23:55 The Lebanese health ministry said that at least 21 people were killed on Sunday in Israeli strikes on three different areas in southern Lebanon.
Nine people were killed and 38 wounded in a strike on Haret Saida, near the port city of Sidon, the ministry said, with at least seven others including a nurse and three rescuers killed in the southern village of Ain Baal and five in Burj al-Shemali.
22:30 A source from Hamas told Al-Arabiya that the group is coordinating with Hezbollah regarding ceasefire efforts, emphasizing that the two fronts cannot be separated.
21:30 Hezbollah said in a statement that it launched multiple rocket barrages over the past few hours at the northern settlements of Kiryat Shmona, Nahariya, and Eilat Hashahar.
21:00 Lebanon health ministry says 167 health care personal have been killed and 275 others injured since 7 October 2023.
19:40 Lebanon's National News Agency reported that "three martyrs fell in the targeting of a new center for the Resala Society" according to the Civil Defense in the town of Ain Baal.
15:00 Hezbollah said it fired rockets at a military base in northern Israel.
The Lebanese group stated it targeted a “military industries base north of Haifa with a large rocket salvo,” after issuing an evacuation warning on Saturday for large areas of northern Israel.
14:00 The Israeli military urged residents of 14 villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate immediately and move north of the Awali River.
In a post on X, Avichay Adraee, the Israeli military's Arabic-language spokesperson, claimed that Hezbollah elements, facilities, or weapons are nearby, warning that those who remain risk being killed.
The Israeli army has repeatedly issued evacuation orders during its month-long assault on Lebanon.
13:00 At least three people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Zawtar al-Sharkiya in southern Lebanon, Lebanon’s health ministry said.
On Saturday, the ministry reported that five people were killed and one injured after an Israeli airstrike targeted Marjayoun, also in southern Lebanon.
12:00 The Israeli military said on Sunday that four soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon, bringing the total number of Israeli soldiers killed to 36 since the start of the ground assault on September 30.
The soldiers "fell during combat in southern Lebanon," the army said in a statement, adding that they were killed on Saturday.
A man inspects the debris and damage at the site of overnight Israeli airstrikes that targeted Beirut's southern suburb of Hadath. AFP
11:30 In his first public comments since recent Israeli attacks, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei stated that only Iranian officials should determine how best to demonstrate Iran's power to Israel.
"The evil committed by the Zionist regime two nights ago should neither be downplayed nor exaggerated," Iran's official IRNA news agency quoted Khamenei as saying on Sunday.
Israel “should understand the strength, will, and initiative of the Iranian nation,” Khamenei added, emphasizing that the approach should be “determined by officials and guided by what is in the best interest of the people and the country.”
11:00 A Hezbollah drone struck an aviation factory in the Bar Lev industrial zone in Acre, northern Israel, Israeli media reported.
Two Israelis were injured in the attack, according to local reports.
The factory produces aerospace metal components for civilian and military clients, its LinkedIn page says.
The Israeli army confirmed that a drone launched from Lebanon hit the industrial zone, adding that further details were under investigation.
photo taken from the southern Lebanese city of Tyre shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a nearby village. AFP
10:00 The official National News Agency stated shortly after midnight that Israel had "targeted the southern suburbs of Beirut."
Earlier, the Israeli army urged residents in two neighbourhoods within Beirut's southern suburbs to leave their homes, releasing maps highlighting buildings targeted in Burj al-Barajneh and Hadath.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported a total toll exceeding 2,600 killed and 12,200 wounded in the past year.
According to the United Nations Children’s Agency, ongoing conflict in Lebanon has displaced 1.2 million people, including over 400,000 children.
Israeli raids also continued across several towns and villages in southern Lebanon, hitting border areas such as Khirbet Silm, Kounine, Jdeidet Marjeyoun, and Siddiqin.
In the Bekaa region, Israeli aircraft targeted Jarmash in Hermel, near the Syrian border, more than 12 hours after raids had paused, according to Al Arabiya.
Separately, the Israeli army announced early Sunday that it intercepted two drones from Lebanon over open areas after sirens sounded in Western Galilee and Upper Galilee, according to the Jerusalem Post.
The Israeli army also reported intercepting another drone "from the east," which did not enter Israel, per the Times of Israel.
09:00 Iran warned on Saturday it would defend itself after Israeli air strikes killed at least four soldiers and further stoked fears of a full-scale war in the Middle East.
Israel warned Iran would "pay a heavy price" if it responded to the strikes, and the United States, Germany and Britain demanded Tehran not escalate the conflict further.
US President Joe Biden said he hoped "this is the end" after the pre-dawn Israeli strikes, noting that "it looks like they didn't hit anything other than military targets".
Biden had urged Israel to spare nuclear and oil facilities in its retaliatory strikes and the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that no nuclear sites were hit.
The European Union called for all parties to exercise utmost restraint to avoid an "uncontrollable escalation".
Other countries, including many of Iran's neighbours, condemned Israel's strikes and some, such as Russia, urged both sides to show restraint and avoid what Moscow dubbed a "catastrophic scenario".
Iran insisted it had the "right and the duty" to defend itself, while its Lebanese ally Hezbollah said it had already launched rocket salvos targeting five residential areas in northern Israel.
Saturday 26 October
22:45 Iran's military said Saturday that only radar systems were damaged in pre-dawn Israeli strikes on Tehran and other provinces and said it was prioritising a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon, according to AFP.
"Thanks to the timely performance of the country's air defences, the attacks caused limited damage and a few radar systems were damaged," the armed forces general staff said in a statement read out on state television.
"A large number of missiles were intercepted and enemy aircraft were prevented from entering the country's airspace," the statement said.
Israeli aircraft were reduced to firing a "small number of long-range missiles with very light warheads from a distance", inside the US-patrolled airspace of neighbouring Iraq, it added.
The general staff held back from any threat of immediate retaliation.
"While reserving its legal and legitimate right to respond at the appropriate moment, Iran is prioritising the establishment of a lasting ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon," it said.
22:00 Iran has raised the death toll from the Israeli airstrikes against its military infrastructure on Saturday morning from two to four.
In a statement on Saturday, the Islamic Republic of Iran Army said: "Two soldiers were martyred while defending the country’s security and preventing harm to the Iranian nation and interests. Two others were injured while defending Iran's airspace and later succumbed to their wounds."
20:40 Hezbollah announced that 25 Israeli settlements in the Galilee have become a legitimate miltary target for its missile and drone divisions as the Israeli army uses them as bases, and urged its inhabitants to evacuate immediately.
In a video message released on Telegram and other social media platforms in Arabic and Hebrew, Hezbollah released the names and satellite maps for the settlements the Lebanese group said it would be targeting with missiles and drones.
"To all those living in those settlements, you are asked to immediately evacuate. Your settlements have been transformed into bases for the enemy army that is attacking Lebanon. For this reason, they have become legitimate targets for the missile and drone forces of the Islamic resistance."
Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes carried out strikes against various villages and towns in south Lebanon on Saturday evening, including Marjioun, Nabatiya, Talousa, and Sadikin.
Israeli sources said five soldiers were killed in firece battles with Hezbollah in south Lebanon on Saturday, according to Al Jazeera.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army said 61 soldiers were wounded in fighting in south Lebanon in the past 24 hours.
19:05 US president Joe Biden said he hopes the Israeli strikes on Iran overnight were “the end."
Biden said it appeared that Israel had only struck military targets in its attack on Iran.
18:50 Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Saturday that Iran was determined to defend itself after Israeli warplanes struck military bases and missile sites in several Iranian provinces, killing two soldiers.
"I think we've shown that our determination to defend ourselves knows no limits," Araghchi said in an interview with the official website of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
18:30 The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain affirmed that the Kingdom while expressing its condemnation of the Israeli military operation against the Islamic Republic of Iran, expresses its deep concern over the continued escalation of tensions and military operations in the Middle East region.
In a statement, the ministry warned their serious repercussions on innocent civilians and the aggravation of the catastrophic humanitarian situation.
18:00 According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, 19 people have been killed and 108 have been wounded in Israeli airstrikes in the past 24 hours.
The death toll from Israeli bombardment of Lebanon since 8 October 2023 has reached 2,653 and those wounded over 12,360, announced ministry on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the ministry said an EMT was killed and five others wounded in an Israeli airstrike on Bazouriya in south Lebanon.
Israeli airstrikes continued against Khiyam and other villages and towns in the south of the country, according to Al Jazeera.
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Roummane on October 26, 2024. AFP
17:45 Hezbollah said it fired rockets at five areas in northern Israel on Saturday.
The Israeli army said the Lebanese group fired about 80 projectiles across the border.
In a series of statements, Hezbollah claimed rocket salvos in five areas in northern Israel, including the outskirts of Krayot near Haifa.
17:20 The Egyptian foreign ministry expressed "grave concern" over the latest escalation, stating it "condemns all actions that threaten the security and stability of the region."
It also renewed its demand for respect for international law, international humanitarian law, and the United Nations Charter, stressing the importance of upholding national sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity.
