The past holds bitter lessons for leaders who entertain grand ambitions of tectonic changes in Lebanon, and in the Middle East in general.

The US is urging Israel not to escalate the conflict further. But Israel is likely to see the current moment as too good an opportunity to miss. Many now want to press home the advantage, in the hope of striking a decisive blow against not just Hizbollah but Iran — and the “axis of resistance” that it leads,

With its decapitation of Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Israeli government hopes that it has finally seized the initiative in the battle with its regional enemies.

An apartment building in Beirut was hit by an Israeli airstrike on Monday, according to Reuters witnesses, in the first attack within city limits as Israel escalated hostilities against Iran's allies in the region.

The country’s military said its latest strikes targeted the group’s infrastructure and that it had killed another senior Hezbollah official.

An apparent Israeli airstrike hit central Beirut early Monday, for the first time in nearly a year of conflict, witnesses said. The strike near the Cola intersection, a major transportation hub, hit a multi-story residential building,