With airstrikes rocking Beirut and Israeli troops trying to advance against Hezbollah, Lebanon's government has broken a taboo by proposing the first direct talks with Israel in decades. But Lebanese officials say they want the fighting to end first — and it might be too late for that.

Hezbollah's decision to enter the wider Iran war by firing rockets at Israel has led to the heavy Israeli bombardment of southern Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs, killing some 850 Lebanese and driving over a million people from their homes.

Israeli strikes and shelling targeted on Tuesday afternoon several regions in south Lebanon including al-Qsaybeh, Shhour, Jabshit-Harouf, Mayfadoun-Shawkin, Dweir and Deir al-Zahrani, al-Kharayeb, al-Taybeh, Kfartebnit, Arnoun, Aita al-Shaab, and Ramia.

At least nine people were killed in strikes on the south Tuesday, including three Lebanese army soldiers.

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa, who visited Speaker Nabih Berri on Monday, carried a fundamental question: who in Lebanon actually has the capacity to implement and fulfill commitments as to any possible agreement with Israel to stop the current war, the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported.

The Lebanese judiciary is expected to seek the arrest of Hezbollah official Mahmoud Qmati, after he threatened that his group can overthrow the government and take over the country, the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Hezbollah on Tuesday denied it had any members in Kuwait a day after the Gulf country announced the arrest of 14 Kuwaitis and two Lebanese nationals allegedly affiliated with the group over a "sabotage plot".

"Hezbollah categorically denies the allegations and accusations issued by the Kuwaiti interior ministry," the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group said in a statement, calling the allegations "baseless" and adding: "There are no Hezbollah cells, members or networks in Kuwait."

Lebanon's military said on Tuesday that Israeli strikes on a car and two motorcycles in southern Lebanon killed three of its soldiers and wounded four others.

In a statement, the Lebanese army said that "as a result of an Israeli hostile raid" in the Qaaqaiyyet al-Jesser - Nabatiyeh region, a soldier was injured and "died of his wounds" while four others were wounded.

Israeli airstrikes rained down on three neighborhoods in Beirut's southern suburbs early Tuesday, Lebanese state media reported, as Lebanon said more than one million people had been displaced in two weeks of fighting.

Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war on March 2 when Tehran-backed Hezbollah militants attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in U.S.-Israeli strikes.

In southern Lebanon's Ain Ebel, close to the border with Israel, Suad Jallad holds a poster of her son, killed by Israel last week, saying she would rather be buried next to him than leave.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog told AFP on Monday that an offer by French leader Emmanuel Macron to host direct talks with Lebanon was "a very positive development".

The leaders of five Western countries said in a joint statement Monday that a large-scale Israeli ground operation in Lebanon "must be averted."