The Iran-backed group Hezbollah began firing rockets and drones into northern Israel on March 2, prompting large-scale Israeli military operations in Lebanon and opening a second active front in a week already defined by war with Tehran.
The escalation followed directly from the February 28 strikes on Iran. Israeli officials framed the northern campaign as an effort to push Hezbollah's launch infrastructure beyond rocket range of Israeli population centers; Lebanese officials reported strikes across the south and the Bekaa Valley.
A Region on Edge
Israeli airspace remained disrupted from the war's opening days, with Ben Gurion Airport operating on a reduced schedule as Iranian retaliatory missiles and Hezbollah fire crossed from two directions.
Diplomats have floated a separation of the fronts, but each side now links its leverage in Lebanon to the broader war. For residents of northern Israel and southern Lebanon, the overlap between the two conflicts has turned a long-simmering border into an active battlefield.
