Israel stepped up airstrikes on Iranian missile launchers and factories, and Iran retaliated against Israel and across the Gulf region, disrupting energy supplies and travel.

Entire communities along the northern border were emptied amid fear that Hezbollah might try to penetrate the north as Hamas did in the south.

The Israeli military said troops advanced to protect border towns from Hezbollah attacks, spurring fears that the government is weighing a wider ground war.

As Israel intensifies its campaign against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia, Lebanon is now teetering on the brink of being fully sucked into the escalating US and Israeli war on Iran – a fate the fragile Lebanese government has been desperate to avoid.

Israel and the US escalated their military campaign against Iran, pounding Iranian military and strategic infrastructure in a broad aerial offensive that US President Donald Trump said could last several weeks.

Israeli strike hits Hezbollah-aligned media building in Beirut’s southern suburbs following an evacuation warning.

The Israeli military said it had seized areas of southern Lebanon on Tuesday in an escalating conflict with the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia, as the State Department closed its embassies in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait after drone attacks and urged Americans to depart immediately from 14 Middle East countries.

Many people in Lebanon are fleeing their homes after Hezbollah launched missiles into Israel from Lebanon in response to the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and Israel retaliated