BEIRUT (AP) — Israel sent additional troops into southern Lebanon Tuesday and ordered residents of more than 80 villages to evacuate as the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group said it is ready for an open war, escalating the already volatile situation in the region.

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

Israeli strike hits Hezbollah-aligned media building in Beirut’s southern suburbs following an evacuation warning.

The Israeli military said it had seized areas of southern Lebanon on Tuesday in an escalating conflict with the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia, as the State Department closed its embassies in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait after drone attacks and urged Americans to depart immediately from 14 Middle East countries.

By Maya Gebeily, Alexander Cornwell and Jana Choukeir BEIRUT/JERUSALEM, March 3 (Reuters) - Lebanon was pulled deeper into the war in the Middle East on Tuesday as the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah launched missiles at Israel for a second consecutive day and Israel sent troops into the south and carried out waves of air strikes.

Many people in Lebanon are fleeing their homes after Hezbollah launched missiles into Israel from Lebanon in response to the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and Israel retaliated

In the pre-dawn hours of Monday morning, Hezbollah opened a new front in the US-Israeli war against Iran when it launched “missiles and a swarm of drones” at a military base in northern Israel.

Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defence Minister Katz order the Israeli army to start incursion into Lebanon.