BEIRUT/JERUSALEM – Lebanon plunged further into Middle East turmoil Tuesday as Iran-backed Hezbollah fired missiles and drones at Israel for a second day, prompting Israeli ground advances, evacuation orders, and relentless airstrikes that killed at least 40 and displaced thousands.
Hezbollah’s entry into the U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict, its first major action since a 2024 ceasefire – ignited fierce Israeli retaliation, including troops seizing hilltop positions in southern Lebanon and strikes on Beirut’s Hezbollah-dominated suburbs and al-Manar TV headquarters. The group claimed hits on northern Israeli military sites and a drone downing, while Israeli media reported a Lebanese missile wounding a man with shrapnel in a home.
Lebanon’s government issued a rare ban on Hezbollah’s military operations Monday, drawing fire from the group’s al-Akhbar outlet as potential civil war bait. The Shi’ite stronghold south of Beirut, already scarred by prior fighting, saw the army retreat from border posts as UNIFIL peacekeepers noted Israeli border crossings and barrages of rockets northward.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz greenlit further territorial gains, building on 2024 footholds, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed intensified operations, accusing Hezbollah of foisting an unwanted war on Lebanese civilians. The military emphasized precision strikes on command centers and arms caches hidden in civilian areas, with prior warnings issued.
Displacement surged, with the UN reporting 30,000 sheltered, including 9,000 children, and more fleeing villages under evacuation mandates. Displaced resident Nuzha Salame described conditions in Sidon as worse than before, amid “hardship and deprivation.” The U.S. embassy in Beirut shuttered indefinitely over tensions; no Israeli fatalities were reported from Hezbollah fire.
Hezbollah framed its strikes as retaliation for Iran’s slain leader, nonstop Israeli actions since 2024, and national defense, emerging weakened from that war yet retaining arms denied other factions post-1975 civil war. No word yet from deputy leader Naim Qassem as divisions sharpen in fragile Lebanon.