Israel’s Other War

War in the

Middle East

live

Updates

March 29, 2026, 5:57 p.m. ET

Photos

Maps

Strait of Hormuz

War’s Global Impact

Kurds on Iran’s Frontier

Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.

Newsletter

The World

Israel’s Other War

As missiles fly in Iran, Israeli troops have moved deep into southern Lebanon to hit Hezbollah.

Share full article

By

Katrin Bennhold

I’m the host of The World.

March 29, 2026,

5:01 p.m. ET

See more of our coverage in your search results.

Add The New York Times on Google

Image

Israeli airstrikes in Beirut, Lebanon this month.

Credit...

David Guttenfelder/The New York Times

Israel’s second front in the war with Iran

Israel’s war in Lebanon is a second front in the war with Iran. It started after Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Shiite militant group, fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.

But it’s also, in some ways, its own war. Reporting by our Jerusalem bureau shows that Israel’s plans for a deeper ground incursion into Lebanon predate the fighting in Iran.

Israel has, in effect, been fighting Hezbollah since shortly after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, when the group fired rockets at Israel in support of Hamas, another Iranian-backed group. That war left Hezbollah severely weakened. Israeli strikes killed its longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in 2024. His death came shortly after Israel took out scores of other members by blowing up their pagers in a simultaneous attack across Lebanon.

The two parties reached a cease-fire in November 2024, but Israel has continued to attack in the months since, arguing that a steady stream of strikes is necessary to prevent the group from rebuilding.

The Iran war — and Hezbollah’s decision to attack a few days in — gave Israel a new reason to try to finally eliminate a longstanding threat.

Last week, President Trump began talking about negotiations with Tehran. In response, Israel

ramped up its attacks on Iran

, seeking to deal as much damage as possible before the shooting had to stop.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and

log into

your Times account, or

subscribe

for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?

Log in

.

Want all of The Times?

Subscribe

.

Related Content

Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT