Israeli and Lebanese envoys meeting Wednesday for the fourth round of direct talks in the US capital "hopefully today will... produce a joint statement and an action plan on the track for security in that country, independent from Hezbollah," Rubio told a congressional panel.

The negotiations come days after US President Donald Trump said the two countries had pledged to de-escalate.

But Israel and Hezbollah have continued to trade fire, with Hezbollah claiming missile attacks on northern Israel Wednesday and Lebanon saying Israeli strikes in the south killed at least nine people, including two paramedics.