Israel, Hezbollah conflict to escalate? Heavy fire exchange raises fear of all-out war: What we know so far

Israel and Hezbollah exchanged heavy fire on Sunday. Hezbollah said it targeted the Israeli Ramat David Airbase with dozens of missiles in response to "repeated Israeli attacks on Lebanon", the Iran-backed group posted on its Telegram channel early on Sunday. Israel quickly responded, striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, the military said in a statement.

Lebanon's Hezbollah said it launched over 100 rockets early Sunday across a wider and deeper area of northern Israel. Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes reportedly carried out the "most intense bombardment" in almost a year of war across Lebanon's south," AFP reported.

The barrage came after an Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Friday killed at least 45 people, raising fears of all-out war. Hezbollah reportedy said it will keep fighting Israel until it agrees to a ceasefire in Gaza.

What's happening in Israel, Iran and Lebanon? Here's all the latest you need to know:

1. An Israeli air strike targeted Hezbollah military commanders in Beirut southern suburbs on Friday. The Lebanon's health ministry said, "The number of dead [in Friday's attack] has risen to 45 people."

2. Senior Hezbollah commanders were among those who died in Friday's attack. Iran-backed Hezbollah confirmed the deaths of two senior commanders, including Radwan Force chief Ibrahim Aqil, in an Israeli airstrike on its Beirut base, news agency AFP reported.

3. On Saturday, Israeli warplanes pounded southern Lebanon Saturday, raising fears of all-out war, news agency AFP reported. The Israeli attacks came as Hezbollah already reels from a sophisticated attack that caused thousands of personal devices to explode just days earlier.

4. On Sunday, Lebanon's Hezbollah launched over 100 rockets across a wider and deeper area of northern Israel, with some landing near the city of Haifa. The Israeli military said rockets had been fired “toward civilian areas," pointing to a possible escalation after previous barrages had mainly been aimed at military targets.

Hezbollah said it had launched dozens of Fadi 1 and Fadi 2 missiles — a new type of weapon the group had not used before — at the Ramat David airbase, southeast of Haifa, “in response to the repeated Israeli attacks that targeted various Lebanese regions and led to the fall of many civilian martyrs.”

5. Meanwhile, Israeli media reported that rockets fired from Lebanon early Sunday were intercepted in the areas of Haifa and Nazareth. Israel canceled school across the north, deepening the sense of crisis.

The Israel Defense Forces said on X, "Hundreds of thousands of Israeli civilians spent their night hiding in bomb shelters, while barrages of rockets were flying over their heads, some hitting their homes, and rocket alert sirens were constantly sounding throughout the night. Thousands of children will stay in bomb shelters today instead of going to school due to the risk to their lives.

5. In a separate development, Israeli forces raided the West Bank bureau of Al-Jazeera, which it had banned earlier this year, accusing it of serving as a mouthpiece for militant groups, allegations denied by the pan-Arab broadcaster.

Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza nearly a year ago. The low-level fighting has killed dozens of people in Israel, hundreds in Lebanon, and displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the frontier.

The war in Gaza began with Hamas' October 7 attack into Israel, in which Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people and took around 250 hostage. They are still holding around 100 captives, a third of whom are believed to be dead. Gaza's Health Ministry says over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed. It does not say how many were fighters but says women and children make up over half of the dead.

(With inputs from agencies)