The Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday it had deployed troops deeper into southern Lebanon, beyond the five posts it currently holds, “as part of an enhanced forward defense posture” amid attacks by the Hezbollah terror group.

The expanded deployment came after Iran-backed Hezbollah began launching rockets and drones at northern Israel early Monday in response to Israel’s killing of the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader.

Israel has retaliated with an intensive bombing campaign. The terror group fired more rockets and drones overnight and Tuesday morning.

“To prevent the possibility of direct fire at Israeli communities, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I have authorized the IDF to advance and hold additional dominant terrain in Lebanon and defend the border communities from there,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.

“The IDF continues to operate forcefully against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. The terrorist organization is paying and will pay a heavy price for firing at Israel,” he added.

Soldiers of the 91st “Galilee” Regional Division were “positioned at several points near the border area as part of an enhanced forward defense posture,” the army said.

The army said it was “working to create an additional layer of security for residents of northern Israel.”

“Northern Command has moved forward, taken control of the dominating terrain, and is creating a buffer, as we promised, between our residents and any threat,” IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said at a press conference.

In light of the IDF’s expanded operations, the Lebanese army redeployed soldiers from several recently established border positions on Tuesday, a military source told AFP, citing Jerusalem’s “escalation.”

The troops “numbering in total eight to nine soldiers at each point, were redeployed to their bases because of the danger to their safety,” the Lebanese military said.

IAF launches ‘extensive’ airstrikes on Hezbollah in Beirut

Overnight and on Tuesday morning, the Israeli Air Force carried out an “extensive” wave of strikes against Hezbollah military assets in Beirut, the military said.

According to the IDF, the overnight and morning strikes hit weapons depots, command centers, and “satellite communications” equipment belonging to Hezbollah’s intelligence division in Lebanon’s capital.

“Communication sites used by the Hezbollah terror organization were struck, which the organization used to carry out terror activities, collect intelligence, and also for propaganda purposes,” the IDF said.

צה"ל השלים גל תקיפה במרכזי הכובד בביירות Advertisement if(typeof rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner != "function" || !rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner("#336x280_Middle_2")){ window.tude = window.tude || { cmd: [] }; tude.cmd.push(function() { if(navigator.userAgent.indexOf("rgbmedia-app") > -1){ tude.setDeviceType("mobile"); } tude.refreshAdsViaDivMappings([ { divId: '336x280_Middle_2', baseDivId: '336x280_Middle_2', } ]); }); } הותקפו רכיבי תקשורת במתקני תעמולה ששימשו את מטה המודיעין של חיזבאללה צה"ל השלים לפני זמן קצר, גל תקיפות לעבר מפקדות, מחסני אמצעי לחימה, ורכיבי תקשורת לווינית של מטה המודיעין של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב ביירות ששומשו בכסות אזרחית.… pic.twitter.com/2tzRL1CJRY — צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) March 3, 2026

צה"ל השלים גל תקיפה במרכזי הכובד בביירות

הותקפו רכיבי תקשורת במתקני תעמולה ששימשו את מטה המודיעין של חיזבאללה

צה"ל השלים לפני זמן קצר, גל תקיפות לעבר מפקדות, מחסני אמצעי לחימה, ורכיבי תקשורת לווינית של מטה המודיעין של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב ביירות ששומשו בכסות אזרחית.… pic.twitter.com/2tzRL1CJRY

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) March 3, 2026

Among the targets were the studios of Hezbollah-owned TV news channel Al-Manar and radio station Al-Nour, according to Lebanese media.

Ahead of the strikes, the IDF issued evacuation warnings for the buildings, “to mitigate harm to civilians,” it said.

In addition, the IDF said Tuesday it had struck over 160 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon over the past day, including members of the terror group.

The targets in south Lebanon included Hezbollah operatives and members of the group’s elite Radwan Force, as well as command centers used to advance attacks on Israel, the military said.

Lebanese media reported fresh strikes in south Lebanon on Tuesday afternoon, as the IDF reiterated its warning to dozens of villages in the area to evacuate.

