Hezbollah escalated its involvement in the widening conflict between Iran and the U.S. and Israel Tuesday, launching long-range missiles from Lebanon within 48 hours of coordinated strikes on Iran amid Operation Epic Fury.

The militant group also declared it was ready for an «open war,» The Associated Press reported.

The Iranian-backed militant group fired rockets into northern Israel, prompting Israeli retaliation, according to The Times of Israel. Two were intercepted by air defenses, the military said.

«Hezbollah is putting everything they have into the fight to add to the challenges Israel will face in this war,» Ross Harrison, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, told Fox News Digital.

«But Hezbollah also knows that if the Iranian regime falls, they could be degraded,» he said before highlighting that «Israel could not totally disarm Hezbollah.»

Hezbollah was formed in the early 1980s with Iranian backing during Lebanon’s civil war and has grown into Tehran’s most powerful proxy.

For decades, Iran has funded, armed and trained the group as part of its broader strategy to confront Israel and expand its regional influence.

«Iran believes that it has to reestablish deterrence before the end of this war with the U.S. and Israel, so expanding it using Hezbollah and attacking Gulf Arab states and Cyprus is part of this,» Harrison warned.

Israel responded to Hezbollah’s escalation with additional airstrikes on Beirut and expanded its ground operations, with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) taking positions near the border.

The U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon reported seeing Israeli troops enter and exit Lebanese territory, though the IDF insisted its forces continue to operate there, according to The Associated Press.

IRAN FIRES MISSILES AT US BASES ACROSS MIDDLE EAST AFTER AMERICAN STRIKES ON NUCLEAR, IRGC SITES

Hezbollah launches long-range missiles from Lebanon into northern Israel within 48 hours of strikes on Iran, escalating the widening conflict amid Operation Epic Fury. (Hadi Mizban/AP)

The U.S. Embassy in Beirut also announced Tuesday that it would close until further notice in a post on X.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said, «To prevent the possibility of direct fire at Israeli communities, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I have authorized the IDF to advance and hold additional dominant terrain in Lebanon and defend the border communities from there.

«The IDF continues to operate forcefully against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. The terrorist organization is paying and will pay a heavy price for the fire toward Israel.»

«Hezbollah, this is an octopus. The head of the octopus is in Iran. The arms are all over the region,» IDF spokesperson Effie Defrin told Fox News Digital.

«Last night, they launched missiles into Haifa, into a city center in Israel. They started it, they knew the consequences of that.»

The IDF also announced that it had killed Daoud Ali Zadeh, commander of the Iranian Quds Force’s Lebanon Corps, in Tehran.

TOP ISRAELI MILITARY OFFICIAL REVEALS OPERATION AGAINST IRAN INVOLVED ‘STRATEGIC AND OPERATIONAL DECEPTION’

Iran rebuilds Hezbollah ties as Trump gives a 10- to 15-day deadline. (Fadel Itani/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The Quds Force acts as a key liaison between Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, and Hezbollah leadership, facilitating the transfer of advanced weaponry and enhancing proxy firepower.

«The Quds Force is the arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, responsible for Iran’s relations with its allied militias, such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Kata’ib Hezbollah in Iraq, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen,» Harrison clarified.

«The Quds Force is the IRGC’s expeditionary force, designed to give Iran strategic depth,» he said.

 «They are (or were) significant in managing Iran’s relations with shadowy militia organizations, and it has been challenged over the last couple of years as Hamas and Hezbollah have been degraded.»

On Saturday, the U.S.-Israeli airstrike campaign had also targeted Iranian leadership in Tehran, killing Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, dramatically escalating tensions across the Middle East and triggering regional retaliation.

KEANE WARNS IRAN STRIKE BECOMING ‘REGIONAL WAR,’ SAYS THREE GULF STATES PREPARING FOR COMBAT

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, right, was killed in an Israeli airstrike Saturday. (Getty Images)

An interim Leadership Council made up of President Masoud Pezeshkian, Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i and Ayatollah Alireza Arafi is temporarily in charge of Iran, acting as the de facto head of state.

