Amid fears of an expanding war in the Middle East following mass detonations of bombs surreptitiously planted in Hezbollah communication devices, Israel continued its assault of the Iran-backed militia overnight.

Lebanon's Iran-aligned Hezbollah group confirmed in the early hours of Saturday that its top military commander Ibrahim Aqil was killed, calling him "one of its top leaders", without providing further details on his killing.

Israel carried out one of the most intense bombardments of the past year, as warplanes launched 70 airstrikes, Lebanese security officials said. The barrage came shortly after Hezbollah’s leader vowed to respond after explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies killed at least 37 people.