The Algerian foreign ministry "strongly condemns and denounces" Israel's military strikes on Iran, which it called "heinous aggression", and called on the international community to halt Israel from escalating conflict in the region.
Neighbouring Tunisia similarly issued a statement warning of "severe consequences" of Israel's strikes on Iran and calling on "the international community to urgently assume its responsibilities to put an end to this reckless approach."
Qatar described the attack as a "blatant violation of Iran’s sovereignty and a clear breach of international law," according to a foreign ministry statement.
Saudi Arabia condemned Israel and its strikes on Iran as a "violation of its sovereignty" and international laws, urging all parties to "exercise the utmost restraint and reduce escalation."
Unlike the regional outcry, main Western countries again rallied behind Israel.
The United States urged Iran to stop attacking Israel to break the cycle of violence "without further escalation," claiming Israel's "response was an exercise in self-defence."
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Iran should not respond to the Israeli strikes, urging restraint on all sides. "I am clear that Israel has the right to defend itself against Iranian aggression. I’m equally clear that we should avoid further regional escalation and urge all sides to show restraint. Iran should not respond," he told a news conference in Samoa, where he attended a Commonwealth leaders’ meeting.
Germany also aligned with this stance, rallying behind Israel and warning Iran against any "escalation."
See more regional and international reactions here.
16:50 The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, mourned the death of "commander and leader of the Qassam Brigades's Tulkarem Battalion, Islam Jamil Odeh (from Tulkarem Camp)" in a statement on Saturday.
In a joint statement, the Israeli military, police and domestic security agency Shin Bet said that they conducted a "counterterrorism operation in Tulkarem to eliminate Islam Odeh," who they accused of planning "terror attacks."
In a statement published by the Palestinian Islamist movement, Hamas official Mahmud Mardawi "mourned the martyr Al-Qassam fighter Islam Odeh, who was killed after clashing with occupation forces that besieged him for hours in a house in Tulkarem camp."
"The assassination policy will not bring security to (Israel), nor will it succeed in breaking our people's resolve or their commitment to resistance."
Israeli crackdown in the West Bank has soared since the satrt of the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza on 7 October 2023.
Since then, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 744 Palestinians in the West Bank, according to the Ramallah-based health ministry.
People inspect the damage following an Israeli raid in Tulkarem in the north of the occupied-West Bank on October 26, 2024. AFP
15:50 Lebanon's health ministry said a paramedic was killed in an Israeli strike on a medical centre in south Lebanon, which left five others wounded.
"The Israeli enemy's raid on a medical centre in Bazuriyeh resulted in" the death of a rescuer with the Islamic Health Committee.
It brings to 164 the number of rescuers and paramedics killed in Lebanon since Hezbollah and Israel began trading cross-border fire last year, the health ministry said.
14:00 Hezbollah movement said it targeted an intelligence base in northern Israel near the city of Safed with rocket fire.
In a statement, Hezbollah said "a rocket salvo" had targeted Meishar base which it called Israel's "intelligence headquarters for the northern region."
13:05 Iran condamned the Israeli aggression on its territory and said it has "duty" to defend itself.
"Iran has the right and the duty to defend itself against foreign acts of aggression," the foreign ministry said in a statement, citing Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.
The Ministry called the attacks a "clear violation of international law" and the UN Charter, particularly regarding the prohibition against threats or the use of force against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of nations.
12:20 Hezbollah said it targeted Israel’s Tel Nof Airbase, south of Tel Aviv with drones.
11:14 The Lebanese News Agency said the Israeli warplanes launched an airstrike on the town of Meifdoun in Nabatiyeh.
The agency's correspondent in Tyre reported that an airstrike targeting the outskirts of the town of Tayr Debba.
Earlier in the morning, Israeli aircrafts had carried out a series of airstrikes on the towns of Kounine, Jmaijmeh, and Yater in the Bint Jbeil district, it said.
A drone also launched a missile strike on the Al-Baraka neighborhood in the town of Shaqra. Simultaneously, the town of Hanin was subjected to artillery shelling.
11:00 The Israeli aircraft launched at least eight raids on southern Beirut.
The raids were concentrated on Haret Hreik, Al-Kafaat, Burj Al-Barajneh, and the Al-Laylaki area, and led to great destruction in the areas.
09:25 The Israeli army said it intercepted two drones crossing into Israel from Lebanon.
"Following the sirens that sounded between 08:39 (05:39 GMT) and 08:41 in the Upper Galilee area, the air force)intercepted a UAV that crossed into Israel from Lebanon," the army said in a statement, later adding that another drone had also crossed and been intecepted.
09:00 Israel attacked Iran with a series of airstrikes early Saturday, claiming it was targeting military sites in response to the retaliation barrage of ballistic missiles the Islamic Republic fired upon Israel earlier in the month.
Explosions could be heard in the Iranian capital, Tehran, though the Islamic Republic said the strikes targeted military bases in Ilam, Khuzestan and Tehran provinces and caused “limited damage,” without elaborating.
The United States warned against further retaliation, indicating that the overnight strikes should end the direct exchange of fire between the Israel and Iran.
Friday 25 October
20:00 EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell condemned Israel’s targeting of journalists in southern Lebanon, stressing that those reporting on the Israeli escalation in the region must be protected.
“Journalists are paying a heavy price while covering the Middle East conflict,” Borrell said in a post on X, urging the protection of Journalists.
"Press freedom and access must be guaranteed & journalists protected, always," he stressed.
The statement comes after the deaths of three journalists who were killed in an Israeli strike on a compound known to house journalists and media workers in southern Lebanon.
In earlier statements, Borrell said the international community must speed up efforts for a political solution in Lebanon, to end the Israeli escalation and prevent a wider "conflagration".
The top diplomat said the first step needed was a "ceasefire" between Israel and Hezbollah.
"We are currently engaged in a race against time between the possible start of a political process in Lebanon and a generalised conflagration with incalculable consequences," Borrell said.
"Without a suspension of hostilities, nothing will be possible," he said.
19:00 Two people died after being wounded by shrapnel from a rocket barrage launched by Hezbollah in Lebanon into northern Israel on Friday, a hospital and the army claim.
"A 22-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman were pronounced dead after they were brought in critical condition," the hospital's spokesman said in a statement.
The Israeli army earlier said about 30 projectiles from Lebanon had been intercepted near the Arab town of Majd al-Krum in the Galilee region, and that debris from them was identified falling.
The army claimed in a separate statement that as of 4:00 pm (1300 GMT), about 45 projectiles fired by Hezbollah crossed into Israel from Lebanon.
Hezbollah said its fighters on Friday afternoon targeted Karmiel with "a large rocket salvo", referring to the city near Majd al-Krum.
"We heard a loud noise from a nearby explosion and began receiving reports of injuries at the shopping centre," said Muhammad Hibi, a paramedic from Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel's first responders.
He said in a statement that seven other people were wounded.
18:00 US Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed to work with "real urgency" for a diplomatic resolution to end Israel's escalation in Lebanon.
Shortly after meeting Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati in London, Blinken also pleaded for protection of civilians but stopped short of urging an immediate ceasefire by Israel, which relies on US diplomatic and military support.
"We have a sense of real urgency in getting to a diplomatic resolution and the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, such that there can be real security along the border between Israel and Lebanon," Blinken told reporters, saying he was "intensely engaged".
Resolution 1701, approved in 2006 after an earlier war, calls for the disarmament of non-state groups in Lebanon -- an allusion to the Hezbollah movement, which has long guarded the country's southern border -- and for a full Israeli withdrawal from the country.
Blinken said it was critical to "get the understandings that are necessary for the full implementation of 1701".
"The sooner we're able to do that, the sooner we're able to get a resolution," he added.
He called for protections in the meantime of both civilians and Lebanese soldiers, at least 11 of whom have died since Israel launched its invasion a month ago.
"We want to make sure that in places like Beirut, there is a real effort to make sure that people are unharmed and civilians are not caught up in this crossfire," Blinken said.
17:00 US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Lebanon's prime minister that UN peacekeepers in the country must be protected, the State Department said, after the force reported further firing by US ally Israel.
Blinken during the meeting in London "expressed support for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon and underscored that the safety and security of their personnel is essential," the State Department said in a statement.
16:00 The United Nations said Israel's airstrikes on a Lebanese border crossing with Syria is jeopardising the main escape route for people trying to flee the Israeli escalation in Lebanon.
"This is hindering and really putting at risk a main lifeline that people use to escape the conflict in Lebanon and cross into Syria," Rula Amin, Middle East spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency, told a media briefing in Geneva.
The latest Lebanon crossing targeted by Israel was the Jusiyah crossing at the Syrian-Lebanese border, north of the Bekaa region in eastern Lebanon, according to media reports.
The Lebanese government has been unable to begin reconstruction efforts for any of the targeted border crossings, as the Israeli military has threatened to bomb them again, The Cradle reported, citing Lebanon's Public Works and Transport Minister Ali Hamiye.
Israel's carpet bombing of Beirut's southern suburbs, as well as towns and villages in southern Lebanon, the Beqaa Valley, and northern Lebanon since mid-September has turned more than 1.2 million people into refugees.
