The ministry said there were three strikes on the coastal highway leading south out of Beirut, all around 20 to 30 kilometres (12-19 miles) from the Lebanese capital, which "resulted in eight martyrs, including two children".

An AFP photographer saw a burnt-out car in the middle of the road and rescuers carrying a body at one of the sites, near Jiyeh.

On Saturday, similar strikes targeted two other cars in the same area.

The Israeli military said Wednesday it had begun a wave of strikes against Hezbollah targets in the south of Lebanon, having issued fresh evacuation warnings for six villages.

Lebanon's National News Agency reported several strikes on villages and cars in the Tyre region. An AFP correspondent saw thick smoke from Burj al-Shemali in the same province.

Israel has kept up its airstrikes against the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah despite a truce in place since April 17 aimed at halting the fighting.

On Tuesday, 13 people were killed in attacks on towns in the south, according to Lebanon's health ministry, which said a total of 380 people had been killed since the start of the ceasefire.

The violence comes with Lebanon and Israel due to hold a new round of direct negotiations in Washington on Thursday, brokered by the United States.

On Monday, Beirut asked Washington to pressure Israel to halt its strikes ahead of the talks.

Hezbollah, which has been launching attacks on northern Israel as well as Israeli troops who have entered and occupied a section of southern Lebanon, says it opposes the negotiations in the US.

On Tuesday, its leader Naim Qassem warned that he would turn the battlefield into "hell" for Israel.

Since Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into the wider regional war in early March, more than 2,800 people have been killed in the country, including 200 children, according to the health ministry.