«If Iran ends the war prematurely, then they believe the U.S. and Israel can come back later,» Harrison said.

«If they escalate, then they have a shot at recreating deterrence. It is a high risk, as it could bring them down. But the danger is they feel they have little choice, and Hezbollah is part of this for Iran.

«If the Iranian regime can hang on, they win. That said, Iran cannot win militarily, but if they can deny the U.S. a victory, they win.

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«Fundamentally, the Iranian regime is trying to increase the pain of both Israel and the Gulf Arab states to be able to reestablish deterrence lost since the June 2025 war,» Harrison added.

«Attacking civilian areas and economic pain points alongside Hezbollah is also part of this strategy.»

Fox News’ Efrat Lachter contributed to this report.

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The more than six-year prison sentencing of illegal alien Jose Melgar-Rivas for causing serious injuries to a federal officer by dragging him with his vehicle shows why the agent who shot activist Renee Good feared for his life, an expert told Fox News Digital.

U.S. Attorney Robert J. Troester announced Tuesday that Melgar-Rivas had been sentenced to serve 78 months in federal prison for assaulting, resisting or impeding a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, resulting in bodily injury.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, lauded the sentencing as «great news.» She noted, however, that «unfortunately, this is just one of many examples of either aliens and/or rioters, illegal obstructionists, assaulting federal agents with vehicles.»

She pointed to a dramatic rise in vehicular assaults on federal immigration enforcement officers, most notably including an attack on ICE officer Jonathan Ross, who was dragged by an illegal immigrant’s vehicle in a similar incident in Minnesota. That agent later shot and killed activist Renee Good when she allegedly accelerated her vehicle at him in a confrontation with law enforcement.

Ries called for Melgar-Rivas’ sentencing to be «announced far and wide.» She said that «others need to know that there are, in fact, consequences for both obstructing ICE carrying out their lawful federal enforcement duties, but also there are severe consequences for assaulting and harming ICE agents [and] federal agents.»

According to a statement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Oklahoma, Melgar-Rivas, a Honduran national who entered the country illegally, attempted to evade arrest by placing his car in drive and accelerating during a struggle with agents. The office said that an ICE officer became caught in the vehicle’s door and was dragged down the roadway, resulting in him sustaining «multiple, serious injuries.»

The incident occurred on July 15, 2025, in Oklahoma City. Melgar-Rivas was arrested several hours later. He was charged by a federal grand jury with assaulting, resisting, or impeding a federal officer resulting in bodily injury and pleaded guilty on September 30, 2025.

The office said Melgar-Rivas will be deported after serving his 78-month sentence.

In response to the sentencing announcement, Ries emphasized that «there are severe consequences for assaulting and harming ICE agents, federal agents, and this sentence expresses that.»

Ries pointed to a DHS statistic from February stating there have been 180 vehicular attacks on federal agents, constituting a 3,300% increase in vehicular attacks against ICE since President Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office.

Ries linked this rise in attacks to what she referred to as an organized and concerted effort to «cause division and disruption in the U.S.» and to «prevent deportations to keep the left in political power.»

ICE ASSAULTS SPIKE 1,500% AS DEMS DRAW ‘HARD RED LINE’ TO UNMASK AGENTS IN DHS BATTLE

ICE and DHS agents make an arrest. (Mostafa Bassim/Getty Images)

«Clearly the word went out from trainers, the organizers on the left, who instruct both aliens and rioters, protesters, obstructionists on how to interfere with federal agents conducting their job,» said Ries. «All of these people who are rioting and protesting and obstructing are directed to do so. Perhaps they swap their signs out now for ‘hands off Iran,’ because many of these protests, whether it’s anti-ICE, hands off Iran, hands-off Venezuela, et cetera, et cetera, it’s the same funders, it’s the same organizers, in some cases it’s the very same so-called protesters.»

