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Hundreds flee as Israel raids Hezbollah strongholds

Hezbollah fires a barrage of missiles at military positions in Tel Aviv

Israel said commando and paratroop units launched raids into Lebanon on Tuesday as part of a "limited" invasion, while Iran-backed Hezbollah said it had fired a barrage of missiles into Israel, including at its spy agency near Tel Aviv.

The raids by Israeli troops in southern Lebanon that began overnight were limited and went only a short distance over the border, an Israeli security official said on Tuesday, adding that no direct clashes with Hezbollah fighters were reported.

The latest escalation has caused international alarm with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy saying Israel should avoid a repeat of the past and not get "bogged down in a quagmire" in Lebanon amid fears the conflict will engulf the wider region.

The Israeli raids follow intense airstrikes that have devastated the Hezbollah's leadership, including assassinating its chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut last week.

Israel also carried out two attacks on Beirut on Tuesday afternoon, striking the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital and the city's southern entrance, two security sources said.

A high-rise building was hit in the city's Jnah area, the sources said. The Israeli military said it was targeting the Lebanese capital and had carried out a "precise strike."

Israel's military said its ground raids are aimed at Hezbollah strongholds along the border that threaten Israel and it is not a war against the Lebanese people.

The military said on Tuesday it was calling up four additional reserve brigades for operational missions on the northern border with Lebanon.

Residents in southern Lebanon fled on Monday and Tuesday as Israeli strikes drew nearer, local sources said.

At least 600 people were seeking refuge in a monastery on the southern Lebanon border after their Christian village of Ain Ebl received a warning from the Israeli military, local residents said.

An Israeli military spokesman warned residents of Ain Ebl and at least 20 other towns to evacuate their homes immediately because the military would attack houses that armed group Hezbollah was using.

A Hezbollah spokesperson said on Tuesday that the Israeli military had not entered Lebanese territory but that Hezbollah would be ready to fight them in direct clashes if they did.

Two Lebanese security sources said that Israeli units had crossed into Lebanon overnight for reconnaissance and probing operations.

Hezbollah said in a statement it had fired the "Fadi 4" at military positions in the suburbs of Tel Aviv, Israel's commercial capital. It is the fourth iteration of a series which have progressively bigger payloads and longer ranges that Hezbollah has begun to use in recent weeks.

The group also said it fired missiles at the headquarters of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, blamed for assassinations of Hezbollah commanders and leaders, and at a military intelligence unit on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

Israel's ambulance service said two people had been wounded by shrapnel from the barrage of missiles. Traffic was also affected by part of a missile that fell onto a highway near the town of Kfar Qasim east of Tel Aviv.

Lebanon is facing one of the most dangerous stages in its history, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Tuesday during a meeting with UN organisations and ambassadors of donor countries, in which they made a joint appeal for more than $400 million in aid to cope with surging hostilities.