Israel’s defence minister has ordered its military on Tuesday, 3 March, to go beyond the border and take control of additional positions inside southern Lebanon, in what the government says is an effort to protect Israeli towns from attacks by the Lebanese group Hezbollah.
This announcement marks a clear expansion of the conflict that has already spread northward as part of the ongoing war between Israel and Iran-aligned forces.
Why Israel Is Making This Move
Israeli officials have framed the operation as defensive, saying its troops are advancing in southern Lebanon to prevent rockets, drones, and other attacks on Israeli border communities that have increased in recent days, and deter Hezbollah from planning further assaults on Israeli territory.
The operation aims to create “strategic depth” so that groups based across the Lebanese border cannot easily strike Israeli towns.
The decision comes after Hezbollah, an armed group based in Lebanon and closely allied with Iran, fired missiles and drones toward northern Israel.
The group said its attacks were retaliation for the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a series of US-Israeli strikes on Iran earlier this week.
Those strikes on Iran marked a major new front in the wider war between Israel, the United States, and Iran. In response to the attack on Khamenei, Iran and its allied militias have launched missiles and drones at Israeli and regional targets, widening the conflict.
What This Means on the Ground
Hezbollah’s decision to attack Israel means Lebanon, which had largely stayed out of direct combat, is now fully drawn into the conflict.
The Lebanese government has condemned Hezbollah’s actions and passed a decree banning the group’s military activities as illegal, though it does not control Hezbollah’s forces on the ground.
Tens of thousands of civilians in southern Lebanon have fled their homes, seeking safety further north.
Analysts say the new Lebanese front could make the conflict harder to contain and deepen instability throughout the region.
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