The IDF also announced that a previous Israeli Navy strike in Beirut on Monday had killed Reza Khazaei, a top member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ extraterritorial Quds Force who worked with Hezbollah.

The military said Khazaei served as chief of staff at the Quds Force’s Lebanon Corps, and led efforts to assist Hezbollah with rebuilding its offensive capabilities after a devastating war with Israel in 2023-2024.

“As part of his role, Khazaei served as the right-hand man of the corps commander and was considered a key figure in Hezbollah’s force buildup,” the IDF said. The military said he was responsible for liaising between Hezbollah and Iran.

One hurt in Hezbollah drone, rocket attacks

Hezbollah fired more than a dozen rockets and several drones at Israel on Tuesday, the IDF said in the late morning.

One person was lightly injured by a rocket impact that hit a home in a community in the Galilee Panhandle, medics said.

Magen David Adom said it took a 64-year-old man to a hospital after he was hit by glass shards. Three others were also treated for acute anxiety, according to MDA.

Some rockets launched from Lebanon on Tuesday were intercepted by air defenses, while others were allowed to hit open areas, “according to protocol,” the IDF said.

Several drones launched by Hezbollah were also shot down, the military said.

Hezbollah took responsibility for launching drones at Israel overnight, claiming to have targeted an Israeli air traffic control base on Mount Meron and the Ramat David Airbase. It also claimed to have fired rockets at an IDF base in the Golan Heights in the early morning.

Beirut: Hezbollah military ban is ‘final decision’

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun stressed on Tuesday that Beirut’s decision to ban Hezbollah’s military activity is “a sovereign and final decision,” a day after Prime Minister Nawaf Salam declared the group’s military operations “illegal acts” following its attacks on Israel.

“The decision taken by the Council of Ministers yesterday, preserving the Lebanese state’s sole right to control decisions of war and peace and banning military and security activities outside the law is a sovereign and final decision from which there is no turning back,” Aoun told the Quintet Committee, made of representatives from the United States, France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt, according to the MTV Lebanese news site.

“The Council of Ministers has entrusted the army and security forces with implementing the decision across all Lebanese regions,” Aoun added.

Beyond the statements, it is not clear what action Lebanon has taken on the ground in recent days to rein in the terror group’s attacks.

Noam Lehmann and agencies contributed to this report.

Are you relying on The Times of Israel for accurate and timely coverage of the Iran war right now? If so, please join The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6/month, you will:

Support our independent journalists who are working around the clock under difficult conditions to cover this conflict;

Read ToI with a clear, ads-free experience on our site, apps and emails; and

Gain access to exclusive content shared only with the ToI Community, including weekly letters from founding editor David Horovitz.

We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.

You clearly find our careful reporting of the Iran war valuable, at a time when facts are often distorted and news coverage often lacks context.

Your support is essential to continue our work. We want to continue delivering the professional journalism you value, even as the demands on our newsroom have grown dramatically during this ongoing conflict.

So today, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6 a month you'll become our partners while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.

Thank you,David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel

1 IDF strike kills Hezbollah intel chief; Lebanon to ban terror group’s military activity

2 AnalysisSinking Iran’s proxies, Sinwar’s Al-Aqsa Flood left Khamenei high and dry

3 Rubio cites planned Israeli attack as a key reason US launched strikes against Iran

4 Echoes of ancient PersiaWhat is the biblical holiday of Purim, and why do Israelis link it to Khamenei’s death?

5 ‘Depart now’: US tells its citizens to urgently leave almost all Mideast countries, including Israel

6 France ready to ‘take part’ in defense of Gulf countries and Jordan against Iran

7 Hours after Trump announced ban on Claude AI, US military used it in Iran strikes — reports

8 As war widens, Trump says US has yet to launch largest strikes on Iran

2026 US-Israel war with Iran

IAF Israeli Air Force

IDF Israel Defense Forces

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps IRGC

© The Times of Israel