Israel stepped up air strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon and told civilians in the south to leave areas near where the group operates, as hostilities between the two sides intensified.

Israel targeted several towns on Monday including Tyre and Bint Jbeil in the south, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported, while the northern Jbeil reported its first missile hit — some 170 kilometers (106 miles) from the border. The Lebanese Health Ministry said at least one person was killed and six were injured in an air strike on the eastern town of Hermel.

In northern Israel, hundreds of thousands of people rushed to bomb shelters after 150 projectiles were fired. Hezbollah has access to a new type of rocket that can reach as far as 100 kilometers and carry 170 kilograms of explosives in its warhead, the group said on its Telegram channel over the weekend.

Israel is looking to destroy Hezbollah’s launchers, missiles and rockets to degrade the Iran-backed group’s military capabilities and is focusing on an aerial campaign for now, an Israeli military official said, indicating a ground invasion isn’t imminent. The person asked not to be identified discussing sensitive information.

The two sides have been exchanging cross-border rocket fire almost daily since Israel’s war with Hamas erupted last October, but the conflict has stepped up a level in the past week. The US is urging restraint and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has spoken to Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant several times in recent days, stressing “the importance of achieving a diplomatic solution,” the Pentagon said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he shares that objective, but such efforts have failed to stop Hezbollah’s attacks. His cabinet has made the return of tens of thousands of displaced civilians a primary war objective, while Gallant has indicated a shift of focus north from the battlegrounds of Gaza.

Netanyahu is scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly at its summit in New York this week, though his travel itinerary hasn’t yet been published.

The escalation in fighting, which until last week remained within the so-called rules of engagement, came after Hezbollah and Lebanon blamed Israel for blowing up thousands of pagers and walkie talkies, mostly used by members of the group, in a two-day operation in Lebanon that killed at least 39 people, including civilians and children, and injured thousands.

Israel’s Increasingly Focused On the Threat of Hezbollah

Hezbollah said the attack was a major blow to its security and vowed to respond.

On Friday, Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander in an air strike on a building in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where the group has a strong presence. The bombing killed many other fighters and senior individuals who local media said were in a meeting. The death toll from the air strike rose to 52 and Civil Defense teams are still searching for survivors, according to health officials.

Civilians in the south of Lebanon should “immediately move out of harm’s way,” a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces, Daniel Hagari, said in a briefing on Monday. Residents of some villages reported they received phone calls urging them to leave their homes.

Lebanon’s Information Minister Ziyad Makari received a similar call to evacuate the building he was in.

Hagari said it’s possible Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar has been wounded or killed in air strikes on Gaza, after local media reported he has recently been incommunicado.

“Regarding what has surfaced over the last day about Sinwar, I do not rule it out nor do I confirm it,” he said.

The Israeli government says Sinwar masterminded the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the ongoing war in Gaza. Last month, he was promoted to succeed the group’s political head, Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran, and is now the point-man for long-running truce talks mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt.

Hezbollah started firing on Israel on Oct. 8 in solidarity with Hamas. Both groups are backed by Iran and designated as terrorist organizations by the US.

Nigerian lawyers and human rights activists have reportedly spoken out against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over its alleged violation of former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello’s fundamental rights.

According to further reports, the Anti-Corruption and Transparency Network (ACTN) described the EFCC’s actions as “intimidation, harassment, and clampdown” on Bello’s rights.

The group condemned the act at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday morning and expressed concern over the EFCC’s invasion of the Kogi State government lodge in Abuja in a “gestapo manner,” firing live ammunition, despite Bello voluntarily submitting himself to the commission earlier.

According to a statement co-signed by Barr. Real M. Dennis and Johnson Ochefu, its convener and co-convener, the allied forces disclosed that such an approach has no place in Nigerian law and demonstrates the EFCC’s disregard for the rights of Nigerians and defendants.

The group added that former Governor Yahaya Bello still has the right to be protected and respected by any law-abiding organization due to his past political position.

They also criticized the EFCC’s actions, claiming that the case against Bello is a grand conspiracy by political enemies to silence him and diminish his growing political influence.

“We are here as a coalition of about 300 reputable lawyers and human rights activists to address the press on the concerning developments regarding the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in its case with the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, H.E. Alhaji Yahaya Bello,” the statement said.

“As a coalition that has keenly followed this case, we were pleased that Alhaji Yahaya Bello voluntarily submitted himself to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which had previously declared him wanted, to clear his name.

“However, we were perturbed that the EFCC, which had posted pictures of Bello on all their platforms as a wanted person and even notified Interpol to assist in bringing him to justice, allowed him to appear before them yesterday but refused to interrogate or arrest him as they deemed fit.

“According to his media office, they instead asked him to leave, saying they would get in touch with him, only to turn around and invade the Asokoro government lodge of Kogi State in a gestapo manner, firing live ammunition in an attempt to arrest someone who had been in their office earlier that same day.

“As informed Nigerians and human rights activists, we wish to condemn this intimidation, harassment, and clampdown on the fundamental rights of former Governor Yahaya Bello by the EFCC. This action of the EFCC has no place in our laws.”