Israel's security cabinet is discussing the terms of a truce with Hezbollah in south Lebanon, where Israeli troops are conducting a ground offensive, Energy Minister Eli Cohen said on Wednesday.

"There are discussions, I think it will still take time," Cohen told Israeli public radio.

Ayman Jaber's memories are rooted in every corner of Mhaibib, the village in southern Lebanon he refers to as his "habibti," the Arabic word for "beloved." The root of the village's name means "the lover" or "the beloved."

Reminiscing about his childhood sweetheart, the 45-year-old avionics technician talks about how the young pair would meet in a courtyard near his uncle's house.

A Lebanese security official told AFP that an Israeli strike on a Hezbollah van carrying munitions near Beirut killed the driver Wednesday, the latest death in more than a month of war.

"A van belonging to Hezbollah was targeted in an Israeli strike on the Kahhale road and its driver killed," the official said, adding that the vehicle was carrying munitions.

Strikes rocked the eastern city of Baalbek and its outskirts on Wednesday, hours after Israel issued an evacuation call for the area.

Residents of Baalbek had rushed out of their homes after the Israeli army ordered Baalbek and its outskirts evacuated for the first time in the ongoing war.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Tuesday the appointment of Naim Qassem to succeed Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah as Hezbollah chief would "strengthen" the resistance.

Pezeshkian expressed confidence that Qassem's appointment "will strengthen the will of the resistance", while hoping for "the cessation of aggression by the illegal Zionist regime (Israel) and the establishment of peace, tranquility and security in Gaza, Lebanon, and the entire region," according to his website.

Lebanon's health ministry said at least eight people were killed on Tuesday in an Israeli strike on the southern coastal city of Sarafand.

"The Israeli enemy raid on Sarafand this evening has, according to a provisional toll, left eight dead and 21 wounded," a ministry statement said, adding that rescue workers were searching for survivors.

Hezbollah said it launched drones at an Israeli base in the port city of Haifa on Wednesday, as clashes intensify more than a month into the war.

Hezbollah fighters "launched an air attack at 7:45 am (0545 GMT)... with a squadron of attack drones" on a "base in southern Haifa", the group said in a statement.

U.S. President Joe Biden's senior advisers Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk will arrive in Israel on Thursday to try to close a deal that would end the war in Lebanon and allow displaced civilians from both sides of the border to return to their homes, three sources with direct knowledge of the trip told U.S. news portal Axios.

Israeli and U.S. officials said they believe that after the blows Hezbollah has suffered in the past two months, including the assassination of its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, it is finally willing to disconnect itself from Hamas in Gaza.

BEIRUT — Analysis from a humanitarian group working in Lebanon forecasts two scenarios in its report on the Hezbollah-Israel conflict, both predicting a severe economic contraction in Lebanon by early 2025.

Mercy Corps’ Lebanon Crisis Analysis Team says Israel’s continued strikes on suspected Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, without blocking key infrastructure, will still bring severe economic and humanitarian risks.

Two Israeli airstrikes targeted Tuesday the Sidon suburb of Haret Saida, killing at least five people and wounding several others.

The strike on Sidon marked the second such attack on the historic coastal city since the recent escalation between Hezbollah and Israel.