Three citizens were lightly wounded Tuesday in an Israeli airstrike on the outskirts of the town of Jibsheet near Nabatieh, as diplomats raced to contain escalation between Israel and Hezbollah following a deadly strike that killed 12 youths in the annexed Golan Heights.

Hezbollah said it targeted a command center in Beit Hillel with Katyusha rockets in retaliation to the strike on Jibsheet. Israel's state media said one person was killed in the rocket attack in HaGoshrim near Beit Hillel.

The United States is confident that a wider war between Israel and Hezbollah can be avoided despite a deadly rocket attack in the annexed Golan Heights that killed 12 children, the White House said.

U.S. and Israeli officials had conversations at "multiple levels" over the weekend following the attack and the risk of a full-blown conflict is "exaggerated," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday.

For months, Israel has vowed to put an end to the frequent cross-border fire from Hezbollah which has led authorities to evacuate tens of thousands of citizens from areas near the border with Lebanon.

The situation has grown more tense this week following a rocket strike on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights which killed 12 children, raising fears of a further escalation in Israel's conflict with Hezbollah.

After a deadly strike on civilians in the annexed Golan Heights, Israel has threatened retaliation against Lebanon's Hezbollah, accusing it of perpetrating the attack with an Iranian-made Falaq-1 rocket -- part of its wide-ranging arsenal.

Hezbollah has traded near-daily cross-border fire with Israel in support of Hamas since the Palestinian militant group's October 7 attack on southern Israel triggered war in the Gaza Strip.

Iran's new President Masoud Pezeshkian has warned Israel against attacking Lebanon as tensions soar over a deadly rocket strike in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights blamed on Hezbollah.

"The Zionist regime (Israel) will make a great mistake with heavy consequences if it attacks Lebanon," Pezeshkian said during a call with French President Emmanuel Macron, according to the Iranian president's website.

The UK has advised British nationals to leave Lebanon and not to travel to the country as diplomats raced to contain any escalation between Israel and Hezbollah.

"We are advising British nationals to leave Lebanon and not to travel to the country. This is a fast-moving situation," Foreign Secretary David Lammy posted on X.

Some residents of the Golan Heights village where a rocket killed 12 youths over the weekend protested Monday the visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials expressing condolences.

Netanyahu is weighing Israel's response to the attack it blames on Hezbollah, which in a rare move has denied having a role. The prime minister laid a wreath, expressed his shock and said the local Druze community has paid a heavy price. He met with representatives of victims' families.

Italy's foreign minister told his Israeli and Lebanese counterparts Monday it was "possible to interrupt the spiral of violence" as he reiterated calls for a ceasefire, his office said.

The foreign ministry said Antonio Tajani spoke with both Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz and Lebanon's Abdallah Bou Habib, two days after a strike killed 12 minors in the annexed Golan Heights.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held phone talks with Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Monday to discuss the tensions between Israel and Lebanon following the deadly rocket strike on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.

The State Department said Blinken in the call with Herzog “emphasized the importance of preventing escalation of the conflict and discussed efforts to reach a diplomatic solution to allow citizens on both sides of the border between Israel and Lebanon to return home."

Hezbollah has started moving precision-guided missiles as Israel threatens to launch an attack on Lebanon following the weekend strike that killed 12 children in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

An official with the Lebanese group told The Associated Press that Hezbollah’s stance has not changed and that the Iran-backed group does not want a full-blown war with Israel, but if war breaks out it will fight without limits.