Laila Bassam

U.S. President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron are expected to announce a ceasefire in Lebanon between armed group Hezbollah and Israel imminently, four senior Lebanese sources said on Monday.

A powerful airstrike killed 15 people in central Beirut on Saturday and 13 others were killed in attacks northeast of the Lebanese capital, the health ministry said, as Israel pressed its offensive against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.

Lebanon and Hezbollah have agreed to a U.S. proposal for a ceasefire with Israel with some comments on the content, a top Lebanese official told Reuters on Monday, describing the effort as the most serious yet to end the fighting.

The heads of U.N. humanitarian agencies said the situation in northern Gaza was "apocalyptic."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. envoys on Thursday that Israel's ability to counter threats to its security from Lebanon and return displaced people to the north were key elements of any ceasefire deal with Lebanon.

With U.S. elections approaching, officials, diplomats and other sources in the region say Israel is seeking to shield its borders and ensure its rivals cannot regroup.

The strike came despite U.S. concerns about rising death tolls and fears of all-out war in the region.

Hezbollah's deputy chief Naim Qassem said on Tuesday the Iran-backed group would inflict "pain" on Israel but he also called for a ceasefire as a conflict rages between them in south Lebanon.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Hezbollah leader Syyed Hassan Nasrallah to flee Lebanon days before he was killed in an Israeli strike and is now deeply worried about Israeli infiltration of senior government ranks in Tehran, three Iranian sources said.

Lebanon's Hezbollah will choose a successor to its slain secretary-general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah "at the earliest opportunity" and will continue the fight against Israel, the Iran-backed group's deputy chief Naim Qassem said on Monday.