The theatre of numerous conflicts between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon was drawn into the spillover from the war between the United States, Israel and Iran on Monday, when the group opened fire with drones and missiles.
With dozens of people killed in retaliatory Israeli strikes, Hezbollah's move to enter the conflict has sharpened long-standing divisions in Lebanon over its status as an armed group - the only Lebanese faction to keep its weapons after the 1975-90 civil war.
The government on Monday took the unprecedented step of outlawing Hezbollah's military activities. The pro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar newspaper condemned this as a "capitulation to dictates, which could even lead to the outbreak of civil war".
Israeli strikes sent thick plumes of smoke billowing over Beirut's Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs and across hilltops in southern Lebanon on Tuesday.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement he had authorised the military to advance and take control of additional positions in Lebanon, where Israeli troops have held several hilltops since a war with Hezbollah in 2024.
Many thousands of Lebanese have fled homes in areas that bore the brunt of that war. The Israeli military has ordered residents of dozens of south Lebanon villages to evacuate.
"This displacement is harder than the last one," said Nuzha Salame, a woman sheltering in the city of Sidon after fleeing her village.
"Now we're in hardship and deprivation, and we're still out in the streets."
The United Nations said that, by Monday, at least 30,000 people, including 9000 children, had sought protection in shelters, while many more were expected to join them.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would increase its strikes in Lebanon in response to Hezbollah's attacks, and said the group was dragging the Lebanese people "into a war that is not theirs".
The US embassy in Beirut said it was shutting until further notice due to regional tensions.
The Lebanese health ministry said Israeli strikes had killed at least 40 people and wounded 246 since the start of the escalation. It said an incorrect death toll of 52 was issued on Monday.
There have been no reported deaths in Israel as a result of Hezbollah's attacks.
The Israeli military said it had deployed additional forces to southern Lebanon overnight, saying this was to take up defensive positions to guard against any potential Hezbollah attack.
UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, said Israeli soldiers crossed the border in four areas before returning south of the frontier, and that dozens of rockets and missiles had been fired into Israel over the past two days.
Israel had been carrying out near daily strikes targeting Hezbollah since the ceasefire in 2024. Hezbollah's attack on Monday was its first since that conflict.
Hezbollah announced at least four separate attacks on Tuesday using attack drones and missiles and saying these had targeted military facilities in northern Israel. It also claimed to have shot down an Israeli drone in the south.
A missile from Lebanon hit a house in northern Israel, Israeli media reported. Israel's ambulance service said a man was treated for glass shrapnel injuries.
The Israeli military reported more air strikes in Beirut on Tuesday, saying it had hit "command centres, weapons storage facilities, and satellite communication components belonging to Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters in Beirut".
