In a sign of divisions, Lebanese ministers from Hezbollah and its ally Amal boycotted a cabinet session over the government decision this week to declare the Iranian ambassador persona non grata, as demonstrators rallied in support of Iran outside its embassy in Beirut.

Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war on March 2 when Tehran-backed Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel to avenge the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of Iran.

Israel has since been bombing Lebanon, mainly in areas where Hezbollah has long held sway, and has sent in ground troops in a push to establish a buffer zone in south Lebanon.

Lebanese state media said Israeli strikes killed at least five people on Thursday, two of them in a raid on a building in the Nabatiyeh area in the south.

AFP images showed a badly damaged building and smoke rising from the rubble, as rescue workers and firefighters attended at the scene.

Israel's military said two soldiers were killed in south Lebanon, raising the death toll for its troops there this month to four.

Israeli emergency services also said a rocket fired from Lebanon killed a man in northern Israel's Nahariya area.

- 'Threatening Lebanon's sovereignty' -

Hezbollah on Thursday claimed dozens of attacks, saying its fighters targeted or clashed with soldiers in several south Lebanon areas including Naqura and Khiam, a strategic town that has seen intense fighting.

It also said it targeted sites across the border including Nahariya and a defence ministry complex in Tel Aviv.

Israel this week said its military would take control of south Lebanon up to the Litani River, around 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border.

Human Rights Watch said on X that the area amounts to around eight percent of Lebanon's territory "and is larger than Bahrain, New York City or Singapore. It is twice the size of Gaza".

A military source in south Lebanon told AFP the Israeli army was "slowly advancing a bit more each day" in the border area, including near the town of Taybeh where Hezbollah has claimed repeated attacks against Israeli troops.

The Committee to Protect Journalists urged an investigation into the killing of Hussain Hamood, a freelance journalist who worked for Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar TV, who it said was killed in an Israeli strike in Nabatiyeh a day earlier.

Lebanon's foreign ministry this week told Tehran's ambassador to leave the country, the latest unprecedented step by Lebanese authorities since the war erupted.

The spat escalated as two ministers from Hezbollah and two from its ally Amal boycotted Thursday's cabinet session.

In a statement afterwards, the cabinet said Israel was "threatening Lebanon's sovereignty", and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said he had asked the foreign minister to "immediately file a complaint with the Security Council in this regard".

- 'Israeli decisions' -

Dozens of protesters gathered near Iran's embassy on the outskirts of south Beirut, where Israel has repeatedly bombed in recent weeks, some waving Iranian or Hezbollah flags amid chants of "Death to America, death to Israel".

"We came here to show our support for the Iranian ambassador in Lebanon, so the government will back down on this decision," said protester Mohammed, declining to provide his surname.

Demonstrator Farida Noureddine, 43, accused Lebanon's foreign minister of "carrying out Israeli decisions".

The health ministry said Thursday Israeli strikes had killed 1,116 people including 121 children since March 2.

Israel's military said it had killed around 700 Hezbollah fighters, although the group has not officially announced its casualties.

Visiting Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty called for the immediate cessation of what he called Israel's "aggression" on Lebanon.

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