An Israeli military official said that marching to Beirut, as Israeli forces did during their 1982 invasion of Lebanon, is "not on the table," after Israel warned nearly two dozen Lebanese border communities to evacuate, hours after launching what it said was a limited ground incursion against Hezbollah.

In 1982, the Israeli invasion was also pitched as a limited incursion to push the Palestine Liberation Organization back but Israel only withdrew fully from Lebanon in 2000.

A missile attack has targeted a U.S. military facility near the Baghdad airport, two Iraqi security officials said.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said one rocket fell in an adjacent area used by Iraqi security forces and damaged vehicle parked there.

An explosive-loaded drone crashed into one ship Tuesday in the Red Sea as a missile exploded against another, the British military and private security officials said, marking the latest suspected attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels.

The attacks likely are the rebels' first assaults on commercial shipping in weeks as the Israel-Hamas war threatens to become a regional conflict.

The White House National Security Council said Israel’s “limited operations” to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure across the border were in line with the country’s right to defend itself.

The NSC, however, warned that an expansion of that operation was a risk. It added that a diplomatic solution was the only way to achieve lasting stability along Israel’s border with Lebanon.

The Israeli military on Tuesday said it had begun a "limited, localized" operation against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, opening a new front in its war against the Lebanese group.

In a brief announcement, it said it was striking Hezbollah targets in areas close to the Israeli border, and that air force and artillery units were carrying out attacks to support the ground forces. It gave no details on how long the operation would last, but said the army had been training and preparing for months.

A Bulgarian government jet has returned to Sofia with 89 nationals who were evacuated from Lebanon.

Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev, who welcomed them at the Sofia Airport on Monday, said the government was discussing all options for future evacuations.

The Israeli military declared a military zone in parts of its northern border with Lebanon on Monday ahead of possible ground operations.

"The areas of Metula, Misgav Am, and Kfar Giladi in northern Israel have been declared a closed military zone. Entry to this area is prohibited," the military said in a statement.

Iran lost its most reliable ally in the Middle East when an Israeli airstrike killed Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. But Iran isn't leading the charge to retaliate.

"By the grace and power of God, Lebanon will make the transgressing, malicious enemy regret its actions," Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in the wake of Nasrallah's death Friday. But the 85-year-old paramount ruler in Iran gave no mention of his country taking action over the death of a man he once praised as "an exceptional face in the world of Islam" after the Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006.

President Joe Biden said Sunday he would speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and believes that an all-out war in the Middle East must be avoided.

"It has to be," Biden told reporters as he boarded Air Force One for Washington. "We really have to avoid it."

In just over a week, intensified Israeli strikes in Lebanon killed seven high-ranking commanders and officials from the powerful Hezbollah militant group, including the group's leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

The move left Lebanon and much of the Mideast in shock as Israeli officials celebrated major military and intelligence breakthroughs.