The head of the UN refugee agency warned in early October that civilians in Lebanon are being endangered by Israel's relentless bombardment campaign that has left many trapped under fire.
In early October, an Israeli strike cut off the main international road from Lebanon to Syria, where hundreds of thousands have fled Israel's assault for relative safety in neighbouring Syria.
UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi estimates that 220,000 people have crossed the Lebanese-Syrian border -- 70 percent of whom are Syrians and the rest Lebanese.
14:00 Hezbollah said its fighters hit two Israeli tanks near a south Lebanon village on Friday, after earlier claiming they hit another tank elsewhere along the border.
Hezbollah fighters hit "two Merkava tanks on the outskirts of Adaysseh with guided missiles", the group said, after earlier saying fighters had struck another tank near the village of Marwahin.
Hezbollah earlier said its fighters launched "an air attack with a swarm of explosives-laden drones" on an Israeli military base located east of Safed, shortly after announcing it had fired "a salvo of rockets" at the town.
13:00 The UNIFIL released a statement saying that “the security situation [in South Lebanon] is extremely challenging” despite extensive measures to protect the safety and security of its peacekeepers.
The statement explained that, early in the morning on 23 October, two medevac teams meeting at Yarin to transfer a patient came under fire of unknown origin. “One vehicle was immobilized and had to be left at the scene.”
In the evening that same day, a medical facility at a UNIFIL position in Beit Leif was hit by a shell or rocket of unknown origin, causing damage to buildings, the statement added.
Later, two shells or rockets, also of unknown origin, impacted near a UNIFIL position in Kafer Chouba, causing damage to living accommodations and shelters. Peacekeepers in both positions were in shelters at the time and no peacekeepers were hurt, the statement read.
“All actors are reminded of their obligation to avoid actions putting peacekeepers or civilians in danger. We continue to urge all actors involved in the conflict to resolve their differences at the negotiating table, through a political and diplomatic solution — not through violence,” the statement concluded.
12:30 US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Lebanon's prime minister to discuss Israel's strikes and month-long escalation on the country.
Blinken, on his way back from a Middle East tour, met in London with Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who came in from a conference on Lebanon in Paris the day before.
12:00 Lebanon's prime minister accused Israel of intentionally targeting journalists after a strike in the country's south on Friday killed three media workers, calling it a "war crime."
"The new Israeli aggression targeting journalists" was among the "war crimes committed by the Israeli enemy", Najib Mikati said in a statement, adding the attack was "deliberate" and "aims to terrorise the media to cover up crimes and destruction".
11:00 Lebanon's health minister said that more than 160 rescuers and health workers had been killed in Israeli strikes, during more than a year of in year of Israeli strikes on Lebanon
"The total number of rescuers and health sector workers killed has so far has reached 163, with 272 others wounded," Firass Abiad told reporters during a press conference detailing "damage caused by Israeli attacks on the health sector in Lebanon".
10:30 Lebanon's Transport minister said Israeli bombing made a second border crossing between the country and Syria inoperable -- leaving only one main official passage between the two nations operational.
"The Qaa crossing has been put out of service after an Israeli strike on Syrian territory," Ali Hamieh told AFP, adding that the strike blocked the passage of vehicles.
On 4 October, Israel hit near the Masnaa crossing, the main international passage between Lebanon and Syria, leaving a crater on the road and putting the crossing out of order. Human Rights Watch said the strikes prevented civilians from fleeing and hampered aid operations.
9:00 Three journalists were killed in an Israeli strike at dawn that targeted a building known to be housing reporters in south-eastern Lebanon.
Two journalist working for Al-Mayadeen Network were killed in the strike. The outlet identified them as cameraman Ghassan Najjar and broadcast engineer Mohamed Reda.
A third journalist working for another outlet, Al-Manar, was also killed in the strike. The news outlet identified him as cameraman Wissam Qassem.
The guesthouse in southern Lebanon’s Hasbaya was being used by more than a dozen journalists from at least seven media organizations.
Outside of the now-collapsed building are cars clearly marked with 'PRESS' covered in dust and rubble, Associated Press reported.
An Al Jazeera correspondent reporting from the site of the attack said "there was no warning given" before the Israeli strike.
Journalists from other media organizations, including the Lebanese broadcaster Al-Jadeed, Sky News Arabic and Al Jazeera English, were also nearby when the overnight strike happened, Deutsche Welle reported.
"The Israeli enemy waited for the journalists' nighttime break to betray them in their sleep," Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary said in a post on X.
"This is an assassination, after monitoring and tracking, with prior planning and design, as there were 18 journalists there representing seven media institutions. This is a war crime."
The Lebanese health ministry said three others were injured in the blast.
Israel has killed five reporters in prior Israeli strikes in Lebanon, according to a BBC tally, including Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah who was killed by Israeli tank fire in an attack that injured six other journalists last October.
Thursday 24 October
23:45 The Israeli army announced that a platoon commander, two officers, and two soldiers were killed in battles in south Lebanon.
Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes carried out intense strikes against residential buildings in Dahiya in south Beirut on Thursday evening.
22:45 On the southern front, Israeli warplanes struck an entire block of residential buildings housing10 families on Hoga Street in Jabalia refugee camp in north Gaza, killing and wounding more than 150 civilians on Thursday evening.
According to Anas Al-Sharif, Al Jazeera reporter in north Gaza, an unknown number of victims are still under the rubbles.
It was the largest massacre committed by the Israeli army in northern Gaza since Israeli airstrikes killed nearly 90 Palestinians in Beit Lahia to the north of Jabalia last week.
"No civil defence, no reporters can respond, no coverage. There is nothing but death and destruction," said Al-Sharif on his X account.
"Hospitals have stopped functioning. Civil defense has stopped. Tens of thousands of families remain trapped. No food. No medicine. No water."
"Save north Gaza! North Gaza is being exterminated," pled the Palestinian reporter.
Since early October, the Israel mad bombing campaign against northern Gaza has left more than 770 killed, hundreds wounded, and destroyed hundreds of residential units in an attempt to ethnically-cleanse the area from its Palestinian population.
21:45 Qatar Airways announced on Thursday the temporary suspension of its flights to and from Iraq, Iran, and Lebanon until further notice, citing the ongoing situation in the region.
In a statement, the airline said it plans to operate its flights to Jordan exclusively during daytime hours, adding that it will closely monitor developments and keep customers updated.
“The safety of our passengers remains its top priority,” the company said.
Due to escalating tensions from the Israeli war on Gaza and Lebanon, several international airlines have suspended flights to Beirut and Tehran, as well as Baghdad and other countries in the Middle East.
Airlines operating routes between Europe, the Middle East, and South Asia have also been forced to take more circuitous routes.
20:45 The Israeli army confirmed on Thursday that four of its soldiers were killed in battles in southern Lebanon on Wednesday.
In a statement, the Israeli army provided the names of the four soldiers, saying the troops "fell during combat in southern Lebanon."
On Wednesday, Israeli sources said four soldiers were killed and at least 15 woumded in battles with Hezbollah fighters in southen Lebanon.
The death toll among Israeli troops fighting in southern Lebanon has risen to 26 since the military launched a ground operation in late September, according to an AFP tally based on official military figures.
Hezbollah, on the other hand, said its fighters have killed at least 70 Israeli soldiers since the start of the ground invasion.
18:30 Gaza's civil defence agency said Thursday more than 770 people have been killed since Israel started an intensive assault on Jabalia and other towns in the north of the territory in early October.
"Since the start of the military operation in northern Gaza more than 770 people have been killed," said Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for Gaza's civil defence agency, adding that the toll could rise as there were people buried under the rubble.
He also said a strike on a school-turned-shelter in central Gaza killed 17 people.
Israeli airstrikes on north, central, and south Gaza killed 28 and wounded dozens on Thursday, according to Al Jazeera.
The civil defence agency also said on Thursday it can no longer provide first responder services in the north and accused Israeli forces of threatening to bomb and kill its crews.
Israel has been carrying out a campaign of ethnic cleansing in the north of Gaza since early October by conducting massacres in Jabalia and Beit Lahia, destroying hundreds of residential units, bombing hospitals, and enforcing an all-out ban on the entry of food and water to civilans, thus forcing thousands to flee toward the centre of the strip.
Israel's war on Gza has killed 42,847 people and wounded more than 100,000 in Gaza, the majority women and children, according to figures from Gaza's health ministry.
17:30 World powers raised $1billion to ease the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon and support its army at a conference in Paris on Thursday.
France’s foreign minister urged Israel to heed the message to reach a ceasefire in the war and focus on diplomacy.
The Israeli war on Lebanon has killed more than 2,500 and wounded more than 12,000 since 8 October 2023, according to Lebanese health officials.
Israeli carpet-bombing of Dahiya in South Beirut, towns and villages in the south and Beqaa Valley and the north of the country since mid-September has turned more than 1.2 millions into refugees.
16:30 Israeli warplanes pounded various parts of Lebanon on Thursday with strikes against towns and villages in the south of the country, including Khiyam and Dwair, and other towns and villages in the Beqaa Valley.
