Three people were arrested in Spain and one more in Germany on suspicion of belonging to a network that supplied Lebanon's Hezbollah with parts to build kamikaze drones that would have been used in attacks in northern Israel, Spanish authorities said Thursday.

The investigation began in Spain when the Guardia Civil detected “suspicious operations” by Spanish companies run by Lebanese nationals involving large quantities of materials and components to manufacture drones capable of carrying explosive charges of several kilograms, the statement said.

Israeli drones targeted Thursday a region between Yater and Zebqine while artillery shelled the outskirts of Yater.

Drones had targeted earlier on Thursday two cars in east and south Lebanon, killing a Jamaa Islamiya commander in the village of Ghazzeh in Bekaa, and a Hezbollah fighter in Jbal el-Botm in the Tyre district, near Zebqine.

Shiite Muslims Wednesday in Lebanon and Iraq commemorated Ashoura, marking the 7th-century death of Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Hussein, that gave birth to their faith, while paying tribute to Palestinians as the Israel-Hamas war entered its 10th month and tensions heightened between Hezbollah and the Israeli military.

The rift between Islam's two main sects deepened after Sunnis killed Imam Hussein in battle in the Iraqi city of Karbala, south of Baghdad. It continues to this day to play a key role in shaping the identity of Shiites, who represent over 10% of the world's 1.8 billion Muslims.

Russia’s top diplomat has said that Hezbollah, its main backer Iran, and Lebanon’s government do not want “a full-blown war – and there’s a suspicion that some circles in Israel are trying to achieve just that.”

Sergey Lavrov told a U.N. news conference Wednesday that Russia is doing “everything possible to calm tensions.” He expressed hope that Western nations make every effort to ensure Israel won’t act on what he says U.S. and European analysts are calling Israel’s “provocative mindsets.”

Israeli drones targeted Thursday two cars in east and south Lebanon, killing a Jamaa Islamiya commander in the village of Ghazzeh in Bekaa.

The other drone strike targeted a car in Jbal el-Botm in the Tyre district, near Zebqine.

When Shaheen Jarkas fled Syria's war for Lebanon, he hoped his family would be safe. Instead, an Israeli strike killed his two young children.

"Like every day... the children were spending their day playing," said Jarkas, 55, a farm worker originally from north Syria's Afrin area but now living in the southern border village of Umm Toot.

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday pledged that his group’s fighters would wipe out the Israeli army’s tanks should they invade Lebanon in any future war.

Commenting on the Israeli army’s disclosure that it is suffering from a shortage of tanks due to the war in Gaza and the conflict with Hezbollah, Nasrallah said: “If your tanks come to Lebanon and its south, you will not suffer from a shortage of tanks, because you will no longer have tanks.”

Lebanese official media said separate Israeli strikes Tuesday in south Lebanon killed five people including three Syrian children, with Hezbollah announcing rocket fire at Israel in retaliation.

"Three Syrian children" were killed "in an enemy raid that targeted farmland in the village of Umm Toot," the National News Agency (NNA) said.

HSBC on Wednesday named chief financial officer Georges Elhedery as the bank's next chief executive to drive "the next phase of development and growth."

The new boss will take the helm on September 2, the bank said, as it looks to push on with a transformation undertaken by current CEO Noel Quinn, who announced his shock retirement in April.

An Israeli drone strike targeted a motorcycle on the Kfar Tebnit-Khardali road on Tuesday, killing two Syrian nationals.

Heavy-caliber artillery shells meanwhile targeted the outskirts of the southern town of Deir Mimas.