As the international community calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli military has started a ground operation against Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah vows to fight back and has responded with artillery bombardments of northern Israel.

On Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces said "The IDF began limited, localized and targeted ground raids" in southern Lebanon.

A military spokesperson said on social media that, "Heavy fighting is taking place in the South Lebanon region, where Hezbollah elements are exploiting the civilian environment and the population as human shields to launch attacks."
The spokesperson called on people in Lebanon not to move vehicles from the north to the Litani River region in the south.

Israeli media quoted a senior Israeli official as saying: "This is a limited ground operation in order to remove border threats. Our assumption is that this is not an action that will take a long time."

Hezbollah said on Tuesday it has targeted several places in northern Israel with shelling.

Earlier, Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem issued a statement, saying the group will continue to fight Israel and that it is ready to meet an Israeli ground offensive.

In 2006, Israel conducted a month-long large-scale ground offensive in southern Lebanon, after Hezbollah fighters captured Israeli soldiers in the border region.

Concerns are growing that the latest round of armed conflict in the region that broke out between Israel and Hamas in October last year, and has now extended from Gaza to Lebanon on an extensive-scale, could further intensify.