The latest strike marks another escalation in the widening confrontation involving Iran, Israel and regional armed groups, which has expanded across several fronts in recent days.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah said its fighters were involved in “direct clashes” with Israeli forces late on Saturday in the southern Lebanese town of Khiam.The group said the fighting involved light and medium weapons as well as rocket-propelled projectiles.

Israeli authorities did not immediately comment on the reported engagement.Cross-border exchanges between Israeli forces and Hezbollah have intensified as the broader conflict spreads across the region.

Lebanon is preparing to form a delegation aimed at negotiating with Israel in an effort to halt the war with Iran-backed Hezbollah, a Lebanese official said.

“Negotiations are on the table and preparations are underway to form a delegation, but neither the timing nor the location has been determined,” the official said, adding that Paris and Cyprus were being considered as potential venues for talks.

Israel has not publicly committed to participating in such negotiations.

Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli strikes had killed 826 people since the start of the latest conflict with Hezbollah, including 65 women and 106 children, while 2,009 others had been wounded.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Ankara feared Israel was “moving toward a new genocide under the pretext of fighting Hezbollah” during its ongoing assault on Lebanon.

The warning from Hezbollah came early on Friday and appeared aimed at residents of Israeli communities close to the frontier. The group said Israel’s military actions against Lebanon, including what it described as attacks on civilian infrastructure and the displacement of residents, would not go unanswered.The exchange of warnings reflects a sharp escalation in rhetoric and military posture between the two sides as hostilities expand across the Israel-Lebanon frontier.

Hezbollah issues evacuation warningIn its Telegram statement, Hezbollah accused Israel of violating Lebanese sovereignty and targeting civilian areas, saying Israeli military operations and the displacement of residents had crossed a threshold.“Your military’s aggression against Lebanese sovereignty and safe citizens, the destruction of civilian infrastructure and the expulsion campaign it is carrying out will not go unchallenged,” the group said in the message directed at Israeli residents near the border.

The warning was issued in Hebrew, a move often used by Hezbollah to communicate directly with Israeli audiences during periods of heightened confrontation.Israel rejects evacuation demandIsraeli authorities said they would not comply with Hezbollah’s demand and indicated that residents of border towns would remain in place despite the warning.Israel has also deployed additional troops into Lebanon, describing the move as a defensive measure aimed at protecting Israeli communities near the frontier.Israeli officials have repeatedly said the military steps are intended to safeguard citizens living close to the border as tensions with Hezbollah intensify.Beirut suburbs already under warningHezbollah’s evacuation notice followed a separate warning from Israel issued less than a day earlier, when Israeli authorities urged civilians to leave the southern suburbs of Beirut.

The advisory prompted residents to flee parts of the capital known as Dahiyeh, an area widely regarded as a stronghold of Hezbollah.Witnesses and local reports described an exodus from sections of the neighbourhood following the Israeli warning, as civilians sought safer areas away from potential military targets.The back-to-back warnings from both sides illustrate the rapidly deteriorating security situation along the Lebanon-Israel border, where rhetoric and military positioning have sharpened in recent days.Israel and Hezbollah have a long history of confrontation along the frontier, and exchanges of threats and military movements often raise fears of broader escalation. The latest warnings to civilians on both sides underscore the growing strain on border communities as tensions continue to mount.

The remarks came as hostilities expanded across several fronts, raising fears of a broader regional confrontation. Trump’s call appeared aimed at increasing pressure on Tehran by opening additional fronts against Iranian authorities, according to statements reported by Reuters.Iranian Kurdish fighters affiliated with the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), a group operating from bases in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, have long opposed Iran’s government and maintain training facilities near the city of Erbil.Trump signals pressure on TehranTrump said Iranian Kurdish forces should join the fight against Tehran, signalling Washington’s willingness to encourage opposition groups inside Iran’s ethnic minority regions as the conflict intensifies.The U.S. president also suggested that Washington might ultimately have to “choose” Iran’s next leader, a remark likely to heighten tensions with Iranian authorities and add to concerns among regional governments about the trajectory of the war.

Analysts say Kurdish militant groups operating near Iran’s borders could potentially stretch Tehran’s security forces if they were to open a new front in the conflict. Kurdish insurgent movements have historically had strained relations with the Iranian state, though their operational capacity and political coordination vary.Israel expands strikes on TehranMeanwhile, Israel said it had begun a broad wave of attacks targeting infrastructure in the Iranian capital, Tehran. The announcement came as Iran continued missile strikes across the region, including attacks targeting Gulf cities.Israeli officials described the campaign as a large-scale escalation intended to degrade Iran’s strategic infrastructure. Details of the specific targets were not immediately disclosed, but the strikes signalled a widening scope of military operations following earlier exchanges between the two adversaries.Iran has not publicly detailed the extent of damage in Tehran, though the strikes mark one of the most direct escalations involving the capital since the current round of hostilities began.

Azerbaijan warns of retaliationSeparately, Azerbaijan warned it would retaliate after Iranian missiles struck its territory, opening another potential front in the conflict and raising alarm across the Caucasus region.Officials in Baku said preparations were under way for a response, though they did not provide details on timing or possible targets. The warning underscores the growing geographic reach of the confrontation as more states become directly affected by the exchange of strikes.Regional governments have been closely monitoring the situation amid fears that a wider war could disrupt trade routes, energy infrastructure and security across the Middle East and neighbouring regions.The latest developments came as Iran continued to launch missiles toward Gulf cities, while Israeli forces intensified attacks on Iranian targets.

The expanding scope of the conflict has heightened concerns among international observers that the war could evolve into a broader regional confrontation involving multiple state and non-state actors.Trump’s remarks urging Iranian Kurdish fighters to take up arms against Tehran added another volatile dimension to the crisis, highlighting the possibility that internal opposition groups could be drawn more directly into the escalating confrontation.