ISRAEL’S invasion of Lebanon looked close to having ignited all-out war in the Middle East last night as Iran launched multiple missiles at Israeli targets in response.

It was unclear how Israel or the US, which has stationed huge forces in the region to back Israel up as it continues its Gaza genocide, would react as the Morning Star went to press.

The Israeli military followed up its violation of Lebanese territory by warning residents of nearly two dozen border communities to evacuate, hours after announcing the start of “limited” ground operations against the Hezbollah resistance movement. 

The civilians were told to leave their homes and head north of the Awali river, some 36 miles from the border. 

This is much further than the Litani river, which marks the northern edge of a United Nations-declared zone that was intended to serve as a buffer between Israel and Hezbollah after their 2006 war.

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Monday that his country was facing “one of the most dangerous phases” in its history as the Israeli invasion increased the risk of other nations, such as Iran, being drawn into a wider regional conflict.

British peace activists condemned Israel’s invasion and its attempts to portray it as a “limited” operation.

Independent MP Jeremy Corbyn told the Morning Star: “Israel’s decision to send troops into Lebanon, a sovereign nation, is no ‘limited ground operation,’ it is an invasion.”

Mr Corbyn also blasted British policy in the Middle East, saying: “Our government’s hypocrisy is on full display. Its failure to defend international law and stand up to Israel is a moral disgrace.”

Posting on X, left-wing Labour MP Diane Abbott, the longest serving woman in the Commons, wrote: “When is an invasion not an invasion? When the IDF is doing a ‘limited, localised and targeted ground operation against Hezbollah’.” 

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) general secretary Kate Hudson condemned Israel as a “rogue state, attempting to redraw the map of the Middle East through terror, blood and extraordinary levels of suffering.”

She added that the Israeli government was “extending its war to Lebanon as its nuclear weapons allow it to act with impunity.”

The Peace and Justice Project stressed that, “for every day that passes without calling for lasting peace in the Middle East and suspension of arms sales to Israel, the British and US governments remain totally complicit in the brutal deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinian and Lebanese civilians.”

Communist Party (CP) international secretary Kevan Nelson said: “As with previous Israeli invasions into Lebanon, this latest aggression will [inflict] great destruction and loss of life but contribute nothing to a lasting political solution in the region.

A CP post on X called on all anti-war campaigners to “redouble our efforts to strengthen the peace and Palestine solidarity movements to end British state support for the war against Lebanon and the genocide in Gaza.”

Peace activists across the globe joined in condemning Israel’s action.

US journalist Eugene Puryear, a host of Breakthrough News, said: “The Israeli invasion of Lebanon, being conducted with full backing of the United States, is a reckless and criminal escalation. The only solution to the conflict is an end to the genocide in Gaza and the occupation of Palestine. 

“The Lebanese people should not be punished for standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people against Israeli aggression.”

Lebanese journalist Rania Khalek told the Morning Star: “It’s clear the Israelis are trying to use their superior air power as a cover for the fact that they don’t perform well in face-to-face combat.

“They are clearly testing the water with their small raids into Lebanon while they carpet-bomb.

“The US is behind this invasion. Its leaked comments about being in favour of a ceasefire are completely untrue.”

Ms Khalek predicted that the invasion would be “no walk in the park for the Israelis,” adding: “They have achieved none of their military objectives in Gaza and they won’t do so in Lebanon.”

Amid growing fears that Israel is intent on a long-term occupation of some parts of its neighbour, fellow Lebanese journalist Ali Hashem said: “No matter how limited the Israeli government claims its occupation will be, every grain of sand in south Lebanon, every inch of land, represents our entire nation.

“It symbolises our resilience, our dignity and the land of our youth and memories. For me, personally, it’s where my father was laid to rest just last week.”

The United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said it was “deeply concerned” by the Israeli ground offensive in southern Lebanon. It urged both sides to prioritise civilian protection and to engage in immediate de-escalation.

Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Dawn, a non-profit organisation that promotes democracy and human rights across the Middle East and North Africa, said: “Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, following its devastating attacks over the past two weeks, is the entirely predictable consequence of the Biden administration’s ceaseless coddling and resupply of weapons to Israel, whatever public bleats for ceasefires the administration has otherwise made.

“The Biden administration has acted recklessly in giving Israel a blank cheque to light the entire region on fire, all while disregarding our own legal obligations under both US and international law to halt the weapons flow to them.”

On the news that Washington intends to send “ a few thousand troops” to the region to defend Israel if necessary, Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man, Dawn’s director of research for Israel-Palestine, said: “Deploying more troops only deepens US involvement in an avoidable regional war.”

Meanwhile, Israeli bombing destroyed the al-Sirat TV channel’s offices.

Hezbollah slammed the attack, which took place in the Dahye suburb of Beirut, as “barbaric” and denied “false claims” made by Israel “about the presence of weapons or weapons depots” in the residential buildings and the headquarters of the broadcaster. 

The movement condemned the attack as a new “aggression against all media institutions.”

Hezbollah said earlier in the day that it had fired salvos of a new kind of medium-range missile, called the Fadi 4, at the headquarters of two Israeli intelligence agencies near Tel Aviv.

Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif said the missile attack was “only the beginning.”

An Israeli military official said Hezbollah had also launched projectiles at Israeli communities near the border, targeting soldiers without wounding anyone.

Recent Israeli air strikes have wiped out most of the movement’s top leadership, including leader Hassan Nasrallah.

The explosion of hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah was also a big blow to the organisation.

Over 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli bombing over the past two weeks, nearly a quarter of them women and children, according to the country’s Health Ministry. 

There has reportedly been a shooting in Tel Aviv with three people reported dead and 10 seriously wounded. Further details are still emerging as scenes from the location showed emergency services responding.