Israeli claims that its soldiers began ground operations inside southern Lebanon "are false," Hezbollah said in a Tuesday statement. "No direct ground clashes have yet taken place between the resistance fighters and the occupation forces," the group said, referring to Israeli troops.

Israel’s intensifying attacks on Lebanon in its expanding war against Hezbollah and the armed group’s allies continued overnight into early Saturday. Strikes near Beirut were ongoing on Saturday morning, according to Lebanese state media, and Hamas said one of its officials had been killed in a strike in the country’s north.