Israel’s ground incursion into Lebanon to battle Hezbollah militants has left eight Israeli soldiers dead while the region braced for further escalation as the government vowed to retaliate for Iran’s ballistic missile attack.

The Israeli military said seven soldiers were killed in two separate attacks.

Another seven troops, including a combat medic, were wounded. Earlier, the military had announced that a 22-year-old captain in a commando brigade was killed in Lebanon, the first Israeli combat death since the start of the incursion.

The Israeli military has warned people to evacuate around 50 villages and towns across southern Lebanon.

The villages are in a UN-declared buffer zone established after Israel and Hezbollah fought their last war in 2006.

Hundreds of thousands of people have already fled their homes as the conflict has intensified, with the Middle East moving closer to a long-feared regional war the day after Iran fired a barrage of missiles at Israel.

The escalation on multiple fronts has raised fears of a wider war in the Middle East that could draw in Iran – which backs Hezbollah and Hamas – as well as the United States, which has rushed military assets to the region in support of Israel.

Israeli shelling hit an area in southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel
Strikes on southern Lebanon continue (AP)

Hezbollah, widely seen as the most powerful armed group in the region, said its fighters clashed with Israeli troops in two places inside Lebanon near the border.

The Israeli military said ground forces backed by air strikes had killed militants in “close-range engagements”, without saying where.

Israel said it intercepted many of the missiles fired by Iran, and officials in Washington said US destroyers had assisted in Israel’s defence.

Middle East crisis October 1/2.
(PA Graphics)

Iran said most of its missiles hit their targets.

In a separate development, Hezbollah said its fighters clashed with Israeli troops in the Lebanese border town of Odaisseh, forcing them to retreat.

Israeli media reported infantry and tank units operating in southern Lebanon after the military sent thousands of additional troops and artillery to the border.

Hundreds of thousands have already fled their homes as the conflict has intensified.

On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate over the barrage against Iran, which he said “made a big mistake tonight and it will pay for it”.

An Iranian commander threatened wider strikes on infrastructure if Israel retaliates against Iran’s territory.

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut
A long-feared wider regional conflict is brewing (AP)

President Joe Biden said he would not support an Israeli attack on sites related to Tehran’s nuclear programme.

“The answer is no,” Mr Biden said on Wednesday, when asked if he would support such retaliation after Iran fired about 180 missiles at Israel on Tuesday.

His comments came after he and fellow Group of Seven leaders spoke by phone to discuss coordinating new sanctions against Iran.

The White House said in a statement that the G7 leaders “unequivocally condemned Iran’s attack against Israel” and Mr Biden reiterated the United States’ “full solidarity and support to Israel and its people”.

However, the administration has signalled that it is urging that Israel display restraint in how it responds to Tuesday’s missile attack, which Mr Biden said was “ineffective and defeated”.

The United Nations Security Council has called an emergency meeting for Wednesday to address the spiralling conflict.

Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since October 8, the day after Hamas’ cross-border attack on October 7 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 others hostage.

Israel declared war on the militant group in the Gaza Strip in response.

More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory, and just over half the dead have been women and children, according to local health officials.

Civil Defence personnel remove debris from a destroyed complex hit by Israeli airstrikes in Dahieh, Beirut, Lebanon
Air strikes caused devastation in Beirut (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has called on Iran and Hezbollah to stop their attacks on Israel and says Tehran is risking a wider regional conflagration.

Mr Scholz issued a statement on Wednesday strongly condemning Iran’s missile barrage against Israel the previous evening.

He said that “with this, Iran is risking setting the whole region on fire — that must be prevented under all circumstances. Hezbollah and Iran must cease their attacks on Israel immediately”.

The Chancellor added that Germany will continue to push for a ceasefire between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group, which he said must lead toward full implementation of a UN Security Council resolution that calls for Hezbollah to withdraw from the area near the Israeli border.

Mr Scholz said that would “clear the way for people to return to the north of Israel and at the same time open a prospect of consolidating Lebanon’s statehood”.