Iran, which backs both Hezbollah and the Hamas militants who run the Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip, launched dozens of missiles into Israel on Tuesday night, another escalation in a tit-for-tat cycle that is pushing the Middle East closer to a regional war.
Some in the Israeli government clearly want to go even further, seeing a moment that could be exploited to reshape the Middle East.
The losses were the deadliest suffered by the Israeli military on the Lebanon front in the past year of border-area clashes between Israel and its Iranian-backed Lebanese foe.
Also on Tuesday, Iran launched some 200 ballistic missiles at Israel, and warned of a "harsher" attack if Israel responds in kind.