Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz on Monday ordered the military to strike Hezbollah targets in Dahiyeh, the southern suburbs of Beirut, jamming roads with fleeing residents and pushing the Lebanon war into the Lebanese capital for the first time in weeks. Hours later, a U.S. official said Secretary of State Marco Rubio had put a step-by-step de-escalation roadmap to both Beirut and Jerusalem.

The order marks a sharp escalation from the southern Lebanon ground campaign reported in Sunday's edition, when Israeli forces took the 12th-century Beaufort Castle in the deepest push into the country in more than a quarter century. Bringing the air war back to Dahiyeh ties Israel's Lebanon offensive directly to the parallel U.S.-Iran ceasefire talks, which Tehran says cannot be separated from a halt to the fighting in Lebanon.

What was ordered

In a joint statement issued around 7 a.m. GMT, Netanyahu's office said the prime minister and Katz had directed the Israeli military to attack "terrorist targets" in Dahiyeh, citing Hezbollah's "repeated violations" of a ceasefire and "attacks against our cities and citizens." Israel had struck the area only twice since President Trump announced a Lebanon ceasefire on April 16, even as fighting in the south continued.

Katz, in a separate statement, said there would be "no calm in Beirut" if Hezbollah attacks persisted and vowed to turn the area around southern Lebanon's Litani River into "a zone under IDF security control, free of weapons and terrorists."

Al Jazeera correspondent Zeina Khodr, reporting from southern Beirut, said residents began packing immediately after the order was announced. Government-run shelters were already full, she said, and many families were waiting in their cars.

The U.S. roadmap

A U.S. official told reporters Sunday that Rubio had spoken separately with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Netanyahu and proposed a phased plan. In the first step, Hezbollah would stop all attacks on Israel; in return, Israel would refrain from escalation in Beirut. "This would create space for gradual de-escalation and an effective cessation of hostilities," the official said.

The official said Aoun tried to advance the proposal. Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, said he could guarantee "full and immediate commitment to a ceasefire by the resistance" but added, "who will compel Israel to stop its aggression?"

France called for an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting on Monday. French President Emmanuel Macron said "nothing justifies" the escalation, and British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said it had "eroded space for diplomacy."

The numbers

Lebanon's Public Health Ministry said more than 3,412 people have been killed and 10,269 wounded by Israeli strikes since March 2, when Hezbollah opened fire in support of Iran. Israel says 24 of its soldiers and four civilians have been killed over the same span. Lebanese authorities say more than 1 million people have been displaced.

Oil markets read the news as a setback for the broader U.S.-Iran track. Brent crude rose 3.3 percent to $94.10 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate added 3.9 percent to $90.73, after both benchmarks posted their worst week since mid-April. Jorge Leon, head of geopolitical analysis at Rystad Energy, told CNBC that prices could reach "$180 per barrel by August" if talks collapse, or fall to around $70 by year-end if a deal holds.

The counterpoint

Israeli officials cast Monday's order as defensive. Netanyahu's office tied the Dahiyeh strikes to Hezbollah rocket fire on northern Israeli cities, and the group on Sunday said it had carried out 21 operations including a rocket salvo at military infrastructure in Nahariya. The U.S. official briefing reporters placed responsibility for the round of fighting on Hezbollah, said the group was following Iran's directives "without regard for Lebanese interests," and said "the quickest way to protect civilians and reduce escalation is for Hezbollah to cease fire immediately."

France's call for an emergency Security Council session went out Monday. Rubio's roadmap remains on the table, awaiting a Hezbollah answer that Berri said only Israel could unlock by holding its fire first.