Israel says it has begun an invasion of southern Lebanon after two weeks of attacks that Lebanese authorities say have killed more than 1,000 people and forced up to a million to flee their homes.
The announcement of an Israeli ground operation against Hezbollah came four days after an air strike that killed the leader of the Iran-backed armed group, Hassan Nasrallah.
Israel has a decades-long history of conflict with Hezbollah but the war in Gaza has sparked almost a year of deadly cross-border fighting between them.
We will be updating this page as the conflict unfolds.
Where is Lebanon?
Lebanon is a small country with a population of about 5.5 million people, which borders Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. It is about 170km (105 miles) away from Cyprus.
Where is the Israeli advance?
Israeli troops and tanks that had gathered close to the border on Monday have now crossed into Lebanon, according to the BBC’s Lucy Williamson who is in northern Israel – but it is unclear at the moment how far they have got.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was carrying out “limited, localised, and targeted ground raids” against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon but Hezbollah said that IDF claims that Israeli forces had crossed the border were false and that no clashes had taken place yet.
About a million people lived in southern Lebanon before the conflict escalated almost a year ago.
On Tuesday, the IDF issued evacuation orders for 25 villages in the region, telling those still there to leave their homes and “immediately head to the north of the Awali River” – which meets the coast about 50km (30 miles) from the border with Israel.
Lebanese civilians have also been warned by the IDF not to use vehicles to travel south across the Litani River, located about 30km (20 miles) north of the border.
A ground operation in southern Lebanon comes with many risks for Israeli forces. Unlike the flat coastal plains of Gaza, southern Lebanon has rolling hills and some mountainous terrain that makes it difficult for tanks to move easily without fear of being ambushed.
Hezbollah is also thought to have a network of tunnels in the region, with the group having been preparing for another full-scale conflict with Israel since the 34-day war in 2006.
What have Israel’s air strikes targeted?
Israel’s invasion of southern Lebanon comes after over a week of intense air strikes targeting Hezbollah’s strongholds in the country. Southern Lebanon has been most affected, with strikes also targeting the eastern Bekaa Valley and in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Israel says it is hitting Hezbollah sites, including weapons stores and ammunition dumps, but Lebanese officials say more than 100 women and children have been killed.
For Lebanese civilians trying to flee from southern Lebanon, the main route north is the coastal road that runs the length of the country – but areas along that route have been targeted by air strikes in recent days.
Hezbollah has also continued to fire rockets into Israel, with the majority targeting northern areas. The IDF says most have been intercepted. Some rockets have reached further south and damaged homes near the coastal city of Haifa.
The Israeli strikes on Beirut have focused on Dahieh, a southern suburb which is a densely populated area that is home to thousands of civilians and has a strong Hezbollah presence.
