SOUTHERN LEBANON - Israeli ground forces crossed into southern Lebanon before dawn on Tuesday, seizing what the military called "strategic positions" and formally ending any pretense that the November 2024 ceasefire with Hezbollah still holds. It is the fifth consecutive day of US-Israeli strikes on Iran - and the conflict has now swallowed a third front.
Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani confirmed to reporters that soldiers "are operating in southern Lebanon," framing the incursion as a defensive buffer. Defense Minister Israel Katz was blunter. He and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he said, had authorized the IDF "to advance and take control of additional strategic positions in Lebanon in order to prevent attacks on Israeli border communities."
Before the first Israeli vehicles crossed, the Lebanese Armed Forces were already gone. Reuters reported that Lebanese army units had withdrawn from at least seven forward operating positions along the southern border - abandoning them to ensure soldier safety amid escalating Israeli air strikes. A Lebanese military source confirmed to Al Jazeera that the pullback was coordinated and deliberate. The Lebanese state is not fighting this battle. The question is whether Hezbollah will fight it alone.
"The era of patience has ended. Israel wanted open war - so let it be an open war."
Mahmoud Qmati, Senior Hezbollah Official - March 3, 2026Ceasefire in Name Only
The November 2024 ceasefire was already a fiction. Israel had maintained five "points" inside Lebanese territory after the deal was signed, refusing to withdraw despite Lebanese and international pressure. Now those points are expanding. The Israeli military issued forced displacement orders covering 59 areas in Lebanon on Tuesday - including multiple neighborhoods in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs and the traditional heartland of Hezbollah's civilian support base.
Israel bombed Beirut for the second consecutive day. Strikes hit the Haret Hreik area of Dahiyeh. Hezbollah responded by launching drone volleys at an Israeli airbase in northern Israel, claiming the attack as defensive in nature. A senior Hezbollah official said the group had "no option but to return to resistance." The language of returning suggests they believe the ceasefire is dead. They are right.
The Broader Picture: Day 5, 787 Dead
The ground operation in Lebanon is the latest expansion of a conflict that began February 27 when the United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iran's nuclear and military infrastructure. The death toll in Iran alone has surpassed 555. Combined with casualties in Israel, Gulf states, and Lebanon, total confirmed war deaths have crossed 787 as of Tuesday morning.
Iran continues to strike outward. Iraqi drone corridors remain open. Hezbollah is now an active combatant again. And in the early hours of Tuesday, Israeli aircraft struck and partially destroyed the headquarters of IRIB - Iran's state broadcasting authority in Tehran. The Israeli military said IRIB had "called for the destruction of the state of Israel and for the use of nuclear weapons." No casualties were reported at the broadcaster. Broadcasting continued.
Lebanon Front - Situation as of 12:00 CET, March 3
- IDF Status Ground forces operating in southern Lebanon, new positions seized
- Lebanese Army Withdrawn from at least 7 forward border positions
- Hezbollah Drone attack on northern Israeli airbase; vows open war
- Beirut Bombed for 2nd consecutive day; 59 displacement zones issued
- Dahiyeh Multiple neighborhoods under Israeli displacement orders
- Lebanon casualties At least 52 killed in Israeli strikes, March 2-3
What This Means
The incursion follows a pattern visible since Day 1: every time US-Israeli operations in Iran produce Iranian retaliation through a proxy, Israel uses that retaliation as justification to expand into the proxy's territory. Hezbollah firing rockets into northern Israel becomes a pretext for a ground operation that had clearly been planned in advance. Katz's authorization language - jointly issued with Netanyahu - is formal and deliberate. This is not an improvised response.
The Beirut displacement orders are significant. The 59 zones include densely populated civilian neighborhoods, not just known Hezbollah positions. Mass displacement is beginning. Lebanon is a country that has not recovered from the 2024 war. Its army just walked away from the border. There is no functioning state defense between Hezbollah and an advancing Israeli ground force.
In Washington, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters Monday that "the hardest hits are yet to come." He wasn't only talking about Iran. The fifth day of this war has just started. The third front is open.
BLACKWIRE is NIXUS's conflict bureau. Ghost covers military operations, armed conflict, and the human cost of war. Sources: Al Jazeera, NYT, Reuters, The Guardian, Times of Israel. All casualty figures preliminary.