Follow the conflict with Hezbollah and Iran

Israel has invaded southern Lebanon in a dramatic escalation of its conflict with Hezbollah.

The Israeli ground operation began Monday evening, days after an airstrike killed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Iran-backed armed group.

Hezbollah has fired rockets into northern Israel as Lebanon endures two weeks of aerial bombardment that Lebanese authorities say have killed more than 1,000 people and forced up to a million to flee their homes.

Israel has a decades-long history of conflict with Hezbollah, but the Gaza war sparked a year of deadly cross-border fighting between them.

We will continually update the maps on this page to help explain the conflict.

Lebanon is a small country of around 5.5 million inhabitants, bordered by Syria to the north and east, to the south by Israel and to the west by the Mediterranean Sea. It is approximately 170 km (105 miles) from Cyprus.

Israeli troops and tanks that had gathered near the border entered Lebanon on Tuesday, but it is unclear where they are operating.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was carrying out “limited, localized and targeted ground raids” in southern Lebanon to dismantle what it called Hezbollah’s “terrorist infrastructure.”

Israeli troops are fighting directly on the ground with Hezbollah fighters, according to the BBC’s Nick Beake, who is in northern Israel.

Several Israeli soldiers were killed in Hezbollah mortar attacks and ambushes during operations in southern Lebanon aimed at “eliminating terrorists,” according to the IDF.

Hezbollah said its fighters clashed with Israeli forces in Adaisseh, Kafr Kila, Maroun al-Ras and Yaroun, all Lebanese villages close to the border with Israel.

A ground operation in southern Lebanon carries many risks for Israeli forces. Unlike the coastal plains of Gaza, southern Lebanon features hills and mountainous terrain that make it difficult for tanks to move without fear of being ambushed.

Hezbollah also reportedly has a network of tunnels in the region, with the group preparing for another large-scale conflict with Israel since the 34-day war in 2006.

As part of its invasion of southern Lebanon, the Israeli army has ordered residents of some villages to evacuate, telling those remaining to leave their homes and “immediately head north of the Awali River” – which joins the coast about 50 km (30 miles). ) from the border with Israel.

Lebanese civilians were also warned by the IDF not to use vehicles to cross the Litani River, located about 30 km north of the border.

About a million people lived in southern Lebanon before the conflict escalated almost a year ago.

Tens of thousands of people have fled north since Israeli airstrikes in the region intensified in late September. The main route taken by civilians trying to leave the south is the coastal road that runs throughout the country, but areas along this route have been hit by airstrikes in recent days.

The Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon came after nearly two weeks of intense airstrikes that the Israeli military says are targeting Hezbollah in the south of the country, the eastern Bekaa Valley and the southern suburbs. from Beirut.

Israel says it is hitting Hezbollah sites, including weapons depots and ammunition depots, but Lebanese officials say more than 100 women and children have been killed.

The majority of rockets recently fired by Hezbollah have targeted the northern areas of Israel. But some rockets reached further south and damaged homes near the coastal city of Haifa.

There has been nearly a year of cross-border hostilities between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, sparked by the war in Gaza.

Hezbollah fired thousands of rockets into northern Israel during this period, forcing some Israelis living there to flee south, while the IDF launched airstrikes and artillery attacks against Hezbollah positions. Hezbollah in Lebanon.

As the chart below shows, the number of weekly Israeli attacks on Lebanon more than tripled in the week before the IDF launched its ground invasion. The number of Hezbollah attacks, while small in comparison, also increased during the same week.

Israel has intensified its strikes on Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, in recent days.

The majority of strikes hit Dahieh, a southern suburb of the city that is a densely populated area housing thousands of civilians.

The suburb has a strong Hezbollah presence and a series of Israeli strikes on buildings in the area killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on September 27.

Israeli air attacks also took place in locations closer to the center of the city. A strike in a building near the Lebanese Parliament on October 2 killed several people, including rescue workers and paramedics, according to Beirut civil defense.

Israel is now engaged in hostilities with armed forces and non-state armed groups in several countries in the Middle East, including Iran, Syria and with Iranian-backed groups operating in Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq, in Syria and Yemen.

Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Israel on Tuesday marks the latest major escalation.

What happens next is unclear, but Israel has vowed to respond, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling the attack a “grave mistake” for which Iran will “pay.”