Israel's military has initiated the evacuation of 28 communities along its northern border with Lebanon due to heightened tensions with Hezbollah militants.

The escalation was prompted by an attack from Lebanon, where anti-tank missiles struck a village and a military post, resulting in the deaths of an Israeli civilian and a soldier.

In response, the Israeli military launched strikes on Hezbollah military installations. It also accused Iran, Hezbollah's supporter, of orchestrating these attacks to divert Israel's focus from the Gaza war.

In return, Iran cautioned Israel about the potential for a regional conflict if it continued its retaliatory strikes against Gaza, which followed a deadly assault by Hamas earlier this month.

Hezbollah, Lebanon's most potent military force, possesses long-range rockets capable of reaching deep into Israeli territory. In 2006, it engaged in a month-long war with Israel.

During a visit to a community coordination center in the northern town of Shlomi, Israeli government minister Benny Gantz was asked if he believed another war with Hezbollah was on the horizon. He replied, "I hope not, but we are making all the necessary preparations."

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) declared on Monday that it was executing an emergency plan to evacuate all civilians residing within 2 km (1.2 miles) of the Lebanese border, providing them accommodation in state-funded guest houses. The evacuation was undertaken as a precaution to minimize harm to civilians and to grant the IDF the freedom to take necessary actions.

However, several border villages are already largely deserted, as residents did not wait for the official order and relocated their families to safer areas.

In many of these villages, only soldiers and members of local security teams remain. These communities are so close to the border that the fortified fence built by Israel is visible, along with Hezbollah observation posts on the opposite side.

There was intense fighting along the frontier on Sunday in multiple locations as the IDF and Hezbollah engaged in hostilities. Israel reported its first civilian death from a Hezbollah strike in the current violence, while an Israeli soldier was also killed in another missile attack.

The IDF carried out strikes targeting Hezbollah military infrastructure. Nine rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory, with five being intercepted, and the launch sites were hit in response.

Iran's foreign minister conveyed a message to Israel through intermediaries, warning that if Israel did not cease its Gaza operations, Iran could not merely remain an observer. He also cautioned that the United States would suffer significant consequences if the war's scope expanded.

The U.S. responded by dispatching a second aircraft carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean Sea as a deterrent against hostile actions directed at Israel and any potential efforts to escalate the conflict following Hamas's attack. Photo by Oren1973, Wikimedia commons.