By Laila Bassam BEIRUT, March 5 (Reuters) - Hezbollah has deployed elite fighters to confront Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, sending them back into the border region from which they withdrew after a war in 2024,

Thousands fled the southern outskirts of the Lebanese capital before Israel unleashed heavy strikes on the militant group overnight. Many say they have nowhere to go.

After meeting with the chief of staff of the French military in ⁠Beirut, Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun asked Macron to intervene to "prevent ⁠the targeting of the southern suburbs following threats by the Israeli army against its residents," the Lebanese presidency said in a separate statement.

In the pre-dawn hours of Monday morning, Hezbollah opened a new front in the US-Israeli war against Iran when it launched “missiles and a swarm of drones” at a military base in northern Israel.

In recent days, the Israeli military has issued broad evacuation warnings across southern Lebanon, raising concerns that it may be about to launch a ground invasion. The Israeli military has also pushed into Lebanon to fight Hezbollah and is massing armored vehicles along the border.

The deployment came after Hezbollah began attacking Israel, in what the terror group initially said was a response to Israel’s killing of Iran’s supreme leader, but has later claimed was a response to Israel’s continued presence and airstrikes in Lebanon since a November 2024 ceasefire.