The Israeli military on Thursday warned people to evacuate communities in southern Lebanon that are outside a U.N.-declared buffer zone, signalling that it may widen a ground operation launched earlier this week against the Hezbollah militant group.

Israel told people to leave Nabatieh, a provincial capital, and other communities north of the Litani river, which formed the northern edge of the border zone established by the UN Security Council after the two sides fought a war in 2006. 

-AP