Tel Aviv [Israel], March 3 (ANI): The Israeli military on Tuesday said that its soldiers are 'operating in southern Lebanon' as it continues strikes against Hezbollah.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said that the Israeli military is authorised to advance and take control of additional positions in Lebanon on Tuesday. He said that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) 's move to advance in southern Lebanon is intended to prevent 'direct fire' on Israeli communities.

'To prevent the possibility of direct fire at Israeli communities, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I have authorised the IDF to advance and hold additional dominant terrain in Lebanon and defend the border communities from there,' Katz said in a statement.

Earlier, as the conflict escalated in West Asia, Israel conducted strikes in both Tehran and Beirut.

The Israeli Defence Forces said in a post on X that it is currently conducting simultaneous targeted strikes against military targets in Tehran and Beirut.

As per Al Jazeera, the IDF strikes took place in Beirut's Haret Hreik area.

In an earlier retaliation, Hezbollah claimed a dawn attack on Israel's Ramat David Air Base, Al Jazeera reported. According to Hezbollah, it fired a swarm of drones at radar sites and control rooms at the air base on Tuesday. This comes as a retaliation for Israeli strikes.

IRNA News Agency reported that the Israeli regime attacked the headquarters of Al-Manar, a broadcaster affiliated with Hezbollah. According to IRNA, Al-Manar resumed broadcasting its programmes minutes after the reported strike. Earlier, Israel said that the head of Hezbollah's intelligence arm was killed in an overnight strike, and Beirut said it would ban the terror group's military activities.

The Israel Defence Forces confirmed that the overnight strike in the Lebanese capital killed Hussein Makled, whom it called 'the head of Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters.'

The developments come amid heightened hostilities in West Asia, with cross-border strikes and aerial interceptions raising concerns about further regional spillover.

The IDF said Makled was responsible for 'forming the intelligence picture using various intelligence collection tools to provide the Hezbollah terror organisation with intelligence assessments regarding IDF troops and the State of Israel.' The Israeli Air Force also intercepted two unmanned aerial vehicles that crossed from Lebanon. (ANI)