After the United States and Israel attacked Iran, Hezbollah launched drones and rockets at Israel on Monday, prompting Israeli retaliation that has killed dozens of people.
Nearly 60,000 people have fled the fighting, the United Nations said, adding to tens of thousands who were already displaced by a 2024 war between Hezbollah and Israel.
An Israeli military spokesperson published a map on Wednesday of the area in southern Lebanon that he said residents should evacuate, an area amounting to about eight per cent of Lebanese territory.
A day after Israel's defence minister said he had authorised the military to advance and take control of additional positions, Israeli troops had moved into at least nine towns in southern Lebanon, a senior Lebanese security official told Reuters.
The Israeli military said two soldiers were wounded as a result of anti-tank fire, the first reported injuries among Israeli troops since the US and Israel attacked Iran on Saturday.
A spokesperson said the military was "positioning troops a little farther" into Lebanon than before, "to prevent any attacks against the northern communities" in Israel.
Hezbollah Chief Naim Qassem, making his first televised address since the recent hostilities began, said Israel's attacks against Lebanon were a "prepared aggression" and he called for Israel to end its military actions and withdraw from southern Lebanon.
"We will not surrender no matter the sacrifices," Qassem said, adding the response by Hezbollah was "not connected to any other battle".
While Israel has already warned residents to leave dozens of villages in the south, Wednesday's order was the broadest yet, covering an area between the border and the Litani River, which meets the Mediterranean some 10 kilometres north of Tyre, a historic port city and one of Lebanon's biggest.
The Israeli warning told residents to immediately move north of the river "to guarantee your safety".
An Israeli airstrike hit a four-storey building in the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbeck, killing six people and wounding 15, the Lebanese National News Agency reported. It said rescue workers were still searching for missing people.
A strike also hit a hotel in the Beirut suburb of Hazmieh, well outside the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs.
Hezbollah announced a number of attacks on Wednesday, including one using what it described as a precision-guided missile that it said was fired at a military facility in northern Israel, and another with attack drones fired at a base 120km inside Israel.
On Tuesday, missiles fired from Lebanon set off air raid sirens as deep into Israel as its main commercial hub Tel Aviv. An Israeli military source said they were fired by Hezbollah. There was no immediate claim by the group.
The Lebanese health ministry has said 72 people have been killed in Lebanon since Monday and 437 wounded.