On the other side, Hezbollah announce targeting Neshrit military base near Haifa with missiles and Ramut Neftali military camp in Galilee with drones.
Meanwhile, the Financial Times quoted an Israeli military official as saying that Tel Aviv wants to implement UN Resolution 1701 in a way that allows it to "operate freely to defend our borders."
13:45 Lebanese media reported that two people were killed in an Israeli strike on a vehicle on the main road linking Beirut with the eastern part of the country and Damascus, Syria.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah said it launched a large rocket salvo at the northern Israeli town of Safed, after earlier announcing it had targeted an Israeli military base near Haifa.
Israel’s military reported that 95 rockets have been launched from Lebanon at Israel since this morning.
Israel's ambulance service reported that two people were seriously wounded during a rocket barrage on the northern Israeli coastal city of Nahariya.
Hezbollah also said its fighters were engaged in heavy clashes in the village of Aita al-Shaab at close range, adding that they had hit a Merkava tank that came to assist the troops.
13:00 Germany pledged 96 million euros ($103 million) for crisis-hit Lebanon at a Paris aid conference.
"At today's Lebanon Support Conference, Germany is pledging a total of 96 million euros in additional funds to help address the crisis in Lebanon," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The funds will be directed to United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations, including the German Red Cross and the Lebanese Humanitarian Fund, "to assist internally displaced people and to ensure social, economic, and institutional stability in Lebanon," the ministry added.
This picture shows the rubble of destroyed buildings the site of last night's Israeli airstrike that targeted the Laylaki neighbourhood in Beirut's southern suburbs. AFP
12:20 Russian President Vladimir Putin told a BRICS summit that the Middle East is on the verge of full-scale war.
"The military action that started a year ago in Gaza has now spread to Lebanon. Other countries in the region are also affected," Putin said at a meeting in Kazan attended by several world leaders.
"The level of confrontation between Israel and Iran has sharply risen. This is all reminiscent of a chain reaction and puts the whole Middle East on the verge of full-scale war," he added.
Putin emphasized that violence in the Middle East will not end until the creation of an independent Palestinian state. He described this as "correcting the historical injustice towards the Palestinian people."
"Until this question is resolved, it will not be possible to break the vicious circle of violence."
Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping also called for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon.
"We need to continue to push for a ceasefire in Gaza, relaunch the two-state solution, and stop the spread of war in Lebanon," Xi said on the final day of the BRICS summit.
"There should be no more suffering and destruction in Palestine and Lebanon," he added.
11:30: France will provide aid worth 100 million euros to Lebanon, President Emmanuel Macron announced at an international conference in Paris aimed at rallying humanitarian and military aid for Lebanon.
"France will contribute 100 million euros" towards a 500-million-euro ($540-million) target for aid to displaced people, Macron said, adding: "The war must end as soon as possible."
Macron also stated that the conference would support the recruitment of 6,000 new troops for the Lebanese army and would provide essential supplies.
Speaking about the UN peacekeeping force, UNIFIL, Macron said it needed to adapt its role to current circumstances, and criticized attacks on it by Israeli forces, calling them unjustified.
11:00 Israel’s army spokesperson claimed that Hezbollah is using ambulances to transport its members and weapons, warning that Israel will target vehicles “regardless of their type.”
Without providing evidence for the claim, Adraee called on medical teams to avoid dealing with Hezbollah members and not to cooperate with them.
Israel’s military has again ordered Lebanese citizens to avoid moving toward the southern part of the country, where it has launched a fresh wave of strikes.
The Lebanese government states that 1.2 million people have been displaced from their homes due to the widespread Israeli airstrikes on the country.
France's President Emmanuel Macron (C) speaks next to Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati (2-L), Lebanon's Foreign Affairs Minister Abdallah Bou Habib (L), France's Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (2-R) and France's Minister of the Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu (R) during an international press conference in support of Lebanon, in Paris. AFP
10:30 Israel’s army reported that around 50 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israel this morning.
It stated that some of the projectiles were intercepted, while fallen projectiles were located.
Earlier, Israel's ambulance service reported that two people were wounded during a rocket barrage aimed at the northern Israeli coastal city of Nahariya.
10:00 An aid conference for Lebanon opens in Paris Thursday in the hope of raising hundreds of millions of dollars, with hosts France also targeting diplomatic progress for the war-ravaged country.
But in the absence of key players, any political breakthrough appears remote around the conflict, which has so far claimed more than 1,500 lives and displaced 700,000 people.
Israel launched a ground offensive in southern Lebanon in late September after a year of exchanging fire with the Hezbollah group over the border.
Paris is also seeking an increase in humanitarian aid for a country with historic ties and a large diaspora in France.
Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told broadcaster RTL on Wednesday that around 70 countries and 15 international organisations would attend, vowing France "will not let Lebanon down".
"Everyone we invited said yes," he added, referring to a list that did not include Iran or Israel.
There has been uncertainty over what level of officials would attend the conference from each participating country, although Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati will be present.
"The president is doing his job by organising a summit to show that he's not abandoning the people of Lebanon, but I don't expect much from it," said Agnes Levallois of France's Iremmo Middle East research institute.
Nevertheless, the conference "is at least happening", said Hasni Abidi of the Geneva-based Cermam centre on the Arab world. He called the conference "the only diplomatic movement underway" since France and the United States pushed at last month's UN General Assembly for a temporary ceasefire in Lebanon.
09:00 "The Israeli enemy targeted Lebanese army personnel in the vicinity of Yater village, in the Bint Jbeil area of the south, while carrying out an operation to evacuate wounded, which led to the deaths of three martyrs, including an officer," an army statement said.
Smoke rises following an Israeli air strike on the village of Khiam in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel. AFP
Wednesday 23 October
23:00 Israeli warplanes pounded various parts of the Dahiya in southern Beirut on Wednesday evening.
The intense Israeli airstrikes triggered massive explosions rocked the entire Lebanese capital and beyond and sent whole residential buildings up in flames.
The intense bombing of Dahiya comes at the end of a day in which Israeli warplanes carried tens of airstrikes against various cities, towns, and villages in southern Lebanon and the Beqaa Valley, killing and wounding dozens of civilians.
It also comes on the heels of fierce battles between Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops in the south of the country all day long.
Israeli sources had said earlier that four Soldiers were killed and 15 wounded in battles with Hezbollah fighters on Wednesday.
Also earlier, Hezbollah said it targeted an Israeli military base south of Haifa and use Air-to-Surface missiles to repel Israeli warplanes over Lebanese skies.
22:10 Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in Beirut reported that an Israeli airstrike targeted the Hezbollah-affiliated network's office in Dahiya on Wednesday evening.
The network had evacuated its office at the onset of the aggression on Lebanon in mid-September.
21:45 Hezbollah announced on Wednesday that it had used "precision missiles" and new types of drones for the first time in ongoing clashes with Israeli forces along the Lebanese border, Reuters reported.
The group said in a statement, issued through its operations room, that it had successfully pushed back Israeli troops during confrontations in several border villages in southern Lebanon.
It announced targeting an Israeli warplane with an Surface-to-Air missile for the first time since clashes started between the Lebanese group and Israel on 8 October 2023.
"The enemy's losses amounted to more than 70 dead and more than 600 wounded, and 28 Merkava tanks, four military bulldozers, an armoured vehicle, and an armoured personnel carrier were destroyed, in addition to three Hermes 450 drones and one Hermes 900 drone," Hezbollah said.
Meanwhile, Israeli sources said four soldiers were killed and 15 others were wounded in an explosion of a landmine in a battle with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, according to Al Jazeera.
21:30 Israel pounded various towns in Beqaa Valley, southern Lebanon, and Dahiya in southern Beirut on Wednesday evening.
Lebanese state media said an Israeli drone strike hit an apartment in the Jnah neighbourhood of south Beirut on Wednesday, as raids targeted the nearby suburbs of Ouzai and Haret Hreik.
"A enemy drone strike targeted a residential apartment in Jnah near the former location of the Iranian embassy," the official National News Agency said, also reporting other strikes in the suburbs of Ouzai and Haret Hreik which were not preceded by an Israeli evacuation warning.
20:30 Hezbollah said its fighters launched "an air attack with a swarm of explosives-laden drones" on the Tayrat Carmel military base near Haifa in northern Israel.
Sirens blurred and sounds of explosions were heard in Tel Aviv and operations halted at Ben Gurion International Airport after reports of a rocket targeting the city.
Hezbollah said that the Israeli army was not fully in control of any village in south Lebanon, where the Lebanese group is fighting Israel's forces at close range.
"The enemy army has not been able to fully establish its control or completely occupy any village" in southern Lebanon, the group said in a statement.
19:45 Ezzeddine Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, announced that its fighters have attacked the headquarters of Israeli military operations in Jabalia in northern Gaza, killing and wounding several soldiers, according to Al Jazeera.
The announcement comes as fierce battles continued between Qassam and the Israeli army on the 18th day of a mass-extermination-style Israeli military operation and siege on Jabalia refugee camp and another town in the northern part of the strip, which killed more than 700 people and destroyed hundreds of residential units.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops forcedly expelled thousands of displaced Palestinians from the Khalifa bin Zayed School in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza as Israel continued pushing the civilian population out of the north of the strip.
