JERUSALEM โ The latest developments indicate that the war involving Israel, Iran, and the United States has entered a more entrenched phase, with the U.S. campaign officially operating under the name Operation Epic Fury, continued Israeli strikes on Iranian-linked targets, and a rapidly worsening northern front after Hezbollah reopened large-scale hostilities from Lebanon. Reuters reported on Saturday that, one week into the war, the risks for Washington had multiplied as the conflict widened beyond Iran itself and raised the danger of a more prolonged regional confrontation.
The U.S. military has described Epic Fury as an ongoing combat operation directed by President Donald Trump and executed by U.S. Central Command against targets tied to Iranโs security apparatus. CENTCOM said major combat operations were continuing as of its latest public update on March 2, while Reuters separately reported that the campaign had already become the largest U.S. military operation since the 2003 Iraq invasion. Reuters also reported earlier this week that the opening phase of the U.S. operation struck more than 1,000 targets in the first 24 hours after the final order was given on Feb. 27.
On the U.S. side, the White House has publicly framed the campaign as an effort to degrade Iranโs missile capabilities, production infrastructure, and broader threat network. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Friday that Washington was โwell on its wayโ toward controlling Iranian airspace and expected U.S. objectives to be completed within four to six weeks. That public timeline, however, has been paired with growing outside questions about what precise end state Washington is seeking and whether the operation can remain limited. Reuters said analysts and former officials have questioned the administrationโs shifting explanations of victory and warned that the conflict could become harder to contain.
Iranโs latest position suggested a limited effort to prevent further spillover into neighboring states, even as the broader war with Israel and the United States continued. Reuters reported on Saturday that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehranโs temporary leadership council had approved suspending strikes on neighboring countries unless attacks came from them first. That amounts to a conditional de-escalation signal toward Gulf states and other nearby countries, but not a broader end to the war.
The Lebanon front has now become one of the most consequential parts of the conflict. Reuters reported that Hezbollah launched renewed attacks on Israel earlier this week, pulling Lebanon deeper into the war and triggering a major Israeli response focused on southern Beirut, southern Lebanon, and the Bekaa Valley. On Saturday, Hezbollah warned residents of Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel to evacuate, a move that underscored the risk of deeper escalation along the border.
Israeli officials have made clear that they do not see the Hezbollah theater as a short-lived side front. Reuters reported on Thursday that Israeli attacks against Hezbollah were likely to continue even after the joint U.S.-Israel war with Iran ends, according to a source briefed on Israelโs military strategy. That assessment suggests Jerusalem now views the Lebanon campaign as strategically distinct from the Iran air war, even if the two remain operationally linked through Tehranโs regional network.
The costs inside Lebanon are rising quickly. Reuters reported on Saturday that the weekโs death toll in Lebanon was nearing 300 and that around 300,000 people had been displaced. The same report said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Lebanon of โdisastrous repercussionsโ unless it disarmed Hezbollah, while Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel held Lebanon responsible for attacks emanating from its territory but had no territorial ambitions there. The United Nations, according to Reuters, has described the level of displacement as โunprecedentedโ and called for urgent diplomacy.
Another sign of how serious the Lebanon theater has become is the departure of Iranian nationals and diplomats from the country. Reuters reported that more than 150 Iranian nationals, including diplomats and their families, left Lebanon after Israeli strikes near the Iranian embassy in Beirut and explicit Israeli warnings tied to Iranโs presence there. Iranโs foreign ministry said the embassy remained operational, but the relocation itself signaled concern that Lebanon could become an even more dangerous extension of the war.
Behind the renewed fighting lies Hezbollahโs own assessment that another war with Israel was inevitable. Reuters reported, citing six sources familiar with the groupโs preparations, that Hezbollah had spent months rebuilding rocket and drone inventories with Iranian support after its devastating 2024 war with Israel. According to that report, Hezbollah concluded it might face an existential threat in the next round, which helps explain both the scale of its renewed fire and Israelโs decision to respond with sustained force rather than a narrow exchange.
Taken together, the latest picture is of a conflict that is no longer defined only by U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran. Epic Fury remains active. Iran has hinted at selective restraint toward neighbors but not an end to hostilities. Hezbollah has reopened a major northern war with Israel, and Israeli officials are signaling that the Lebanon campaign may continue on its own trajectory even after the Iran phase subsides. For pro-Israel observers looking at the wider strategic map, the most important update is that the conflict is now operating on multiple connected fronts, with Lebanon no longer a secondary arena but a central one.
