After meeting with the chief of staff of the French military in ⁠Beirut, Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun asked Macron to intervene to "prevent ⁠the targeting of the southern suburbs following threats by the Israeli army against its residents," the Lebanese presidency said in a separate statement.

Days into its offensive against Hezbollah, Israel is massing armored vehicles near the Lebanese border for a potentially much larger ground incursion.

By Laila Bassam BEIRUT, March 5 (Reuters) - Hezbollah has deployed elite fighters to confront Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, sending them back into the border region from which they withdrew after a war in 2024,

Lebanon's Hezbollah warned Israeli residents to evacuate towns within 5 km (3.11 miles) of the border in a message posted on its Telegram channel in Hebrew early on Friday.

Israel said it deployed more forces in Lebanon to protect its people, but its military chief said the goal is more ambitious: to disarm Hezbollah. Israel made plans for the incursion well in advance.

Israel's military chief orders troops to expand their control in southern Lebanon amidst intensifying combat, as Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich warns that Beirut's suburbs could soon resemble Khan Younis in Gaza.

The war has killed more than 1,000 people in Iran, more than 50 in Lebanon, and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials in those countries. The United Nations says 100,000 people fled the Iranian capital in the war's first two days alone.

Israel carried out heavy air strikes on Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut ⁠and ⁠started a "broad-scale" wave of attacks against infrastructure in Tehran on Friday, ⁠while Iran said it targeted the heart of Tel Aviv with missiles.