On a related note, the Palestinian civil defence forces issued a plea to the international community to pressure Israel to stop targeting its staff as they try to respond to continuous bombardment.
18:45 In first reactions to Hezbollah's confirmation that its leader Hashem Safieddine was killed in an Israeli airstrike, Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran which backs the Lebanese group, said: "Many of the resistance's prominent leaders have been martyred but the resistance front has not been weakened and it is fighting with the same force."
File Photo: Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine addresses mourners during the funeral of a Hezbollah commander, Taleb Abdallah, in Beirut's southern suburbs. AFP
18:00 Hezbollah mourned on Wednesday Hashem Safieddine, who was slated to lead the Lebanese group after the Israeli assassination of Hassan Nasrallah in mid-September, saying he was killed along with other fighters in an Israeli air raid.
Earlier on Wednesday, Lebanese media reported that the body of Hashem Safieddine, head of Hezbollah's Executive Council, was recovered from the rubble in Al-Mreijeh, southern Beirut, late on Tuesday, along with 23 fighters.
Safieddine, 60, had been floated as a potential successor to Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli strike on 27 September.
Israel's army confirmed Tuesday it killed Safieddine in a strike in a southern Beirut suburb three weeks ago.
The news comes amid intensified Israeli strikes targeting senior Hezbollah figures.
Before his death, seven high-ranking officials, including Nasrallah, were assassinated in Israeli operations.
The other officials include Nabil Kaouk, Ibrahim Akil, Ahmad Wehbe, Ali Karaki, Mohammad Surour, and Ibrahim Kobeissi, along with several other commanders killed in combat.
Additionally, more than 1,550 people have been killed in bombardment by Israel since the air campaign on Lebanon last month, according to an AFP tally updated with new figures released on Tuesday.
Naim Qassem, the deputy secretary-general, is currently Hezbollah’s acting head until a replacement for longtime leader Nasrallah is chosen.
17:00 Israeli jets struck multiple buildings in Lebanon's southern coastal city of Tyre on Wednesday, sending large clouds of black smoke into the air.
The state-run National News Agency reported that an Israeli strike on the nearby town of Maarakeh killed three people. There were no reports of casualties in Tyre, where the Israeli military had issued evacuation warnings before the strikes.
Lebanon's Hezbollah group meanwhile fired another barrage of rockets into Israel, including two that set off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv before being intercepted.
Tyre, a provincial capital, had largely been spared in the Israeli war on Lebanon, but strikes in and around the city have intensified recently.
The 2,500-year-old city, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of Beirut, is known for its pristine beaches, ancient harbour and imposing Roman ruins and hippodrome, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is among Lebanon’s largest cities and a vibrant metropolis popular with tourists.
A man gestures as he stands on building rubble at the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on October 23, 2024. AFP
The buildings struck on Wednesday were between several heritage sites, including the hippodrome and a cluster of seaside sites associated with the ancient Phoenicians and the Crusaders.
16:00 At least 74 Palestinians were killed and others injured on Wednesday in Israeli air and missile strikes on different areas of the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours, the Palestinian health ministry said, while UNRWA warns that northern Gaza "has become hell."
A medical source reported that four people were killed and others injured in the Israeli bombing east of the Tuffah neighbourhood, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
Meanwhile, two civilians were killed and others injured in a bombing of the Mansour warehouses area in the Beit Lahia project in northern Gaza, where Israel continues to fire its machine guns at homes in the Al-Fakhoura area.
The occupation's warplanes also continue to intensively fire on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, which has been subject to a tight siege, killing, and unprecedented destruction for 17 days.
In the north also, three citizens, two children with their mother, were killed and six others injured in an Israeli missile strike that targeted the Halawa family home in the Zarqa area.
Two other Palestinians were killed when the Israeli forces targeted a civilian vehicle on Salah Al-Din Street, south of Deir Al-Balah, in central Gaza.
Israel has forced thousands of Palestinians to evacuate the area, while the Israeli army has shared propaganda footage showing its soldiers distributing water and candies to the displaced.
Palestinians injured in Israeli bombardment of the Beit Lahia Project area are laid on the floor awaiting treatment at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on October 23, 2024. AFP
15:10 An Israeli airstrike on the town of Maarakeh near the coastal city of Tyre in the south killed three people, Lebanon's National News Agency reported.
Hezbollah fired another barrage of rockets into Israel, including two that set off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv before being intercepted.
14:05 Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian urged members of the BRICS grouping, meeting in Russia, to help end the Israeli wars on Gaza and Lebanon.
"I call on all members of the influential BRICS group to use all their collective and individual capacities to end the war in Gaza and Lebanon," said Pezeshkian during a speech at the BRICS summit.
During his speech, he described the Israeli wars in Gaza and Lebanon as "the most cruel and painful."
14:00 Israel’s army said that about 25 projectiles were fired from Lebanon at north Israel earlier.
It claimed in a statement on Telegram that most were intercepted and fallen projectiles were identified.
Projectiles fired from Lebanon are seen over Acre, Israel, on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. AP
12:30 "Four strikes targeted the city of Tyre after the enemy threatened to bomb it," the National News Agency said, after earlier reporting that "an enemy drone targeted" a "street in Tyre".
"The situation is very bad, we're evacuating people," said Mortada Mhanna, who heads Tyre's disaster management unit.
Bilal Kashmar, the unit's media officer, told AFP that many were fleeing the city and heading towards the suburbs.
"You could say that the entire city of Tyre is being evacuated," he said, adding that the once vibrant southern hub had already been emptied of most of its residents.
Only about 14,500 people were still in Tyre on Tuesday, thousands of them displaced from other parts of the south, he told AFP.
An AFP photographer in the city of Sidon, further north, saw dozens of cars on the coastal highway filled with families carrying mattresses, suitcases and clothes.
"Some families, who had not left the city of Tyre before, began leaving their homes to stay clear of areas that the Israeli enemy threatened to target," Lebanon's official National News Agency said.
Civil defence teams helped transport elderly people and people with limited mobility "to safe areas," the NNA added.
Emergency teams drove around the city, urging people to evacuate over megaphones.
Smoke rises from buildings hit in an Israeli airstrike in Tyre, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. AP
11:50 US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will hold talks on Gaza and Lebanon with Arab FMs in London Friday: US official said.
Blinken just arrived in Riyadh as he renewed his bid to broker diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
"There remains, despite everything that's happened, an incredible opportunity in this region to move in a different direction," he said before leaving Tel Aviv.
11:23 An Israeli drone struck on a street in Tyre, Lebanese state media reported.
"An enemy drone targeted" a "street in Tyre," the National News Agency said. AFPTV footage showed a plume of thick black smoke rising from the city.
Reporters say at least four strikes hit the city.
11:10 Israeli media reports that earlier one woman was “lightly wounded” by shrapnel after a rocket was fired at Herzliya, on Israel’s coast, north of Tel Aviv.
10:30 Lufthansa has announced that it is extending the suspension of flights serving Beirut until the end of February 2025.
Lufthansa flights to Beirut had already been suspended until November 30. Beirut’s international airport remains open, but Lebanese flag carrier Middle East Airlines is the only airline offering a significant number of departures.
The German airline also said on Wednesday it would extend the suspension of services to the Iranian capital Tehran until the end of January. They had previously been halted until 31 October.
The German airline group already extended the suspension of flights to Tel Aviv to 10 November.
It added that the group's Eurowings airline also "will extend the suspension of its flights to Tel Aviv up to and including November 30."
Lufthansa had already announced that it would avoid Israeli airspace up until at least 31 October and that it would not use Iranian and Iraqi airspace "until further notice," except for a corridor in Iraqi airspace for departures and arrivals to Erbil.
10:00 US Secretary of State Blinken's departure from Tel Aviv was delayed due to the activation of sirens in central and northern Israel.
Sirens warning of potential attacks have sounded in central and northern Israel, Al Jazeera reported.
The Israeli army said it intercepted two projectiles fired from Lebanon. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
Smoke, apparently from one of the interceptions, could be seen in the sky above the hotel where Blinken was staying.
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted an area in Beirut’s southern suburbs. AFP
09:31 The Israeli airstrikes have killed 10 people and wounded 31 others in south Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon’s health ministry.
The ministry said that five people were killed and 10 others were wounded in an Israeli strike on Baalbeck-Hermel province in the Bekaa Valley. Five more were killed in an Israeli strike on the Ksar Zaatar neighbourhood in the Nabatiyeh province in south Lebanon.
The strike also wounded 21 people.
09:23 Jordan’s Foreign Minister announced late Tuesday that Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will postpone his visit to Jordan, which was originally scheduled for Wednesday.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Safadi spoke to Blinken by phone Tuesday and stressed the importance of a regional cease-fire and putting an end to Israeli wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
Safadi will instead travel to Paris to participate in an international ministerial conference about Lebanon, hosted by France.
09:10 The Israeli army continues to force the Lebanese to leave their homes, issuing more evacuation orders for residents of parts of the south city of Tyre ahead of a new attack.
