Battles in south Lebanon as ground invasion looms

Warplanes resumed strikes on targets across Lebanon today as Israel warned hundreds of thousands of people to flee the south “immediately”, preparing for a likely ground invasion to set up a deep buffer zone in southern Lebanon.

Israel appeared to have decided that a large-scale incursion across the border was the only way to push Hezbollah back after nine days of the heaviest bombardment of Lebanon in 24 years failed to do so.