Thick smoke was seen rising over the southern Lebanese border town of Odaisseh, as Israel retaliated to Hezbollah attacks with airstrikes on Wednesday. The Israeli military said two Hezbollah launches damaged several vehicles in the north of the country. Its Iron Dome defence system was seen intercepting missiles in sky over Odaisseh and over Mesgav Am in Northern Israel. Earlier Wednesday Hezbollah said at least three of its fighters were killed in Israeli attacks and Lebanese state media reported multiple Israeli strikes along the border and in an area north of the coastal city of Tyre, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the frontier. Wednesday's fighting came as Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden, returned to Israel after meeting with officials in Lebanon on Tuesday. There has been no word on whether he has made progress in his efforts to avoid a devastating regional war. Hezbollah began attacking Israel almost immediately after the Israel-Hamas war erupted on October 7. There have been near daily exchanges of fire, though most of the strikes are confined to an area around the border. But the fighting has escalated in recent weeks, raising fears that the clashes could boil over into a full-blown war. Israel’s army announced late Tuesday that it has “approved and validated” plans for an offensive in Lebanon. Israeli strikes already have killed more than 400 people in Lebanon, most of them Hezbollah fighters, but at least 80 of the fatalities were civilians. AP video shot by: Ramez Dallah