The army's spokesman posted again a map of the affected streets in Tyre on X, saying: "You must immediately move out of the area marked in red and head north of the Awali River."
09:00 Hezbollah launched "a rocket salvo" at "the Glilot base of the military intelligence unit... in the Tel Aviv suburbs," the group said in a statement.
It said the rocket fire was "in response to attacks and massacres committed by the Zionist enemy."
Israel's army said it had killed the cleric tipped to succeed slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an air strike on Beirut three weeks ago.
Hezbollah has not stated the Israeli claims to have killed Hashem Safieddine.
Israel assassinated longtime Hezbollah leader Nasrallah on 27 September in an Israeli air strike on Beirut's southern suburbs.
This picture taken from the area of Marjeyoun in southern Lebanon (R) on the border with northern Israel (L) shows smoke billowing over the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Killa. AFP
Tuesday 22 October
22:15 Lebanon’s health ministry said two separate Israeli strikes on Tuesday evening killed at least 10 people in the country’s south and northeast as Israel pummels more sites.
In two separate statements, the ministry said five people were killed and 10 others wounded in the northeastern Hermel region near the Syrian border, and five more were killed and 21 wounded in the southern city of Nabatiyeh, which has endured Israeli attacks for days.
21:45 The deputy commander of the Israeli Battalion 9308 was killed in the fighting in south Lebanon, the Israeli army said late on Tuesday
20:15 Hezbollah said it launched attack drones at an Israeli military base south of the coastal city of Haifa on Tuesday, with the group also saying it struck seven tanks at the border.
Fighters launched "attack drones" on a "base south of Haifa," the group said, also throughout the day that it had fired on a total of five Israeli tanks inside Lebanese territory and two across the border in Israel's north.
19:30 Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that more than a million Israelis rushed into shelters on Tuesday afternoon when sirens warned of hostile drones targeting Israel. The sirens began in the Western Galilee city of Nahariya.
They continued south through the Haifa Bay area, the city of Haifa, the Jezreel Valley, and onward, toward the country's centre.
18:45 The UN rights chief said Tuesday he was “appalled” by a deadly Israeli strike near a south Beirut hospital Monday, demanding a “prompt and thorough investigation”.
“I am appalled by the Israeli strike near Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut’s densely populated Jnah neighbourhood that reportedly killed at least 18 people, including four children, and wounded 60 others,” Volker Turk said in a statement.
“The fundamental principles of international humanitarian law concerning the protection of civilians must be respected.”
17:30 At least 18 people were killed, including four children, and 60 were wounded in an Israeli strike on Monday near Beirut’s main government hospital, the health ministry said on Tuesday.
Israeli jets hit a site close to the Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut.
The director of the hospital said that due to the Israeli attack, nearby debris, probably from heavy ammunition, had caused damage to the medical facility.
More than 1,550 people have been killed in bombardment by Israel since it intensified its air campaign on Lebanon last month, according to an AFP tally updated with new figures released on Tuesday.
17:00 Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Jordan’s King Abdullah II held talks Tuesday on efforts to halt fighting in Gaza and Lebanon, the Saudi foreign ministry said.
The pair held discussions “related to the security and stability of the region, including efforts made to stop the ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon and reduce escalation,” the ministry said in a statement as the Jordanian ruler visited the Saudi capital Riyadh.
16:40 Human rights group Amnesty International said Tuesday that the Israeli military's bombing of branches of a financial firm in Lebanon should be "investigated as a war crime".
The Israeli military hit branches of the financial organization Al-Qard al-Hassan across Lebanon late Sunday and early Monday.
The firm, a lifeline for many Lebanese in the face of a years-long financial crisis, is sanctioned by Washington, which accuses Hezbollah of using it as a cover to gain access to the international financial system.
16:10 Three paramedics were wounded on Tuesday in an Israeli strike on south Lebanon while on a rescue mission coordinated with UN peacekeepers, the Lebanese Red Cross said.
Four ambulance teams were dispatched to the southern city of Nabatiyeh in coordination with UNIFIL following a strike there, the Lebanese Red Cross said, adding that "the site was bombed again and three...volunteers were injured and are being transported to hospital".
15:50 An Israeli strike hit Beirut's southern suburbs Tuesday just minutes after a Hezbollah official cut short a news conference in the area, an AFP video journalist said.
Journalists hastily left the press conference held by Hezbollah spokesperson Mohammed Afif after the Israeli army warned people near two buildings in the Ghobeiri area to evacuate.
The official National News Agency said Israeli aircraft then carried out a strike in the area.
15:20 Israel's army called on residents of a southern Beirut suburb to evacuate ahead of an army attack in the area.
"For your safety and the safety of your family, you must evacuate these buildings and the surrounding ones immediately and move at least 500 meters (yards) away," the army's spokesman wrote on X alongside a map showing two specific buildings.
15:00 Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a drone attack last week targeting the home of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Hezbollah "declares its full, complete and exclusive responsibility for the Caesarea operation targeting... Netanyahu," spokesman Mohammed Afif told reporters.
14:30 Hezbollah spokesman says financial firm will 'fulfil obligations' towards depositors after Israel carried out airstrikes on Lebanon, including 11 on Beirut's southern suburbs, many of which targeted the branches of the Al-Qard Al-Hassan finance organization, on Monday.
Al-Qard Al-Hassan, which in Arabic means “the benevolent loan," is a registered nonprofit organization in Lebanon.
It provides financial services, is used by ordinary Lebanese, and has more than 30 branches across Lebanon including 15 in densely populated parts of central Beirut and its suburbs.
In a statement, Al-Qard Al-Hassan called the decision to target it a sign of Israel’s “bankruptcy” and assured customers it had taken “measures” to ensure their funds were safe.
The strikes were condemned by the United Nations.
13:40 A senior State Department official has revealed to the BBC that Secretary of State Antony Blinken's journey to the Middle East will centre on five key priorities aimed at addressing critical issues in the region.
First, Blinken intends to engage with Israel and others to strategize on bringing an end to the ongoing conflict in alignment with the objectives outlined by US President Joe Biden. This includes the imperative of securing the release of Israeli captives and alleviating the suffering of the Palestinian people.
Additionally, discussions will revolve around developing a comprehensive post-conflict plan for the Gaza Strip to pave the way for stability in the region. Blinken will also delve into the details of humanitarian aid distribution in Gaza, building upon initiatives articulated in a recent letter.
Furthermore, the agenda includes dialogues with Israeli officials concerning a resolution to the conflict with Hezbollah. Blinken will also engage with Arab states to explore avenues for bolstering institutions in Lebanon, with a specific focus on supporting the Lebanese Armed Forces.
Lastly, Blinken will address Israel's anticipated response to Iran.
13:30 The Israeli army issued another evacuation order for residents of Al-Haush in southern Lebanon.
In a post on X, the Israeli army’s Arabic-language spokesman wrote that “the military is operating within your town… you must immediately evacuate your homes and move at least one kilometre outside the town.”
More than 1.2 million residents have been displaced in Lebanon, with over a quarter of the country under evacuation orders.
13:00 One child was amongst the 13 who were killed in an Israeli strike near a south Beirut hospital, the Lebanese health ministry said.
Rescuers were still searching for survivors beneath the rubble on Tuesday as they heard cell phones ringing under chunks of concrete.
The strike on Monday night came as Israel hit again Beirut's southern suburbs.
12:00 Hezbollah said it hit an Israeli tank in south Lebanon on Tuesday, also saying it faced an Israeli infiltration attempt and clashed with troops in the area a day before.
Hezbollah fighters targeted "a Merkava tank as it advanced" near the south Lebanon border village of Taybeh, "causing it to catch fire," the group said in a statement, adding that fighters had clashed with Israeli troops on the village's outskirts on Monday.
11:20 Iran's neighbours have pledged they will not allow the use of their "soil or airspace" for any attack, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, as Israel weighs a retaliation for the Islamic Republic's missile strike.
"All our neighbours have assured us that they won't allow their soil or airspace to be used against the Islamic Republic of Iran," Araghchi told a press conference in Kuwait, weeks after Iran's retaliatory attack on Israel.
Before Kuwait, Araghchi was in Bahrain on Monday as part of a regional tour that has also taken him to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Iraq, Egypt and Turkey.
"We are monitoring closely the movements of American bases in the region and are aware of all their movements and flights," Araghchi said, adding: "If Israel attacks Iran in any form, Iran will respond in the same format."
The United States, Israel's staunch ally, has military resources across the region.
Araghchi also repeated Iran's warnings against Israel not to attack its nuclear facilities.
"Attacking nuclear sites is a big international crime; even threatening (to attack) nuclear sites is a crime and against international rights," he said.
"To defend ourselves and our nuclear sites, we have our tools and methods, and we count on them," the minister added.
11:15 An official told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that during his visit to Israel, US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken plans to speak to Israeli leaders about the expected military strike on Iran and discourage any move that could massively escalate regional conflict.
The region is on high alert as it braces for Israel to attack Iran.
