BEIRUT (AP) — Israel sent troops into southern Lebanon on Tuesday and warned residents of more than 80 villages to evacuate as the Iran-backed militant Hezbollah group said it was ready for an “open war” with Israel in the wake of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

BEIRUT/JERUSALEM, March 9 (Reuters) - Hezbollah said on Monday its fighters clashed with Israeli troops in eastern Lebanon during an Israeli airborne raid overnight, in what would be the second such operation in the area in recent days,

Israeli strikes on eastern Lebanon, where Israeli forces carried out a commando operation, killed 41 people, the Lebanese health ministry said on Saturday. The area witnessed intense clashes and airstrikes overnight after an Israeli force landed there and clashed with local gunmen.

Israel warned Lebanon of a "disastrous" fallout if it did not rein in Iran-backed Hezbollah on Saturday, as it pounded the group's strongholds around the country with air strikes and mounted a deadly airborne raid in the east.

Israeli air and ground attacks on Lebanon killed at least 41 people and wounded 40 others, Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health said.

After a fierce ground fight between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah, the village of Nabi Sheet mourned its dead. “We are not here to bow,” said one villager. “We will not kneel.”

Israeli airstrikes on eastern Lebanon have killed eight Hezbollah members. Officials from the militant group say eight of their fighters were killed in the strike near the village of Rayak in eastern Lebanon,

By Laila Bassam BEIRUT, March 5 (Reuters) - Hezbollah has deployed elite fighters to confront Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, sending them back into the border region from which they withdrew after a war in 2024,

France will ⁠strengthen ⁠its cooperation with the ⁠Lebanese Armed Forces and provide armored transport ​vehicles as well as operational and logistical support, French President ‌Emmanuel Macron said on ‌Thursday,