An Israeli airstrike reduces a nine-story apartment building in Beirut’s southern suburb to a large mound of rubble. A man covered in dust flails lifelessly in the arms of a plainclothes rescuer. A corpse in a body bag is whizzed past parked ambulances on the back of a quad bike.

Such a war would wreak havoc in Lebanon and Israel, and might also drag Iran and the United States into direct confrontation. In doing so, it would also fulfill the apparent of the Hamas gunmen who murdered around 1,200 Israelis on October 7 in the hope that a heavy-handed Israeli response would draw in more groups across the region.

A former Lebanese Prime Minister criticises the militia in his own country

Israel has attacked Hezbollah in Lebanon every day for the past week — from commander assassinations to the destruction of missile launchers — in what officials say is an attempt to force the group to pull back from the border and stop its own rocket barrage.

Smoke billows over southern Lebanon following Israeli strikes, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as pictured from Marjayoun, near the border with Israel, September 23,

Israel struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon and the Iran-backed group attacked military facilities in northern Israel.

The Israeli military launched dozens more airstrikes following one of the worst bouts of bloodshed between Israel and Hezbollah since their monthlong conflict in 2006.