Vehicles drive along an expressway against the backdrop of smoke rising after a strike on the Iranian capital of Tehran on March 5, 2026.
As the war in the Middle East concludes its first week on March 7, the conflict has shown no signs of slowing, with a steady stream of attacks and statements continuing to fuel tensions.
Fresh strikes rocked Iran and Lebanon on March 6, as Israel vowed to escalate to a new phase in the war.
"We are now moving to the next phase of the operation," Israel's military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said in a televised statement.
"We have additional surprises ahead which I do not intend to disclose," he added.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also announced "firepower over Iran and over Tehran is about to surge dramatically.”
U.S. President Donald Trump also noted it would be a "waste of time" to send ground troops into Iran, but has insisted he would "have to be involved" in choosing Iran's next leader.
AFPTV images from Beirut's southern suburbs showed mangled buildings and burned-out vehicles after heavy Israeli bombing overnight, with tens of thousands fleeing the destruction.
Powerful explosions shattered the skies above Iran's capital Tehran early on March 6, as Israel said it was striking "regime infrastructure" in the city.
Internet coverage is running at about one percent, according to monitor group Netblocks, limiting information about the impact of the war on ordinary Iranians.
In Tehran, the war has emptied the usually traffic-jammed streets, but residents told AFP that security forces are keeping a tight grip on the population.
The powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) "has closed almost every main street with armed personnel and heavy machine guns to frighten people,” a 30-year-old Tehran resident told AFP from Paris.
"The people are the real enemy in their eyes, not the Americans. Their extremists say first you have to deal with the enemy at home."
Israel and the U.S. launched their attacks on Iran on Feb. 28 in a barrage that killed Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The conflict has drawn in Israel's neighbor Lebanon after militant group Hezbollah launched missiles in support of its backer Iran.
Israel struck several towns in the south of the country overnight, with widespread destruction in the southern Beirut suburbs, considered a Hezbollah stronghold and home to an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 people.
The streets were completely deserted on March 6 morning, the only movement being a bulldozer working to remove debris.
Hundreds of families milled around on a Beirut beach, left with nowhere to go.
"We fled from the suburbs, we were humiliated," one man told AFP, declining to give his name.
Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam warned that a "humanitarian disaster in looming" from the displacement, saying the consequences could be "unprecedented."
