Hezbollah said on Thursday that it targeted Israeli troops in northern Israel with a drone, as Lebanon and Israel were holding a new round of direct talks in Washington.

In a statement, the group said it "targeted a gathering of Israeli enemy army soldiers at the Rosh HaNikra site" near the border with Lebanon with a drone.

The United States on Thursday sought to extend a shaky ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon as a ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel -- considered to still be in place despite hundreds of deaths in Israeli strikes -- ends on Sunday.

Israel has pounded Lebanon and invaded its south in response to retaliatory fire from Hezbollah following Israel's killing of Iran's supreme leader at the start of the war on February 28.

Israel's military said Friday that one of its soldiers died in combat in southern Lebanon, bringing its losses to 20 personnel since the war with Hezbollah began in early March.

Staff Sergeant Negev Dagan, 20, "fell during combat in southern Lebanon", the military said, without providing additional information.

Six people were killed Friday in strikes on south Lebanon, hours before Lebanese and Israeli envoys were set to meet for a second day of talks in Washington.

Israel's military called on residents of five villages in southern Lebanon to immediately evacuate ahead of expected attacks, despite a truce with Lebanon intended to halt the fighting.

Chinese President Xi Jinping warned his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump that missteps on Taiwan could push their two countries into "conflict", a stark opening salvo as they met Thursday at a superpower summit in Beijing.

Iraq's new Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, whose government was approved on Thursday, vowed to ensure that the state would have a monopoly over weapons, the INA state news agency said.

Israel and Lebanon opened a new round of peace talks in Washington on Thursday as their latest ceasefire -- considered to still be in place despite hundreds of deaths in Israeli strikes -- nears its end.

The two sides started discussions just after 9 am (1300 GMT) at the State Department and will meet again on Friday.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Thursday accused the United Arab Emirates of playing what he called an active role in the US-Israeli war against Iran.

"The UAE is an active partner in this aggression, and there is no doubt about it," Araghchi said while attending the BRICS summit in India. "It also became clear that they participated in these attacks and may have even acted directly against us."

Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Ammar reiterated Thursday his group's rejection of the direct talks, as Lebanon and Israel are to hold new peace talks in Washington starting Thursday.

Ammar said direct talks amount to "free concessions" to Israel.

From her home in an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, Anna Sloutskin yearns to expand her country's borders and one day move to southern Lebanon. And she is not alone.

With fighting between Israel and Hezbollah displacing more than a million Lebanese, a far-right fringe of Israel's settler movement is turning its gaze northwards.