Israel said it deployed more forces in Lebanon to protect its people, but its military chief said the goal is more ambitious: to disarm Hezbollah. Israel made plans for the incursion well in advance.

Syrians living in Lebanon wait at the Ministry of Interior Immigration and Passports Department, at the Syrian-Lebanese border, as they return to Syria due to ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Jdaydet Yabous, Syria, March 3, 2026. REUTERS/Yamam Al Shaar

As Israel intensifies its campaign against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia, Lebanon is now teetering on the brink of being fully sucked into the escalating US and Israeli war on Iran – a fate the fragile Lebanese government has been desperate to avoid.

Israel continues to hit terror targets within Iran following the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday in a joint military offensive involving Jerusalem and the U.S., known as "Operation Epic Fury.

Trump added that he had ordered oil tanker insurance support, a move that marks an aggressive step to try to contain soaring energy prices.

The IDF says it has redeployed the 146th Reserve Division to the western portion of the Lebanon border. The division had been tasked with the western portion of the border with Lebanon from the beginning of the war on October 7, 2023, before being withdrawn in May 2025.

Israel hits Comfort Hotel in greater Beirut without warning; thousands more residents displaced across Lebanon. Israeli strikes have hit a hotel in the Lebanese capital and a residential complex in Lebanon’s east, as the military issued more forced displacement orders for Beirut and towns across the country under heavy fire.

This comes after IDF Chief Spokesman Effie Defrin and Defense Minister Israel Katz both alluded to a possible Lebanon ground operation on Monday. The IDF is operating in southern Lebanon as part of