Israel is resisting international calls for a “de-escalation” in the Middle East, instead continuing to bomb neighbouring Lebanon, with devastating effects.
Tensions in the region have escalated quickly after a targeted attack on Hezbollah operatives led to the detonation of 3,000 pager devices last week.
Israel then launched its deadliest attack on its neighbour in decades, killing around 500 people during air strikes, including many women and children, Lebanon’s health ministry said.
Hezbollah has retaliated, but this has been met with further bombardment around Lebanon.
The international community is attempting to ease tensions and UN chief Antonio Guterres called for calm while denouncing countries brazenly trying to wage war with impunity.
"The people of Lebanon, the people of Israel, and the people of the world, cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza," he said.
Joe Biden similarly said war is in no one’s interest, as he stated: “A diplomatic solution is still possible. In fact, it remains the only path to lasting security.”
Emboldened by its year-long assault on the Gaza Strip - which has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry - Israeli officials claim they’re entering a “new phase” of the war by turning their attention to the north.
So what are their goals?
Why is Israel attacking Lebanon?
Israel says it is bombing Lebanon so its citizens can return to the north of the country.
Around 65,000 Israelis were recently told to leave their homes in northern Israel over security fears, and Israel says it wants them to return.
To achieve this, Israel is trying to force Hezbollah forces back, away from the border.
Over the past week, Israel has bombed hundreds of locations across Lebanon – and some of them aren’t anywhere near the border. Authorities have so far stopped short of launching a land-based attack.
Thousands have been injured, more than 500 people have been killed, and many more have been displaced from their homes as a result.
Hezbollah has vowed to continue fighting Israel until the nation reaches an agreement for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Most of the world has already condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza, and now in Lebanon.
How far the two sides are willing to go remains to be seen, but some experts believe Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu could be pushing for regional war to stall his political downfall.
Why are there tensions between Israel and Lebanon?
Israel and Lebanon, neighbouring countries in the Middle East, share a long, complex, and indeed fraught history and have technically been enemies for decades.
When Israel was declared a country in 1948, Lebanon was among the neighbouring nations that declared war on them.
Countless instances of cross-border violence and short bursts of conflict have followed since then, killing people on both sides.
Hezbollah, a political and military faction in Lebanon, emerged as a response to Israeli occupation in southern Lebanon in the 1980s during the civil war.
The organisation, backed by Iran, has long made its opposition to Israel’s presence in the Middle East clear, as well as the Western influence that backs them.
Israeli troops withdrew from Lebanon in 2000 after two decades of occupation before another regional flare-up in 2006 killed more than a thousand people across both nations.
The situation has deteriorated since 2023, after Israel started bombing the Gaza Strip in response to Hamas kidnapping 250 people on October 7. Many hostages have since been killed, some by Israel’s shelling in Gaza.
Supporting Hamas in its opposition to Israeli occupation, Hezbollah started firing rockets into Israel in support of the Palestinian movement.
The conflict has continued to escalate between both sides ever since.
