Bridges blown up.

Israel will occupy southern Lebanon up to the Litani River, an area Defence Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday described as a "security zone", spelling out for the

The Associated Press is now calling Israel’s military actions in southern Lebanon an invasion. Israel has moved thousands of troops across the border into Lebanon, and Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants have been fighting on the ground for at least three weeks.

Israel has pledged to apply the "Gaza model" in southern Lebanon, directing its army to accelerate the destruction of villages along the border.

Noël Barrot on Tuesday urged Israel not to send in forces to take control of a zone in south Lebanon, saying such a move would have "major humanitarian consequences".

Rather than trying to hold a defensive line, Hezbollah fighters have moved in to strike, then melted away in the hilly terrain they know well.

Israel's plan to seize a chunk of southern Lebanon to create a "buffer zone" against Hezbollah militants is stoking fears among Lebanese of Israeli military occupation that could deepen instability and stoke further displacement.

Lebanon’s coastal southern city of Tyre — famed for its Roman ruins and white sandy beaches — is almost a ghost town. Abandoned dogs roam vacant streets dotted with apartment buildings blasted by recent Israeli airstrikes.