Fibre-optic drones have become Hezbollah's primary weapon against Israeli soldiers and civilians, along both sides of the Lebanese border, and are now seen as the biggest threat there, as fighting continues six weeks into a supposed ceasefire. One Israeli soldier was killed and two others injured in a drone attack near the Israeli border community of Shomera on Wednesday. Of the 11 Israeli soldiers and one civilian defence contractor killed since the ceasefire came into force, eight have been killed by fibre-optic drones. Most of the attacks have targeted Israeli forces, which are currently occupying a large area of southern Lebanon, but Hezbollah is also increasingly attacking Israeli communities across the border, according to the Alma Research Center, an Israeli think tank which monitors the conflict. It has recorded more than 100 drone attacks against communities inside Israel since the ceasefire began in April.

The Israeli military has said it is carrying out air strikes on Hezbollah targets in Tyre in southern Lebanon, after ordering the evacuation of the entire city. The military told residents that it was compelled to act forcefully in Tyre because the Iran-backed armed group was violating a US-brokered ceasefire that began five weeks ago. Earlier on Wednesday, Lebanese media reported a wave of Israeli strikes across the south and the eastern Bekaa Valley, with four people killed in the towns of Choukine and Nabatieh. Hezbollah, which has itself accused Israel of breaching the ceasefire, said it was battling Israeli troops north of the Litani river, about 30km (19 miles) from the border. It came a day after Israel's prime minister announced an expansion of its ground operation following Hezbollah drone attacks on troops occupying part of southern Lebanon and on civilians in northern Israel.

Israel has launched an intensive wave of strikes across swathes of southern and eastern Lebanon, after vowing to step up its military action against Hezbollah. The Israeli military said it hit more than 100 Hezbollah infrastructure sites and fighters during what was one of the heaviest nights of bombardment since a US-brokered ceasefire began in mid-April. Strikes in the Bekaa Valley village of Mashghara killed 11 people, including two children, Lebanon's health ministry said. The military said it hit sites where terrorist activity was identified. It came after Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had given the instruction to press the pedal even harder in targeting Hezbollah.

The Israeli military says it has begun a wave of strikes across Lebanon following an announcement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that his country will intensify its attacks on Hezbollah. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had launched strikes against Hezbollah sites in the Bekaa Valley in the east of Lebanon and additional areas across the country. It followed a video statement on Monday evening in which Netanyahu said Israel was at war with Hezbollah and that he had given the military instructions to deal them a crushing blow. Earlier this month Lebanon and Israel agreed to extend a 45-day ceasefire, though some fighting has continued. There will be fears in Beirut that these latest Israeli attacks will widen to include Lebanon's capital city.

Israeli air strikes have killed at least 19 people in southern Lebanon, the country's health ministry has said. Ten of them, including three children and three women, were killed in a single attack that hit a house in the town of Deir Qanoun, the ministry said. Lebanon was drawn into the war on 2 March, when the Iran-backed armed Shia Islamist group Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran's supreme leader. The latest deaths less than a week after the US said that Lebanon and Israel had agreed to extend a ceasefire by 45 days, with the two sides set to resume talks at the beginning of June. Despite the extension, both Israel and Hezbollah have continued to exchange fire, especially in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah has increased its use of small first-person view (FPV) drones to attack Israel, including systems controlled by fibre-optic cables to evade sophisticated defences. BBC Verify has geolocated 35 videos shared by the Lebanese armed group since 26 March which show strikes on Israeli soldiers, armoured vehicles and air defence systems in southern Lebanon and northern Israel. Experts told BBC Verify the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has so far been unable to develop any effective countermeasures, as the small drones can easily bypass detection systems. The drones can also be made from commercially available and 3D-printed components - and are cheap compared to the high-value targets they can destroy, experts also said. The use of cheap FPV drones became widespread during the Russia-Ukraine war and has changed modern warfare.

At least nine people, including two children, were killed in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon on Thursday, the health ministry said, as violence continues despite a ceasefire now in its second week. The strikes - which Israel said were targeting Hezbollah infrastructure - also wounded 23 people, among them eight children and seven women, the ministry said. Separately, Hezbollah said it had carried out attacks on Israeli forces in the south, including a drone strike targeting soldiers in the Bint Jbeil district. The violence comes as Israel presses ahead with military operations in Lebanon despite the ceasefire announced on 16 April, after direct talks between Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors in Washington. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun criticised what he described as continuing Israeli violations of the truce, saying strikes and demolitions of homes and places of worship were ongoing despite the ceasefire.

Why is Israel still in southern Lebanon? A war to shape Lebanon's future How Hezbollah's fibre optic drones test Israel's sophisticated radar system In the skies over the Lebanese town of Taybeh, Israel's multibillion-dollar defence systems were rendered useless by a spool of cable, according to a report by the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth (Ynet). As an Israeli medical evacuation helicopter rushed to rescue soldiers wounded in a drone attack, another unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) hurtled towards them. With their electronic countermeasures failing, soldiers on the ground were forced to point their rifles at the sky, firing at the incoming threat before it detonated just metres away. The chaotic scene underscores a lethal new reality in the escalating conflict.

Lebanon's Ministry of Health has said Israeli strikes on the country on Sunday killed 14 people, including two children and two women, and injured 37. An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson had earlier issued evacuation warnings for several villages in southern Lebanon, writing that residents must evacuate immediately, and that staying would be endangering their life. The IDF later said it had carried out artillery and aerial strikes targeting Hezbollah operatives and sites in southern Lebanon that it claims were used to advance attacks against IDF soldiers. It also said a 19-year-old IDF soldier had been killed and six others injured by a Hezbollah drone attack in Lebanon. Separately, Hezbollah launched three drones towards Israel, the IDF reported, which it said were intercepted by Israel's air force before they crossed the border.

Israeli strikes have killed two people in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese health ministry, in the latest violation of a ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah. In a statement on Friday, the Ministry of Public Health said an "Israeli enemy strike" on a vehicle in Mansuri in southern Lebanon had killed one person. Israel said the victim of that attack was a Hezbollah member who it alleged "took part in attempts to reestablish Hezbollah's infrastructure in the Zawtar al-Sharqiyah area". The Israeli military on Thursday also carried out several strikes in eastern Lebanon's Bekaa region, north of the Litani River, after issuing warnings to evacuate. United Nations peacekeepers deployed in southern Lebanon on Friday sent a stop-fire request to the Israeli army after a drone "dropped a grenade" on its troops.