Israeli airstrikes expanded across Lebanon on Thursday, targeting multiple locations from the south to the country’s north as tensions in the Middle East continued to escalate, security sources said.

The intensified campaign followed the expiration of a 24-hour ultimatum issued by Israel calling on Iranian officials and commanders from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to leave Lebanon.

Israeli authorities had warned that broader military action could follow if the deadline was ignored.

Israeli warplanes broadened their operations beyond their earlier focus on the southern suburbs of Beirut, widely considered a stronghold of Hezbollah.

Overnight strikes targeted several areas, including a busy highway along Beirut’s airport road, where two vehicles were reportedly hit shortly after midnight.

Residents said loud explosions were heard and thick smoke rose from the area.

Strikes were reported in the east and north.

On Thursday morning, an Israeli strike targeted a car in the eastern city of Zahle.

A photographer at the scene reported seeing two charred bodies removed from the vehicle.

Lebanon’s Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said the strike on the Zahle–Karak Highway killed two people and injured two others.

Elsewhere, Israeli attacks reportedly reached the Beddawi Refugee Camp in northern Lebanon, one of the farthest northern locations hit since the latest escalation began.

Security sources said the strike killed a senior official from Hamas.

Earlier, the Israeli military warned residents of a building in Beirut’s southern suburbs to evacuate, saying the site was used by Hezbollah as a base and could be targeted.

Late Wednesday, the Israel Defence Forces said it had struck numerous Hezbollah rocket and missile launch sites as well as a drone production facility near the Israeli border.

The claims could not be independently verified.

Clashes with Hezbollah also intensified. The renewed hostilities came after Hezbollah launched rockets toward Israel earlier this week following the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, in a joint US–Israeli attack on Iran.

This is according to reports cited by regional sources.

As the war involving Iran enters its sixth day, the conflict has increasingly spilt over into neighbouring countries.

Lebanese security sources reported sustained Israeli airstrikes on the southern market town of Nabatieh and nearby villages, areas Israel claimed hosted operational positions of Hezbollah.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that Israeli warplanes bombed a house at the northern entrance of Zawtar al-Sharqiya at dawn, killing a family of four.

Hezbollah later said it had carried out a series of attacks against Israeli forces as fighting intensified.

According to a Lebanese security official, Israeli ground troops have already entered at least nine towns near the southern border amid the widening confrontation.

In his first public address since the escalation began, Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem condemned the Israeli strikes as “premeditated aggression” and vowed the group would continue its response.

“We will not surrender, no matter the sacrifices,” he said. 

(Xinhua/NAN)