TOP OF THE AGENDA

Israel conducts 'extensive air strikes' in Lebanon

People in southern Lebanon have received text and phone messages telling them to leave villages "used by Hezbollah". Credit: Reuters

Cross-border attacks between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon have been intensifying over the weekend and on Monday, with both sides inching closer to an all-out war. A spokesperson for the Israeli military, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, has warned civilians in southern Lebanon to move away from areas used by the Iran-backed group, which has been launching 150 rockets into Israel over the weekend, according to Israeli officials. The fear in Lebanon is that this is "the prelude of a wider offensive that could include a ground invasion of southern Lebanon", writes Hugo Bachega from Beirut. As things stand, Israeli Defense Forces are "currently focusing on Israel's aerial campaign only", a senior official said in a background briefing. Deadly strikes and explosions of communication devices have weakened Hezbollah last week, but the group remains defiant. "We have entered a new phase,” its number two Naim Qassem said at the funeral of top commanders killed by a strike on Beirut on Friday - "The title of which is the open-ended battle of reckoning."

‌

• The latest: One person has been killed in an Israeli strike on northeastern Lebanon, the country's health ministry said. Our live page brings you all the updates.

‌

• International reaction: US President Joe Biden said Washington would do "everything we can to keep a wider war from breaking out", as a UN official warns of "imminent catastrophe".

‌

• The timeline: Here's a quick refresher on how tensions have escalated since Tuesday.

WORLD HEADLINES

• Sri Lanka: Left-leaning politician Anura Kumara Dissanayake is the island state's new president - an expected but marked turn to the left in Sri Lankan politics. 

• War in Ukraine: President Volodymyr Zelensky is in the US, where he is expected to present a "plan for victory" in his country's war with Russia to his counterpart Joe Biden.

• German politics: Chancellor Olaf Scholz appears to have narrowly dodged humiliation after exit polls suggested his centre-left party has held off the far right in his home state Brandenburg.

• In the occupied West Bank: The Israeli military ordered news broadcaster Al Jazeera to shut its office in Ramallah for an initial period of 45 days. The network filmed armed Israeli soldiers as they entered the building. 

• In-flight infighting: Cathay Pacific has banned a Hong Kong couple from its flights after their row with a mainland Chinese traveller over her reclining seat.

MORE BBC NEWSLETTERS

• Football Extra: Get all the latest news, insights and gossip from the Premier League, weekdays to your inbox. Subscribe.

• The Essential List: The best of the BBC, handpicked by our editors, in your inbox every Tuesday and Friday. Subscribe.

• In History: The past comes to life through the BBC's unique audio, video and written archive, each Thursday. Subscribe.