
Israel says its forces took full control of the Ali al-Taher ridge in southern Lebanon and destroyed an extensive underground Hezbollah complex housing a command centre, rocket stores and weapons caches, with troops remaining to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding. The operation continues despite a June ceasefire and a US-brokered disarmament framework that has stalled, while Iran has reportedly warned it would respond forcefully if strikes on the ridge continued. This ongoing contest over Israel's northern buffer zone, with Iran's direct warning attached, marks the kind of sustained escalation that keeps open the risk of a wider regional confrontation involving Israel, Hezbollah and Iran.