«None of it is organic, and we need to keep attention on that fact,» she added.

One such attack rocked the nation in January when it resulted in Ross shooting and killing Good in Minneapolis.

According to DHS, criminal illegal immigrant and sex offender Roberto Carlos Munoz-Guatemala dragged Ross 50 yards with his car in Bloomington, Minnesota, while trying to evade arrest. During a traffic stop, Munoz-Guatemala refused to exit his vehicle and tried to flee law enforcement. The department said the ICE officer still had his arm inside Munoz-Guatemala’s vehicle as the illegal immigrant tried to drive away. Ross was hospitalized due to his injuries and received 33 stitches in his right arm and left hand.

Ries said that less discussed is that this rise in violent obstruction «takes a lot of psychological toll and emotional toll on agents.»

‘SCOURGE’ OF SEXUAL PREDATORS, VIOLENT CRIMINALS BEING REMOVED FROM MINNEAPOLIS STREETS DESPITE BACKLASH

Renee Nicole Good moments before she was shot and killed by a federal agent in Minneapolis. (Obtained by Fox News)

«There’s clearly a pattern of aliens and obstructionists using their vehicles to interfere with and even threaten ICE agents. And as an ICE agent or federal agent, when you know that, if yet another car is put into drive and is aimed in your direction, then that goes to the mindset of that agent.»

«We live in the age of rage, where so many people just want to be outraged at anything. And unfortunately, they become useful tools of these leftist leaders and funders to do their bidding,» she said.

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This, Ries said, is why it is so critical that people understand the serious risks and consequences of attacking agents or interfering with operations.

«If [Good] had not been interfering with ICE agents doing their job that day, she’d still be alive. If she complied with agents’ orders to get out of the car, she would still be alive,» she said. «So, this news of this sentencing needs to go to those in Minneapolis and around the country to comply with officers, to not interfere.»

Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.

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A massive joint air campaign by the United States and Israel is dismantling Iran’s missile network in what officials and analysts describe as one of the most coordinated allied operations in modern warfare.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the campaign is rapidly establishing dominance over Iranian skies. 

«Starting last night and to be completed in a few days … the two most powerful air forces in the world will have complete control of Iranian skies,» Hegseth said Wednesday. «Uncontested airspace.» 

«We will fly all day, all night … flying over Tehran, flying over Iran, flying over their capital… Iranian leaders are looking up and seeing only U.S. and Israeli air power every minute of every day until we decide it’s over.»

Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview Tuesday that «the cooperation between us and the American military is amazing. We have mutual planning and mutual executing for the plans in Iran and beyond.»

John Spencer, executive director of the Urban Warfare Institute, told Fox News Digital Israel effectively matched the U.S. military’s opening airpower surge. 

«Israel matched the United States in the number of aircraft in the air,» Spencer said. «For Israel, that represents roughly 80% of its air force capability.»

He added that the level of coordination between Washington and Jerusalem represents a new model for allied warfare. 

«This isn’t separate work,» Spencer said. «This is combined work. Integrated, synchronized operations combining powers.» 

«In the past we’ve had coalitions of dozens of countries,» Spencer said. «But having a partner that is both willing and capable of bringing immense capabilities like this is very rare.»

Largest Israeli air operation in history

The Israeli campaign, known as Operation Roaring Lion, began with roughly 200 fighter jets launching the largest coordinated air operation in the history of the Israeli Air Force. 

Within the first 24 hours of the campaign, Israeli fighter jets already had opened a corridor allowing sustained operations over Tehran, according to the Israeli military.

Israeli aircraft struck missile launch sites and air defense systems across western and central Iran in an opening wave targeting hundreds of sites simultaneously using intelligence gathered by Israel’s Intelligence Directorate and the CIA.

