In recent days, the Israeli military has issued broad evacuation warnings across southern Lebanon, raising concerns that it may be about to launch a ground invasion. The Israeli military has also pushed into Lebanon to fight Hezbollah and is massing armored vehicles along the border.

Asian markets on Friday largely closed flat, following days of volatility driven by fears of energy supply disruptions as the war in Iran continues. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.62% at closing,

Tens of thousands have fled their homes in Lebanon’s south as Israel issues forced evacuation order for entire area.

The Israeli military said it had begun a “broad-scale” attack in Iran’s capital, hours after hitting Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon. The Pentagon said Iran’s retaliatory missile strikes were decreasing. A banner of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader who was killed in strikes on Saturday, hangs in an area of the capital hit in an attack on Thursday. The Red Crescent Society said the death toll in Iran had risen to 787 since the start of the attacks last week. Euan Ward Erika Solomon Dayana Iwaza and Ephrat Livni Even as Israeli drones hovered over Beirut, Lebanon, the Israeli military said it had begun a “broad-scale wave of strikes” against the Iranian regime infrastructure’s in Tehran in the early morning hours of Friday in the Middle East. Israel made the announcement only hours after it had unleashed a major bombardment Thursday evening on a Hezbollah stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut, in another sign that Lebanon is fast becoming a new front in the widening conflict involving the United States, Israel and Iran. A series of airstrikes caused huge explosions in the Dahiya area, on the outskirts of the city, in the most intense attack since a cease-fire in late 2024 halted fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. At least three buildings totally collapsed. Hundreds of displaced people were sleeping on the streets of downtown Beirut, some huddling around small fires to stay warm. The intensified bombardment came not long after Israel military officials acknowledged that their forces had moved deeper into Lebanon than previously disclosed and Israeli armed vehicles began massing at the border. The Israeli military had said earlier that it was going to hit targets in the Dahiya, warning people to evacuate to the north and setting off a panicked exodus on Thursday. The New York Times In Washington, President Trump said that he should have a role in choosing Iran’s new leader, and that Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of the former leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — who appears to be the leading candidate — to succeed his father, was an “unacceptable” choice. Mr. Trump’s comments, in interviews with Reuters and Axios, were the most explicit he has made about his view of an American role in creating a new government in Tehran.