The United Nations voiced alarm at the escalating violence between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, warning that actions and rhetoric was catapulting the Middle East conflict "to another level".

"We are extremely concerned, deeply worried about the escalation in Lebanon," Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN rights office, told AFP.

"The attacks that we saw on the communication devices, the pagers, followed by rocket attacks and rocket fire being exchanged on both sides … marks a real escalation," she said.

"What we've been warning about all along, the regional spillover of the conflict, it appears that both the actions and the rhetoric of the parties to the conflict is taking the conflict to another level."

AFP