In the joint operation, Israeli aircraft dropped hundreds of munitions on approximately 500 targets, including missile launchers, command centers and air defense batteries.

The opening strike achieved a level of surprise rarely seen in modern warfare, according to Israeli intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder. 

«In 40 seconds, we eliminated more than 40 of the most important people in Iran,» Binder said, referring to senior regime and military officials, including Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. «We are sending a clear message to our enemies — there is no place where we will not find them.»

IRAN’S SENIOR CLERICS ‘EXPOSED’ AFTER BUILDING STRIKE IN QOM, SUCCESSION CHOICE LOOMS

An Israeli fighter jet taking off to launched airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen.  (IDF)

Spencer said the strategy behind the opening strike represents a dramatic shift in modern warfare. 

«What Israel did in this opening campaign just wasn’t imaginable in the history of war. It never happened,» he said. «To start off by cutting off the brain… usually you target the military first. Here they targeted the political and military leadership and had the ability to wipe them out in a matter of hours.»

Spencer, a veteran of the 2003 Iraq War, said the operation reflects advances in intelligence and strike capabilities. 

«I was part of the invasion in 2003,» he said. «Something like this was unthinkable even 20 years ago.»

Massive strike campaign

An IDF spokesperson announced Wednesday what he described as a historic milestone: an Israeli Air Force F-35 fighter jet shot down an Iranian aircraft, marking the first time anywhere in the world that an F-35 has downed a manned aircraft and the first time in 40 years that an Israeli aircraft has shot down an enemy aircraft in combat.

Since the start of the operation, Israeli aircraft have carried out more than 1,600 sorties and deployed more than 5,000 munitions, according to figures released Wednesday.

The strikes have destroyed roughly 300 missile launchers and targeted more than 600 Iranian military infrastructure sites, according to the IDF.

ISRAEL STRIKES IRANIAN LEADERSHIP MEETING CHOOSING KHAMENEI SUCCESSOR

United States Air Force aircraft in a flyover to commemorate Israel’s 75th Independence Day in May, 2023. (IDF Press Office)

Destroying Iran’s missile threat

Israeli intelligence assessments before the operation indicated Iran was accelerating its ballistic missile production with plans to reach 8,000 missiles by 2027. At the start of the campaign, Israel estimated Iran possessed roughly 3,000 missiles.

The strikes already have prevented the production of at least 1,500 ballistic missiles while destroying hundreds already in Iran’s arsenal, according to the IDF. 

Israeli officials say the missile program represented a direct threat not only to Israel but also to American forces and allies in the region. 

«The possession of missiles by a regime that openly declares its intent to destroy the State of Israel constitutes an existential threat,» the IDF said.

A group of men inspects the ruins of a police station struck Monday amid the U.S.–Israeli military campaign in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (Vahid Salemi/AP Photo)

Casualties

Six U.S. service members have been killed, and several others injured, during Operation Epic Fury.

In Israel, 13 civilians had been killed as of Wednesday night and more than 1,000 injured in Iranian missile and drone attacks launched in response to the operation, according to Israeli emergency services. The United Arab Emirates has reported three deaths and 68 injuries since the war started

Precise casualty figures in Iran remain difficult to verify. Media reports say dozens of senior Iranian commanders were killed in the opening phase of the campaign, along with additional military personnel and civilians following strikes on military facilities and infrastructure.

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A firefighter attempts to extinguish a burning car at the site of a direct hit from an Iranian missile strike in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 28, 2026. (Tomer Neuberg/AP Photo)

Fighting on multiple fronts

As the conflict expands beyond Iran, Israeli forces have struck more than 160 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon in recent days. To sustain the multifront campaign, Israel has mobilized approximately 110,000 reservists.

«Wars are contests of will,» Spencer said. «Iran’s strategy is to break the will of the United States and Israel to continue the operation. The question is whether they can endure the pressure long enough to make that happen.»

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