A top Iranian official has pledged his country’s unwavering support for Lebanon after talks with Lebanese leaders on the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Israel is sending troops into villages farther from its border, in what some former senior security officials worry could turn into a war of attrition.

The World Bank estimated that about $8.5 billion worth of damages and losses have piled up from the year-long war in Lebanon, which had already been struggling with a devastating economic crisis.