A view of a wrecked residential area following an Israeli attack on Dahieh region in Beirut, Lebanon, October 8, 2024. /CFP
Israel's military said on Tuesday that it had begun ground operations in southwest Lebanon, expanding its incursions to a new zone a year after exchanges of fire began with Hezbollah amid pleas by the UN for a diplomatic solution.
The regional tensions triggered a year ago by Hamas's attack on southern Israel have spiraled into a string of Israeli operations by land and air over Lebanon and direct attacks by Iran onto Israeli military installations.
Iran warned Israel on Tuesday against any attacks on the Islamic Republic, a week after Tehran fired a barrage of missiles on it, putting the Middle East on edge.
Any attack on Iran's infrastructure will be met with retaliation, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said, warning Israel against attacks on his country.
Araqchi will visit Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East starting on Tuesday to discuss regional issues and work on stopping Israel's "crimes" in Gaza and Lebanon, Iran's ISNA news agency reported.
"Our dialogue continues in regards to the developments in the region to prevent the shameless crimes of the Zionist regime (Israel) in Lebanon in continuation of the crimes in Gaza," Araqchi said in a video carried by state media.
"Starting today, I'll start a trip to the region, to Riyadh and other capitals in the region, and we will strive to have a collective movement from the countries of the region to stop the brutal attacks in Lebanon," Araqchi said.
In Lebanon, the Israeli military piled more pressure on Lebanon's Hezbollah, saying it was conducting "limited, localized, targeted operations" in Lebanon's southwest after announcing such operations for the southeast border area.
Israel's military struck Beirut's southern suburbs overnight and said it killed a senior Hezbollah responsible for the group's budgeting and logistics.
If confirmed, the death of Suhail Hussein Husseini would be the latest in a string of Israel's assassinations of leaders and commanders of Hezbollah and its ally Hamas.
Flame and smoke rise from an Israeli air strike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, October 7, 2024. /CFP
The United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon and the head of the UN's peacekeeping mission in the country said on Tuesday that their repeated appeals for restraint had "gone unheeded" in the year since the exchanges of fire began between Hezbollah and Israel.
"Today, one year later, the near-daily exchanges of fire have escalated into a relentless military campaign whose humanitarian impact is nothing short of catastrophic," they said in a joint statement.
The attacks have raised fears that the U.S., Israel's closest ally, and the Islamic Republic of Iran would be sucked into a full-blown conflict in the oil-producing Middle East.
Tension between arch-foes Iran and Israel is running high after years of shadow war and assassinations have turned into confrontations that have put the region on edge.
Israel has been weighing options to respond to Tehran's ballistic missile attack last week, carried out in response to Israel's military action in Lebanon.
U.S. news website Axios cited Israeli officials as saying Iran's oil facilities could be hit, which would be a serious escalation that could drive up global oil prices.
Israeli air strikes have displaced 1.2 million people in Lebanon, and Israel's intensified bombing campaign has many Lebanese worried that their country will experience the vast scale of destruction wrought on Gaza by Israel.
About 2,000 Lebanese have been killed since Hezbollah began firing at Israel a year ago in solidarity with Hamas, most killed in the past few weeks.
(With input from Reuters)