U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will press Israel during his visit on Tuesday to officially declare the start of the so-called low-intensity third phase of its war on Gaza, media reports said.

Hezbollah number two Naim Qassem in a speech Tuesday warned that Israel's wave of targeted killings "cannot lead to a phase of retreat but rather to a push forward for the resistance".
He described Hezbollah field commander Wissam Tawil - who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his car on Monday - as a member of Hezbollah's elite al-Radwan Brigade who had fought on several fronts.

U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein will meet with Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab in a European capital prior to his upcoming visit to Lebanon, senior political sources said.
“Phone communication between them is ongoing and they had recently met in Dubai,” the sources told al-Akhbar newspaper in remarks published Tuesday.

Hezbollah said it targeted a command base in Israel Tuesday in retaliation for the killings of one of its commanders in Lebanon and the Hamas deputy leader.
The movement said it targeted the "enemy's northern command centre" in the city of Safad with several explosive drones as part of its response to the killing of Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri on January 2 and Hezbollah field commander Wissam Tawil on Monday.

The elite Hezbollah commander who was killed in an Israeli airstrike Monday in southern Lebanon fought for the group for decades and took part in some of its biggest battles.
Wissam al-Tawil, a 48-year-old commander in Hezbollah's secretive Radwan Force deployed along the border with Israel, was killed when the strike hit his SUV in his hometown of Khirbet Silem. The strike was about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border, beyond the villages and towns that have witnessed the two sides exchange fire over the past three months.

Hamas and Iran have condemned the killing of top Hezbollah commander Wissam Tawil in a strike on south Lebanon.
Tawil "had a leading role in managing Hezbollah's operations in the south", near the Israeli border.

An Israeli drone strike hit a car Tuesday morning in southern Lebanon, killing three Hezbollah members inside it, according to two security officials and a Hezbollah official.
The strike on Ghandouriyeh, about 10 kilometers from the border with Israel, came a day after a similar attack killed a commander with the militant Hezbollah group.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has said that Lebanon is “working in a diplomatic solution for the situation in the south.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday warned Hezbollah to look at "what happened to their friends (Hamas)" in Gaza, assuring Israeli troops on Lebanon’s border that "this is what will happen here in the north" should a bigger war erupt.
Netanyahu visited an Israeli army base on the northern border with Lebanon during attacks by Hezbollah.

A top commander from Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Forces was killed Monday in a strike on the southern village of Khirbet Selm, adding to fears the conflict in Gaza could spill over.
Also on Monday, Israeli warplanes struck the outskirts of Aita al-Shaab, while Israeli tanks shelled a mosque in the border town of al-Abbasiyya. Shells also hit al-Wazzani, al-Hebbariye, and al-Taybeh.
