Lebanon is reeling after an unprecedented Israeli assault left at least 270 people dead and 798 injured, as a sweeping air campaign merged with the first major ground incursion deep into Lebanese territory, according to hospital and security officials.

Jets and drones pounded targets from the outskirts of Beirut through Nabatieh and Tyre to the Bekaa Valley, striking what the IDF calls Hezbollah command centres, rocket launch sites and weapons depots. Entire apartment blocks in the southern suburbs of the capital were reduced to concrete shells; rescue teams say many of the dead were pulled from collapsed stairwells and basement shelters.

At dawn, Israeli armour and infantry punched several kilometres beyond the border at multiple points, seizing ridge lines and villages long used as Hezbollah firing positions. Live images show Merkava tanks lining hilltops while soldiers move house to house, ordering residents to evacuate as artillery thunders in the background. Israel describes the push as a “limited security zone operation”; Lebanese leaders call it a full‑scale invasion.

Hospitals in Beirut, Tyre and Sidon report overflowing emergency rooms, operating theatres running nonstop and critical shortages of blood and anaesthetics. The UN warns that tens of thousands have already fled north, with convoys of cars and trucks jamming roads as families escape with bags, mattresses and water cans strapped to their roofs.

As smoke still hangs over southern Lebanon and the ground offensive grinds forward, diplomats fear this may be the tipping point: a campaign Israel insists is about neutralising Hezbollah, but which many now see as dragging Lebanon into another long, devastating war.