It is not clear yet how Israel will respond to Tehran’s ballistic missile attack. The US president, Joe Biden, has cautioned against striking Iranian oil facilities after he had suggested Washington was “discussing” such action. Some of the other targets Israel could try to strike are Iran’s cluster of missile and drone bases, its economic infrastructure or its oil terminals.
11:00 At least 13 people were killed and 57 injured in an Israeli airstrike on Monday near Hariri Hospital, Beirut’s main government hospital, the health ministry said Tuesday, revising upwards its initial death toll of four.
Another 57 people were injured in the strike near Lebanon’s biggest public hospital, located a few kilometres from the city centre, the health ministry said.
9:40 The south of Beirut has been hit by 13 strikes late Monday, Lebanese state media reported. Israel earlier issued evacuation orders for parts of the city's southern suburbs.
Smoke rises from areas targeted by an Israeli airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburbs late Monday. AFP
9:00 Hezbollah said it targeted two positions in the suburbs of Tel Aviv, including an intelligence base for the second time in a few hours.
A "salvo of rockets" was fired against the "Glilot base of the 8200 military intelligence unit", the group said in a statement, after having targeted Monday night the same position.
Also Tuesday, the group said it fired rockets at another position in Tel Aviv's suburbs.
The Israeli army said five projectiles were fired from Lebanon into Israel and said Israel’s missile defence system intercepted most. One landed in an open area.
It said that at the same time, about 15 projectiles were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel.
The rocket fire came as Israel stepped up its war on Lebanon, as Israeli troops pushed ahead in their invasion of southern Lebanon.
Monday 21 October
23:20 Israel army says Hezbollah fired about 170 projectiles into Israel Monday
23:10 "An Israeli air strike targeted the Ouzai area. This is the first targeting of the Ouzai district since the start of the Israeli aggression on Lebanon," the National News Agency said.
The NNA also reported strikes in the Haret Hreik neighbourhood, just south of Ouzai, and near Lebanon's largest public hospital.
AFPTV footage showed plumes of smoke rising from Beirut's southern suburbs, with AFP correspondents also hearing several loud bangs before the strikes.
22:30 Speaking to Al Jazeera late on Monday, Hezbollah Member of Parliament Ali Fayyad stated that the coming period will witness more intensified efforts from the resistance movement.
Fayyad highlighted Hezbollah's approach of draining the enemy's resources and disrupting their stability and warned that any Israeli ground incursions would subject the enemy to significant resistance losses.
He asserted that the enemy has reached a stalemate, having exhausted its bank of targets and facing a dilemma in current circumstances.
According to Fayyad, Hezbollah has successfully revitalized its leadership structure and operational framework.
Cautioning against hasty interpretations of the battlefield, Fayyad stressed the priority of halting aggression and securing a ceasefire. He noted the absence of any significant enemy advancements in the past 15 days.
Fayyad underlined the pivotal role of Hezbollah's strength in countering Israeli aggression as a cornerstone of the government's political stance, delineating a separation between confrontations and diplomatic initiatives.
21:30 The Israeli army said on Monday it will carry out more strikes against Beirut and throughout Lebanon.
21:00 Israel's airstrikes on different parts of Lebanon have killed 17 people, including four first responders, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.
The ministry said six people, including a child, were killed Monday in an airstrike on a house in the northeastern city of Baalbek. Four others were killed in the southern village of Kharaeb and four, including a paramedic, were killed in the nearby village of Babilyeh.
Three other paramedics were killed in separate airstrikes on the villages of Khirbet Selem, Bir el-Sanasel, and Deir Zahrani.
Israel has killed 2,483 people in Lebanon and 11,628 have been wounded since it started its attacks on the country last year, the ministry said.
The Israeli military had said it struck about 300 sites in Lebanon over the past 24 hours, in a widening air campaign now.
Israel also hit Al-Qard al-Hassan, in a strike on a civilian financial institution that has been condemned by the United Nations.
20:30 The United Nations condemned on Monday Israeli strikes the night before targeting a Hezbollah-linked firm, saying it caused "extensive damage" to civilian property and infrastructure.
"We condemn the heavy Israeli bombardment of various urban and residential areas... which the Israeli military says targeted various facilities affiliated with the Al-Qard Al-Hassan financial association," the UN Human Rights Office in the Middle East and North Africa said in a statement.
The attacks caused "extensive damage to civilian objects," it said, including "residential properties, civilian infrastructure, and business premises".
The Rights Office added that the attacks also triggered "indescribable panic and another wave of displacement among residents of those areas".
"International humanitarian law must be always respected. Civilians and civilian infrastructure are not a target," it said, calling for a ceasefire.
20:00 Visiting US envoy Amos Hochstein said Monday the basis of a ceasefire was the 2006 United Nations resolution but that it would require full implementation, while Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister says implementing the nearly 2-decade-old UN resolution still offers the best path to ending the Israeli war.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 states that only the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers should be deployed in southern Lebanon while demanding the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese territory.
Attention has focused on the resolution during the latest Israeli war on Lebanon that erupted last month after nearly a year of cross-border fire.
"The commitment that we have is to resolve this conflict based on (UN Resolution) 1701 -- that is what the solution is going to have to look like," Hochstein said on his first visit to Beirut since the war started.
Resolution "1701 was successful at ending the war in 2006 but we must be honest that no one did anything to implement it," he added, saying: "Both sides simply committing to 1701 is just not enough."
"We have to put things in place that would allow for confidence that it will be implemented for everyone," he told a press conference after meeting Lebanon's speaker of parliament Nabih Berri.
"We have to know this is not just going to another round of conflict in a month or a year or two years," he said.
The US envoy was last in Beirut in August, after months of shuttle diplomacy between Lebanon and Israel to avert a full-blown conflict.
19:40 The Hezbollah group said it fired at Israeli soldiers located near the municipality of an embattled south Lebanon border village, where state media earlier said the group clashed with troops who blew up houses.
Hezbollah fighters launched "a rocket salvo" at "Israeli enemy soldiers near the municipality of Aita al-Shaab," Hezbollah said in a statement.
19:20 Israeli strikes meanwhile hit nearly a dozen branches of a Hezbollah-run financial institution where many ordinary people keep their savings.
Two weeks ago, for the first time, the Lebanese army returned fire on the Israeli forces after two Lebanese soldiers were killed in two separate Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon.
The first Israeli strike targeted a Red Cross convoy, while the second hit a Lebanese army centre, the army said.
18:40 Recent reports reveal that in an Israeli airstrike on Merouaniyeh town in the district of Sidon, southern Lebanon, seven Lebanese civilians were killed, with several others injured, marking a tragic toll on the region, according to Quds News Network.
Al Jazeera had reported earlier that an Israeli airstrike reportedly hit the town of Al Marwaniyah in the district of Sidon, south of Lebanon.
18:30 Four rescuers were killed on Sunday in Israeli strikes "targeting rescue teams" in the country's war-torn south in the past 24 hours, Lebanon's health ministry said.
"Israeli enemy strikes in the past 24 hours targeted rescue teams, leading to the following bloody toll," the ministry said in a statement, listing four rescues and paramedics as having been killed in different locations.
18:00 Rockets were launched from southern Lebanon towards the Upper Galilee region and the occupied Golan Heights, according to another Al Jazeera report.
Israel intercepted five unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in the area of the Mediterranean Sea on Monday before they crossed into Israeli territory, the Israeli military said in a statement, reported by CNN.
Israeli media had reported that departing flights at Ben Gurion International Airport were suspended after sirens sounded in numerous northern districts after munitions were launched from Lebanon, although arriving flights were not impacted, reported CNN.
Israeli domestic front authorities had announced alarm sirens sounding in Safed in the Upper Galilee and Nahariya amid concerns of possible drone infiltrations or rocket attacks.
The Israeli military stated that they have intercepted over 35 drones launched from Lebanon over the past week.
17:20 An Israeli strike on the main eastern city of Baalbek killed six people including a child Monday, with Lebanese state media reporting it hit a building in a densely-packed residential area, according to AFP.
"The Israeli enemy strike... in Baalbek killed six people, including a child," the Lebanese health ministry said, and the state-run National News Agency reported that all six were from the same family.
15:20 Germany demanded Israel "clarify every incident" involving the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL), including the destruction of a UNIFIL observation tower and fence.
UN peacekeepers on Sunday said an Israeli "army bulldozer deliberately demolished" a UN observation tower and fence in southern Lebanon.
Berlin voiced "great concern" about the latest in a series of incidents reported by the Blue Helmet force, which have sparked international condemnation.
The German government expects "the Israeli side to clarify every incident" and to release "the results of the investigations into this specific incident," said foreign ministry spokeswoman Kathrin Deschauer.
"The safety of an operation mandated by the United Nations Security Council and its personnel must not be endangered," she added.
15:05 The UN said that more than one million people are now internally displaced in Lebanon.
The UN Refugees representative in the country Ivo Freijsen shared what he has witnessed and said most of the displaced had to flee from one location to another under very short notice.
15:00 The Israeli police have arrested seven citizens who allegedly are paid by Iran to gather intelligence.
