Hezbollah appears on the backfoot, rattled, and forced to contend with a new reality after unprecedented attacks in Lebanon.

Israel has responded to Hezbollah’s fire with strikes in southern Lebanon, and has struck senior figures from the group in the capital Beirut. The exchanges have killed hundreds in Lebanon and dozens in Israel and forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents on each side of the border.

Jets were reported flying over Beirut during a speech by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, causing panic among Lebanese residents already tense from recent blasts attributed to Israel.

Israeli warplanes shattered the calm over Beirut on Thursday as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah delivered a fiery televised speech from an undisclosed location. Nasrallah accused Israel of crossing a "red line" following the remote detonation of rigged communication devices that killed 37 and injured over 3,

Hezbollah leader says attack on the group's communication devices was a 'severe blow' that crossed a 'red line'

But his keenly-awaited address was disrupted by the sound of sonic booms from low-flying Israeli jets ringing across the Lebanese capital. Minutes before he began, the IDF confirmed it had also struck a series of Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.

Israeli writer and journalist Yossi Melman claims a regional agreement backed by the US and moderate Arab states would “solve the problem” in the Middle East.