A dramatic escalation in Middle East tensions is unfolding after a reported joint US-Israel strike targeting Iran’s leadership, triggering a chain reaction of military operations across the region. Israeli forces have expanded operations into Beirut’s southern suburbs, issuing urgent evacuation warnings that sparked mass panic and traffic gridlock as thousands of civilians attempted to flee. Reports from Lebanese authorities say more than 120 people have been killed, over 680 injured and nearly 90,000 displaced since the violence intensified earlier this week. WATCH

Israeli airstrikes have killed a senior Hamas official in Lebanon while a separate strike in Iraq killed a commander from the Iran-backed militia Kataeb Hezbollah. Lebanese state media reported that the Hamas figure was killed in a targeted drone strike, marking the first reported assassination of a Hamas member since the regional war expanded following the US-Israel strikes on Iran. At the same time, the Tehran-backed militia Kataeb Hezbollah confirmed that one of its commanders was killed in a strike near its base in southern Iraq. The group blamed the attack on Israel and the United States.