Lebanese state media reported Israeli strikes Sunday on branches of a Hezbollah-linked financial association, including near the country's only airport, after the Israeli military warned it would attack Al-Qard Al-Hassan's branches.
The strikes mark an expansion of the Israeli campaign against Iran-backed group Hezbollah after a year of cross-border exchanges that escalated in late September into a full-blown war.
Just a month ago, south Beirut's bustling streets were packed with traffic, families strolling about and youths in cafes, but now silence dominates the abandoned Hezbollah bastion, interrupted only by the sound of Israeli bombs.
Escalating Israeli attacks since late September, after nearly a year of low-intensity cross-border exchanges, have reduced much of the Lebanese capital's once densely-packed southern suburbs to rubble and sent many of its residents fleeing.
After a year of relentless war, Gaza's olive harvest is set to suffer, while in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian farmers fear to tend their groves due to settler attacks.
For generations, olive harvests have been central to Palestinian life and culture.
"We are happy that the olive season has started but we are afraid because we are in a state of war," said Rami Abu Asad, who owns a farm in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza.
Workers picking the olives by hand stay alert, listening for drones or warplanes that could bomb without warning.
With Iran-backed Hezbollah on the defensive after a series of heavy Israeli blows, the United States and Iran are locked in a showdown over Lebanon's future, analysts said.
Hezbollah, the most powerful regional force backed by Iran, which arms and finances it, has long held sway in Lebanon.
But the group's influence is now in question after Israel's assassination of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in a significant setback.
Israel said Monday it struck around 300 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon over 24 hours, ramping up its offensive to hit the group's finances, as the United States called for the war to end "as soon as possible".
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to begin a tour of the Middle East in Israel on Tuesday in a new push for an elusive ceasefire in the Gaza Strip after more than a year of war there and to contain the regional escalation.
Novak Djokovic implored long-time adversary Rafael Nadal to put off his planned retirement after defeating the Spaniard Saturday in what was likely to be the final chapter of their "amazing rivalry".
"Don't leave tennis, man," Djokovic said in an on-court interview after beating Nadal in straight sets 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at the "Six Kings Slam" exhibition in Saudi Arabia.
He added that their battles over the years had been "very intense" and told Nadal he hoped they could one day "sit on a beach somewhere" and have a drink.
Hassan Alik, fleeing escalating violence in the Israel-Hezbollah war, left Lebanon on Saturday aboard a ship to avoid Beirut's airport, which he feared "could be bombed" at any moment.
The 31-year-old travelled to the northern port of Tripoli, on Lebanon's Mediterranean coast, which has so far been spared Israeli bombardment in a month of intense fighting across much of the tiny country.
Iraq's Kurdistan voted on Sunday to elect a new parliament for the autonomous oil-rich region, where voters expressed concern over economic struggles and disenchantment with the political elite.
Iraqi Kurdistan presents itself as a relative oasis of stability in the turbulent Middle East, attracting foreign investors due to its close ties with the United States and Europe.
G7 defence ministers on Saturday met against the backdrop of multiple ongoing military conflicts, expressing concern over the escalation in Lebanon while pledging "unwavering support" for Ukraine.
Italy, holding the rotating presidency of the Group of Seven countries, organised the body's first ministerial meeting dedicated to defence, staged in the southern city of Naples that is home to a NATO base.
At the top of the agenda was Russia's war against Ukraine, now in its third year.
Awaiting Israel's promised retaliation for a missile attack earlier this month, Iran has balanced threats of a fierce response to any Israeli attack with diplomatic efforts to prevent escalation into all-out regional war.
Iran launched 200 missiles at its arch-foe on October 1 in response to an Israeli strike that killed Iranian general Abbas Nilforoushan and Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut late last month.
The missile barrage was also in retaliation for Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Tehran in July in an attack widely blamed on Israel.
