The Israeli government has ordered the evacuation of 14 communities near Lebanon, in view of the possibility of a larger-scale Hezbollah attack. Bombings have also targeted airports in Syria.

Israel carried out bombardments in the Gaza Strip, Syria and Lebanon during Saturday night and early Sunday morning. Fearing a large-scale attack by Hezbollah, the Israeli authorities ordered the evacuation of 14 communities in the north of the country.

According to Lusa, several targets were hit in the Gaza Strip after Israel announced that it was intensifying its bombardments. The Hamas leadership reported the deaths of at least 55 people and the destruction of 30 homes.

In Syria, Israeli missiles hit airports in Damascus and Aleppo, which Benjamin Netanyahu's government believes are being used to supply arms to Iran and the groups it sponsors.

This is the case with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, which was also targeted in the attacks. The armed group said that six fighters were killed, according to Reuters.

On Saturday, the Lebanese Shiite group said that Israel will pay a high price if it launches a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip and added that it already has soldiers on the border, said its deputy leader, Naim Kassem. Hamas officials also said that if Israel launches a ground offensive in Gaza, Hezbollah will join the fighting.

Backed by Iran, the group has an arsenal of weapons consisting of tens of thousands of rockets and missiles, as well as different types of drones, and could try to open a new front with a large-scale attack in northern Israel.

Benjamin Netanyahu's government claims that Hezbollah could drag Lebanon into the conflict and this Sunday pre-emptively ordered the evacuation of 14 more communities in the north of the country. The Defense Ministry's National Emergency Management Authority and the Israel Defense Forces announce the expansion of the state-funded evacuation plan to other communities in northern Israel," said a military spokesman.

US Foreign Affairs official Antony Blinken warned Lebanon's acting prime minister that the population would be affected if the country was drawn into the war between Israel and Hamas.

US strengthens military presence

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has announced that Washington will send more military assets to the Middle East to support Israel and strengthen the US position in the region after "the recent escalation by Iran and its proxy forces," according to Reuters.

The US will deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system and Patriot air defense missiles. In addition, more troops will be put on standby, Austin said. In recent weeks, Washington has already deployed two aircraft carriers, support ships and around 2,000 marines to the Middle East.

During the night, an air base in Iraq with US and international forces was the target of rockets launched by regional militias.

The Peace Summit in Egypt saw calls for a ceasefire and Arab nations pointing to the creation of two states as the only lasting solution to the conflict.

The Hamas Islamist group launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7, launching thousands of rockets and incursions by armed militiamen, taking two hundred hostages.

In response, Israel declared war on Hamas, the movement that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007 and which is classified as terrorist by the European Union and the United States, bombing several of the group's infrastructures in the Gaza Strip and imposing a total siege on the territory, cutting off water, fuel and electricity supplies.