No one in Lebanon wants a new war but the truth is the previous one never stopped

As far as the people of Lebanon are concerned, this is a war that nobody wants - even members of the Iran-backed militia, Hezbollah.

Regardless, the people of Lebanon have been swiftly dragged into this fast-expanding conflict. "Nobody wants this, but it's happening," one Lebanese businesswoman told me with heavy sigh.

Hezbollah said it fired rockets and drones at a missile facility in northern Israel, "in retaliation" for the assassination of Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. But if you were thinking that members of the Lebanese Shia community, who form Hezbollah's support base, were on board with that decision, you would be wrong.

On the streets and in the cafes of southern Lebanon and in Beirut's southern suburbs, people have been expressing their frustration and anger. "It's so stupid," said one.

"What exactly they are trying to prove?" If they have proven anything over the past 24 hours, it is their intrinsic weakness as a political-military organisation. In response to Hezbollah's attack, the Israelis have hit targets in Dahieh section of Beirut, as well as the Bekaa Valley and villages in the south.

They have also ordered the residents of 55 towns and villages to evacuate. Read more from Sky News:UK working on plans for mass evacuationRAF base hit, with more drones intercepted And that follows a 13-month conflict fought by both sides through 2024 where Hezbollah was both battered and humiliated.

Its ranks were infiltrated by Israeli intelligence, and its senior leadership were assassinated in mass airstrikes. The war caused much damage, and many thousands of people - both civilians and combatants - died as result.

Members of the Lebanese government, of which Hezbollah forms a part, are furious. The country's prime minister, Nawaf Salam, said the militia group's attack on Israel was "a violation of cabinet decisions".

He called on the cabinet to "ban Hezbollah's military activities.