The Lebanese army is "repositioning and regrouping forces" from the southern border, the official said, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

Lebanon's national army is dwarfed by the military power of the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.

Hezbollah's Al-Manar television channel reported "Zionist artillery shelling" near the border areas of Wazzani, the Khiam valley, Alma Al-Shaab and Naqura.

Wazzani and Khiam are right across from Metula in the north of Israel, where the military on Monday declared a closed military zone including Metula, Misgav Am, and Kfar Giladi.

The US State Department later said Israel is "currently conducting" limited ground operations targeting Hezbollah inside Lebanon.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported "continued artillery shelling" on Wazzani and the nearby Marjayoun plain and Khiam "for more than two hours".

Last Friday, the Israeli army killed Hezbollah's powerful leader Hassan Nasrallah in a strike on the group's southern Beirut bastion.

For the past week, Israel has launched an intense bombing campaign on the country's east, south and southern Beirut suburbs, killing hundreds of people and displacing up to one million, according to Lebanese officials.

The war follows nearly one year of cross-border exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah that the Lebanese group said were in support of Palestinian ally Hamas, whose October 7 attack on Israel triggered war in Gaza.