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

Israel has carried out major bombing in Lebanon as the IDF says it was targeting the militant group Hezbollah, who has fired back. The U.S. has warned both sides against an escalation of any kind as fears of a wider war in the Middle East grow.

Israel said Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets from Lebanon on Friday following overnight air strikes which destroyed dozens of launchers after its leader vowed retribution for deadly sabotage attacks on its communications.

Bulgaria and Norway became new focal points on Thursday of a global hunt for who supplied Hezbollah with the thousands of pagers that exploded in Lebanon this week in a deadly blow to the militant group.

By Ben Blanchard and Faith Hung TAIPEI (Reuters) -Authorities in Taiwan and Bulgaria on Friday denied involvement in the supply chain of thousands of pagers that detonated on Tuesday in Lebanon in a deadly blow to Hezbollah.

Explosions went off in Beirut and multiple parts of Lebanon in an apparent second wave of detonations of electronic devices, Hezbollah officials and state media said Wednesday, reporting walkie-talkies and even solar equipment detonating a day after hundreds of pagers blew up.