Gila Pahima returned to Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel last spring, 18 months after its population had been evacuated because of Hezbollah rocket fire. Now air raid sirens are again sounding around the clock as the boom of missiles and interceptors echoes overhead.

"I feel like we're in constant war," she said. "You feel like you're on a battlefield all day."

France’s special envoy for Lebanon, Jean-Yves Le Drian, speaking to the France Info radio station Wednesday, said the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah "bears full responsibility for the resumption of fighting in Lebanon" but "Israel’s response has been disproportionate and counterproductive, as it unites various actors against Israel."

He criticized Israel for mass evacuation orders that have driven the displacement of more 1 million people in Lebanon and for spurning offers by the Lebanese government to enter into negotiations.

Israel’s defense minister said on Wednesday that the Israeli military killed Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib.

Israel Katz announced Khatib’s killing and said that “significant surprises are expected throughout this day on all the fronts,” without elaborating.

President Joseph Aoun called Wednesday for unity and solidarity and the rejection of division and sectarian provocation, hours after Israel flattened an apartment building in central Beirut and killed ten people in other neighborhoods of the city.

Israel's military claimed the building in Bashoura was being used by Hezbollah to store "millions of dollars intended to finance its activities," without providing evidence. An apartment in the building was hit last week, and the building had also been targeted in the 2024 war.

Iran lashed out following the killing of one of its top leaders in an airstrike with attacks on its Persian Gulf neighbors and Israel on Wednesday, using some of its latest missiles to evade air defenses and killing two people near Tel Aviv as the war in the Middle East showed no signs of slowing.

Israel kept up intense pressure on Lebanon with strikes it said targeted Iran-backed Hezbollah militants, hitting multiple apartment buildings in Beirut and killing at least six people.

Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, announced his resignation on Tuesday, saying he "cannot in good conscience" back the Trump administration's war in Iran.

Kent said on social media Iran "posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in London on Tuesday for talks with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the British government said, as European countries look to keep international attention on Russia's invasion of Ukraine while the unfolding Iran war engages world leaders.

Starmer's office said NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte will also join the meeting at 10 Downing St. to discuss peacemaking efforts in Ukraine and "the need to maintain sanctions pressure on Russia."

Rescuers recovered more bodies from the rubble of a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul on Tuesday after an overnight airstrike killed more than 400 people, according to officials, in a dramatic escalation of a conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan that is now in its third week.

Pakistan rejected Afghanistan's accusation that it targeted the hospital, insisting its strikes, which were also conducted in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, were aimed at military facilities. It dismissed Afghanistan's claims of hundreds of casualties as propaganda.

With airstrikes rocking Beirut and Israeli troops trying to advance against Hezbollah, Lebanon's government has broken a taboo by proposing the first direct talks with Israel in decades. But Lebanese officials say they want the fighting to end first — and it might be too late for that.

Hezbollah's decision to enter the wider Iran war by firing rockets at Israel has led to the heavy Israeli bombardment of southern Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs, killing some 850 Lebanese and driving over a million people from their homes.

The escalating war with Iran is pushing parts of the world into energy triage, forcing governments to choose where to cut demand or absorb costs, while prioritizing dwindling supplies.

Asia is the most exposed since it relies heavily on imported fuel, much of it shipped through the now-blocked Strait of Hormuz. The narrow passage offshore from Iran is the main route for shipping a fifth of global trade in crude oil and liquified natural gas.