With airstrikes rocking Beirut and Israeli troops advancing against Hezbollah, Lebanon’s government has broken a taboo by proposing the first direct talks with Israel in decades. But Lebanese officials say they want the fighting to end first — and it might be too late for that.

The grim milestone, representing one fifth of the country’s population, was passed on the same day as the Israeli military launched a ground operation.

Amid regular Israeli strikes, officials in Lebanon are working around the clock to keep the country's only international airport open.

Israel and Hezbollah are rapidly escalating a new war that is hitting Beirut and pushing toward a wider ground fight.

After Hezbollah launched rocket fire into Israeli territory on March 2, Israel responded with a large-scale offensive that again displaced many Shi'ite residents and reignited debate over the group.

Israel and Lebanon are expected to hold talks in the coming days aimed at securing a durable ceasefire that would see Hezbollah disarmed, two Israeli officials said on

BEIRUT, March 18 (Reuters) - An Israeli airstrike hit Beirut's Bachoura neighbourhood in the centre of the city on Wednesday, a Reuters witness said, with a loud explosion heard in the area after the Israeli military warned residents to evacuate a building ahead of the strike.