People in southern Lebanon have received phone messages warning them to stay away from buildings used by Hezbollah, as Israel says it's conducting "extensive" air strikes on the group
A Lebanese minister calls the messages "psychological war", while Israel's defence minister says strikes will continue "until we achieve our goals - to return the residents of the north safely to their homes"
Cross-border attacks between the two sides continue to ratchet up. One person has been killed this morning in Israeli air strikes north of the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon's health ministry says
Fears of an all-out regional conflict in the Middle East have grown in the past week - the latest intensification began after a series of exploding device attacks on Hezbollah members which were widely blamed on Israel.
Israel faces hard task in pushing Hezbollah back from border
I think this could be going in the direction of a ground offensive.The Israeli armed forces spokesman gave a briefing this morning in which he reiterated the war aims as stated by the prime minister, including the elimination of Hamas and the return of the hostages from Gaza - and, what is now an additional official war aim, of getting the more than 60,000 Israelis who have had to evacuate the northern border area back to their homes.
There’s almost double that many people on the Lebanese side who have also had to leave their homes, as Israeli air forces are targeting the area.
That aerial push will continue, said the spokesman, but he also talked about destroying the Hezbollah infrastructure in the border area and pushing them back.
I don’t think that’s something military can easily do from aircraft.
Israel’s record of invasions in Lebanon is not - for them - a happy one.
They have not gone the way that they expected and despite predictions about how they would change things strategically for Israel, this has, in the past, left them in a bigger mess in terms of their security in the north than predicted.
The scene in the Israeli city of Kiryat Bialik in Haifa, not far from the Lebanese border, on Sunday following a strike
FULL ARTICLE AT: Israel-Lebanon latest: Israel tells people in Lebanon to move from Hezbollah targets as 'extensive' strikes begin
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