The death toll from Israel’s widening military campaign in Lebanon and Iran rose again on Tuesday. New strikes in southern Lebanon wounded five Lebanese soldiers.
Israeli officials also said they carried out new attacks on senior Iranian security figures. The latest violence added to growing fears that the conflict is becoming a wider regional war with a rising cost for civilians.
In Lebanon, the army said an Israeli strike in Nabatieh wounded five troops, two of them critically, while they were travelling in a car and on a motorcycle.
The incident happened as Israel kept up operations against Hezbollah despite a ceasefire agreed in November 2024. Lebanese authorities say the current round of Israeli attacks has killed more than 880 people and displaced more than one million.
The United Nations says the speed and scale of the displacement have pushed the country deeper into a humanitarian crisis.
Pressure has also grown inside Iran. Israeli officials said Ali Larijani, one of Iran’s top security figures, was targeted in a new wave of strikes, although his fate remained unclear and Iran had not confirmed the claim.
The Associated Press separately reported that Israel said it had killed the head of Iran’s Basij force, Gholam Reza Soleimani, as part of the same escalation.
The wider war in Iran, which the World Health Organization says has already killed more than 1,300 people and injured more than 7,000, is now facing closer scrutiny over harm to civilians.
A UN fact finding mission said it was investigating a deadly strike on an Iranian girls’ school after credible reports backed Iranian casualty figures from the attack.
Western governments are warning that the conflict could get worse quickly. Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom have warned against a major Israeli ground offensive in Lebanon, saying it could cause devastating humanitarian consequences and drag out the fighting.
The EU has also announced fresh humanitarian aid for the region as fears grow that the wars in Lebanon and Iran are becoming more closely linked, with civilians paying the highest price.
