From the New York Times, I'm Rachel Abrams, and this is the Daily.

Breaking news, Israel saying it is now expanding operations in Lebanon.

With the world's attention on the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran over the last two weeks,

a second front has opened in Lebanon.

The target of those strikes, a Hezbollah

stronghold. The IDF says it's hitting sites linked to the group, which is backed and funded by

Iran. Israel has pummeled southern Lebanon and southern Beirut with airstrikes, displacing

almost a million people, and it's expanded its assault into other parts of the capital.

I carried the children quickly, and we left towards the airport road. People were like ants.

Like Judgment Day, it was like Judgment Day.

One man, his wife and four young children have fled a few miles north to safer ground.

Like many families,

they'll spend the night on the streets watching the strikes at a distance. Today, Bayrouer Bureau Chief Christina Goldbaum explains how the crisis in Lebanon connects to the broader war,

what Israel hopes to achieve, and what the Lebanese people fear may come next.

It's Monday, March 16th.

Christina, since the war with Iran began, I think it's been clear that there has been sort of the second front emerging in Lebanon.

It started when Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia group that's based in Lebanon, lobbed missiles at Israel.

Israel lobbed missiles back, the two sides have traded fire for days now.

And that is not in and of itself an

unfamiliar scenario, right? But things have really escalated. And you are based in Beirut. You are the

Beirut Bureau Chief for the New York Times. And so I'd like for you to paint a picture for our

audience of what the last few days have looked like on the ground.

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