Israel launches ground invasion of Lebanon and Trump warns 'hardest hits were yet to come'

Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz said the IDF will advance on the ground and seize strategic sites in Lebanon to “prevent fire on Israeli border communities".

"The IDF continues to operate forcefully against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. The terrorist organisation is paying - and will continue to pay - a heavy price for its fire toward Israel,” he said.

An IDF spokesman said the troops had been sent into southern Lebanon “as part of an enhanced forward defence posture”.

It said the move was not part of a large-scale ground invasion but was a “tactical measure on the border”.

“The IDF is working to create an additional layer of security for residents of northern Israel,” the spokesman said.

Israel stepped up its bombing campaign against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Sunday after launching the joint attack on Iran with the United States.

Israel says it is preparing for several days of fighting on the ground in Lebanon.

“We have begun an offensive campaign against Hezbollah. We are not just on the defensive, now we go on the offence,” Eyal Zamir, the IDF’s chief of staff said.

“We need to prepare for several days of fighting, many. We need strong defensive readiness and continuous offensive preparedness, in waves.”

Additional troops and air defences have been sent to Israel’s northern border with Lebanon.

“We have positioned soldiers on the border area in additional strategic points to defend civilians from Hezbollah attacking them,” an IDF spokesman said on Tuesday morning.

“Our soldiers are operating in southern Lebanon in a few locations as part of an enhanced presence.”

A spokesperson said the deployment is part of a broader effort to increase security for residents in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon. It has also beefed up troops and air defences in the area.

The army said there are no plans to evacuate Israeli residents from border areas.

Saudi Arabia's Defence Ministry said early on Tuesday that the embassy in Riyadh came under attack from two drones, which caused a "limited fire" and minor damage.

The embassy confirmed it had come under attack and urged Americans to avoid the building, posting on X: "Avoid the Embassy until further notice due to an attack on the facility."

In a post on X, the US Mission to Saudi Arabia asked American citizens in Jeddah, Riyadh and Dhahran to immediately shelter in place.

The US Embassy in Kuwait was targeted on Monday in an attack and the State Department on Tuesday ordered the evacuation of non-emergency personnel and family in Bahrain and Jordan, saying the decision came "due to safety risks".

Earlier, US Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Mora Namdar posted on X that Americans in countries including Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Israel, should "DEPART NOW" using any available commercial transportation.

Sirens sounded in Bahrain early on Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said as it called for people to head to the nearest safe place.

Iranian drones struck an Australian military facility in the United Arab Emirates but there were no injuries, Australia's defence minister Richard Marles said on Tuesday.

At least 555 people have been killed in Iran by the US-Israeli campaign, the Iranian Red Crescent Society said, and more than 130 cities across the country have come under attack. In Israel, 11 people have been killed, with 31 in Lebanon, according to authorities.

The US military announced on Monday that two previously unaccounted for service members were confirmed dead, bringing the total American casualties during the operations against Iran up to six.

Mr Trump said on Monday that the operation was "substantially ahead of schedule" and would take four to five weeks, but added: "We have capability to go far longer than that."

He said US forces were determined to destroy Iran's missile capabilities, wipe out its naval capacity, stop the country from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ensure that Iran cannot continue to support allied groups such as Lebanon's

Hezbollah, which fired missiles at Israel, drawing retaliatory airstrikes.

"This was our last, best chance to strike, what we're doing right now, and eliminate the intolerable threats posed by this sick and sinister regime," Mr Trump said.

Defence secretary Pete Hegseth insisted "this is not endless" while US secretary of state Marco Rubio said regime change in Iran was not the objective of the attacks.

"We would love for there to be an Iran that's not governed by radical Shia clerics," he said. "That's not the objective.

"The objectives of this operation are to destroy their ballistic missile capability and make sure they can't rebuild it, and make sure that they can't hide behind that to have a nuclear programme."

The Trump administration and its allies in Congress presented a shifting new justification for the attack on Iran on Monday, with House Speaker Mike Johnson suggesting the White House believed Israel was determined to act on its own, leaving the president with a "very difficult decision".

Speaking late on Monday after a classified briefing at the Capitol, Mr Johnson said the attack on Iran was a "defensive operation" because Israel was ready to act against Iran, "with or without American support", and Mr Trump and his team determined that Iran would immediately retaliate against US personnel and assets.

"The commander in chief has said this is going to be an operation that is short in duration," Mr Johnson said. "We certainly hope that's true."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News that Iran was rebuilding "new sites, new places" that would make "their ballistic missile programme and their atomic bomb program immune within months".

He did not offer evidence to support his claim.

Iran's foreign minister Abbas Aragchi said on Tuesday the US had entered "a war of choice on behalf of Israel".

After Mr Trump called on Iranians to seize control of their country, Mr Araghchi wrote on X: "American people deserve better and should take back their country."

The chaos of the conflict became apparent when the US military said Kuwait had "mistakenly shot down" three American F-15E Strike Eagles while Iran was attacking with aircraft, ballistic missiles, and drones.

US Central Command said all six pilots ejected safely and are in a stable condition.

With world markets already rattled by the fighting, QatarEnergy said it would stop its production of liquefied natural gas, taking one of the world's top suppliers off the market.

It offered no timeline for restoring its production. European natural gas prices surged by 40% in response.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's Ras Tanura oil refinery came under attack from drones, with defences downing the incoming aircraft, a military spokesman told the state-run Saudi Press Agency.