health ministry.

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.