Clashes continued on Friday between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, as tensions rose further after a strike on Tuesday killed Hamas's number two, Saleh al-Arouri, in a Hezbollah stronghold in south Beirut.

Israeli warplanes struck the outskirts of the southern towns of Majdalzoun and Mhaibib and a region near a Lebanese army position in Aita al-Shaab, while shells hit the border towns of Houla, Tayr Harfa, al-Jebbayn, Rashaya al-Foukhar, Fardis, al-Bustan and Yarin.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna agreed to seek steps to avoid a wider Middle East war following strikes in Lebanon and Iran, the State Department said.

In a telephone call the day before, the two top diplomats "discussed the importance of measures to prevent the conflict in Gaza from expanding, including affirmative steps to de-escalate tensions in the West Bank and to avoid escalation in Lebanon and Iran," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

Thousands of people took to the streets in Beirut Thursday the funeral of Saleh Arouri, top commander of the militant Palestinian group Hamas, who was killed earlier this week in an apparent Israeli airstrike in the Lebanese capital.

Draped in Palestinian and Hamas flags, Arouri's coffin along with those of two of his comrades were first taken to a Beirut mosque for prayers before being carried to the Palestine Martyrs Cemetery where top Palestinian officials killed by Israel over the past five decades have been buried. Arouri's automatic rifle was placed on his coffin at the prayer service.

U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein arrived in Israel Thursday where he held a meeting with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, ahead of a possible visit to Lebanon.

Fears have mounted that Israel's war in Gaza could spread across the region after strikes in Lebanon and Iraq as well as deadly blasts in Iran, but experts say a wider conflict is unlikely for now.

What has happened?

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati received a phone call Wednesday evening from French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna.

Hezbollah targeted Thursday Israeli soldiers and posts in Shtula, Metula, al-Manara and al-Jerdah while Israel struck the outskirts of Houla and Maroun al-Ras and shelled al-Khiam and the Panorama curve -- between Kfarkila and Odeisseh -- with white phosphorus bombs.

Four Hezbollah fighters, including a local Hezbollah leader, were killed overnight in southern Lebanon in Israeli strikes on the border town of Naqoura.

Israel carried out the strike that killed deputy Hamas leader Saleh al-Aruri in Beirut, a U.S. Defense Department official said.

Arouri -- who died Tuesday in an area that is a stronghold of the powerful Lebanese militant group Hezbollah -- is the most high-profile figure to be killed since the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza broke out in October.

Four Hezbollah fighters were killed overnight in southern Lebanon, the Iran-backed movement announced Thursday, in what Lebanese state media said were Israeli strikes on the border town of Naqoura.

The deaths, which according to a source close to the powerful militant group include a local Hezbollah leader, follow a strike on Beirut this week that killed a senior Hamas leader, raising regional tensions as war rages in Gaza.

Fears that Israel's war in Gaza could spiral across the Middle East have mounted after twin explosions ripped through an Iranian crowd, claiming at least 103 lives following a strike in Lebanon that killed Hamas's deputy leader.

More than 200 other people were wounded when the blasts about 15 minutes apart struck mourners commemorating slain Revolutionary Guards general Qasem Soleimani on the fourth anniversary of his killing in a United States drone strike, Iran's state media reported.