Israeli strikes continued on the ground in Lebanon even as US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire proposal for Iran. An airstrike on a residential apartment building in Bchamoun, approximately ten kilometres southeast of Beirut, killed at least two people and wounded five others in the early hours of Today. The strike came without warning, with footage circulating online showing the building engulfed in flames. Overnight, Israeli forces targeted seven areas in Beirut’s southern suburbs, as the conflict entered a new and more dangerous phase after Hezbollah was drawn directly into the war.
The Lebanese health ministry reports more than 1039 have been killed and nearly 2876 wounded since fighting intensified on the second of March. Around one point two million people, one in every five Lebanese residents, have now been displaced, with over one hundred and thirty thousand sheltering in overcrowded collective centres and thousands more sleeping in vehicles or by roadsides across Beirut.
Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich made the most explicit call yet for seizing Lebanese territory, declaring that Israel’s new border must extend to the Litani River. While the Israeli military insists its operations in southern Lebanon remain limited and targeted, troops have been advancing into border villages, engaging in direct clashes with Hezbollah, and destroying key infrastructure. The Qasmiyeh Bridge, linking the southern cities of Tyre and Sidon, has been destroyed. Lebanese officials warn these moves signal preparation for a far broader ground offensive. The UN peacekeeping headquarters in Naqoura was also struck by a projectile, believed to have been fired by a non-state actor. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has called for direct talks to end the war, and the government has officially outlawed Hezbollah military activity in an attempt to de-escalate.
Sixty-four attacks on healthcare facilities have been recorded since the escalation began, leaving five hospitals and forty-nine primary health centres out of service. Israeli ground forces have been expanding their presence south of the Litani in recent days, with the Israeli military framing the operations as a defensive effort to degrade Hezbollah capabilities and establish security zones rather than a full-scale invasion. However, the destruction of bridges and continued troop movements into border villages have alarmed Lebanese officials and observers, who say the pattern points toward a prolonged and widening occupation. Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets and drones into Israel in response, with ground clashes reported across multiple sectors in the south.