In a statement, Israel’s internal security agency and police said that the seven collected information about other Israelis and photographed Israeli military installations, including missile defence systems, air force and naval sites, and power plants.
Iran paid them hundreds of thousands of dollars, often in cryptocurrency, the statement said. It did not provide evidence for the alleged plot.
14:50 Secretary General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit has arrived in Beirut, the Lebanese National News Agency reported.
The Guardian cited Aboul Gheit saying that the league’s priority was to achieve an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon, and he called for Israel’s prompt withdrawal from any Lebanese territories it has occupied or entered.
Aboul Gheit was also asked if Hezbollah could be destroyed, to which he replied: “You cannot destroy an idea”, as reported by the Guardian.
On Sunday, Ambassador Hossam Zaki, Assistant Secretary-General of the Arab League said that the purpose of Aboul Gheit's visit to Beirut is to consult with Lebanese officials on addressing the ongoing Israeli aggression against Lebanon, which necessitates a minimum level of national consensus.
The visit also aims to facilitate discussions regarding the presidential vacancy, which has become a critical priority for completing the country’s constitutional leadership and enabling it to confront significant challenges.
Additionally, the Assistant Secretary-General noted that Aboul Gheit seeks to understand Lebanon's position on the humanitarian and relief situation for those displaced by the aggression, especially in light of the upcoming Paris meeting on the 24th of this month.
14:30 Hezbollah said its fighters targeted "a gathering of Israeli enemy soldiers on the eastern outskirts of the village of Markaba" with three separate rocket salvos, it said, adding one of the attacks caused "certain casualties" and that its fighters also targeted Israeli troops attempting "to evacuate the dead and wounded".
The group also said it targeted troops in an area near Markaba with rockets and fired "artillery shells" at soldiers near Kfar Kila.
14:00 US envoy Amos Hochstein said that a UN Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 Israeli war in Lebanon would be the basis of a new ceasefire, but would require more than just commitments from the warring parties.
"The commitment that we have is to resolve this conflict based on (UN Resolution) 1701 that is what the solution is going to have to look like," Hochstein told reporters, adding that "both sides simply committing to 1701, is just not enough" after years of weak implementation.
Last week, Prime Minister Najib Mikati told AFP his government was ready to bolster the army's presence in south Lebanon if there is a ceasefire.
It would start by recruiting an additional 1,500 troops into the army, and as soon as any ceasefire is agreed it would mobilise soldiers from elsewhere in Lebanon, Mikati said.
13:45 The Lebanese were surveying the damage on Monday after overnight Israeli strikes that bombarded the country.
Bulldozers cleared mounds of rubble at the site of one strike. Clothes, furniture and the remains of a beauty salon were seen in the debris.
A destroyed apartment at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut. AP
Residents check destroyed buildings at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon. AP
Documents of Hezbollah-run al-Qard al-Hassan are scattered at the site of an Israeli airstrike on Sunday night in Beirut. AP
Displaced people who fled Israeli bombardment in Beirut's southern suburbs clash with Lebanese security forces attempting to evict them from a building they were occupying illegally in the Hamra area. AFP
Displaced people who fled Israeli bombardment in Beirut's southern suburbs light fires as they clash with Lebanese security forces. AFP
13:15 Lebanon's official National News Agency said the Israeli army blew up houses in a south Lebanon border village.
"The enemy army blew up houses in the village of Aita al-Shaab," the NNA said,
It also reported heavy clashes between Hezbollah and the Israeli army "which is trying to advance on the ground" in the area, while broadcaster Al Jazeera showed footage of Israeli tanks on the village's outskirts.
12:08 US envoy Amos Hochstein arrives at Ain el-Tineh Palace to hold talks with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
11:15 Iran has written to the UN nuclear watchdog to complain about Israel's threats against its nuclear sites, foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said at a weekly news conference.
"Threats to attack nuclear sites are against U.N. resolutions.... and are condemned... we have sent a letter about it to... the UN nuclear watchdog," Baghaei said in the televised news conference.
Separately, he said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi would travel to Bahrain and Kuwait on Monday as part of Iran's efforts to curb regional tensions, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, Teheran denied an accusation from Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati that it was interfering in Beirut's internal affairs.
"Iran has never had any intention or (taken any) action that could be suspected of interfering in the internal affairs of Lebanon," said the foreign ministry spokesman.
Mikati on Friday offered a rare rebuke of Iran, charging it with "blatant interference" over remarks attributed to its parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on a UN resolution and Lebanon.
In remarks published by France's Le Figaro newspaper on Thursday, Ghalibaf reportedly said his government was ready to negotiate on the implementation of the resolution, which is seen as a precondition for a ceasefire in the war.
"The issue of negotiating to implement international resolution 1701 is being undertaken by the Lebanese state," Mikati said in a statement released by his office.
"Everyone is required to support it in this direction, not to seek to impose new mandates".
Mikati said that Lebanon's foreign minister would summon Iran's charge d'affaires to seek clarification on Ghalibaf's remarks.
10:30 Israel gave the US a document last week with its conditions for a diplomatic solution to end the war in Lebanon, two American officials and two Israeli officials told Axios.
One Israeli demand is that the Israeli army be allowed to engage in "active enforcement," under the pretext of ensuring that Hezbollah doesn't rearm and rebuild its military infrastructure in the areas of southern Lebanon, an Israeli official said.
The official added that Israel also demands its air force have freedom of operation in Lebanese air space.
These two demands contradict UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which states that the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) enforce a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, Axios said.
An American official said it is highly unlikely Lebanon and the international community would agree to these conditions, which would dramatically undermine Lebanon's sovereignty.
10:10 US envoy Amos Hochstein is expected in Beirut where he will hold talks with Lebanese officials on on conditions for a ceasefire with Israel, two sources told Reuters.
Hochstein is set to meet Lebanon's caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati and speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri.
Berri told the Al-Arabiya broadcaster over the weekend that Hochstein's visit was "the last chance before the US elections" to reach a truce and said he would reject any amendments to United Nations resolution 1701, which ended the last bloody Israeli war on Lebanon in 2006.
While Hochstein is likely to push for calm after a year of fighting during which Israel assassinated leaders of both Hezbollah and Hamas, Washington has made it clear it will show unwavering support for Israel despite rising civilian death tolls.
The American army has rushed to Israel its advanced anti-missile system the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System, or THAAD and it is now "in place", American Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said during a trip to Kyiv.
THAAD System is a critical part of the US military’s layered air defence systems and adds to Israel’s already formidable anti-missile defences.
US President Joe Biden said its deployment, along with about 100 US soldiers, was meant to help defend Israel.
09:00 Hezbollah said it had downed an Israeli Hermes 450 drone, without saying where, after Lebanon state media reported heavy Israeli strikes in Beirut, south Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley.
Hezbollah fighters from the group's "air defence units... downed an Israeli Hermes 450 drone," the armed movement said.
The National News Agency reported a strike had landed near Beirut's airport, the main entry point of humanitarian assistance to the country and a major evacuation hub for those fleeing the conflict. Footage showed large plumes of smoke rising close to the facility.
The NNA also reported that 11 strikes in Beirut's southern suburbs, many of them struck Al-Qard Al-Hassan, the charity association.
Its name in Arabic means “the benevolent loan,” and Hezbollah has used it to entrench its support among the population in a country where state and financial institutions have failed in recent years.
The registered nonprofit provides financial services and is also used by ordinary Lebanese.
Sunday 20 October
22:45 Israel warplanes carried out several strikes against Dahiya in Beirut on Sunday evening.
At least three branches of Al-Qard Al-Hassan, a social financing outfit, were hit in the Israeli strikes, the National News Agency reported.
On a related note, the Israeli warmongering against Iran continued.
The Israeli Broadcasting Authority cited an official saying: "We are preparing for a major attack on Iran and are bracing for any future response from it," according to Al Jazeera.
21:30 The UNIFIL, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, said in a statement that "an Israeli army bulldozer deliberately demolished an observation tower and perimeter fence of a UN position in Marwahin."
This violation against a UN post is a stark violation of international law and UN Resolution 1701, said UNIFIL.
20:00 Jordanian FM Ayman Safadi minced no words in denouncing the ongoing Israeli genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza and described the failure of the international community to protect the innocent.
In a post on X, Safadi wrote: "The horror Israel is bringing on the entire population of northern Gaza is inhumane. It is pure evil and a war crime that humanity should not tolerate. This massacre should be faced with decisive international action to stop it immediately, including through imposing an arms embargo and effective sanctions. Israel is starving hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, bombing entire neighbourhoods out of existence, burning displaced children in tents, and destroying hospitals."
19:00 Lebanese state media on Sunday accused Israel of planting explosives and detonating buildings on a wide scale in three border villages.
"The Israeli occupation army is carrying out a large-scale bombing operation in buildings in the towns" of Adaisseh, Markaba, and Rab El Thalathine, the National News Agency reported.
18:30 Hezbollah announced that it has targetted an Israeli drone of the Hermes 900 type and compelled it to withdraw from Lebanese airspace, Al Jazeera reported.
18:15 Fires have broken out in Safed in northern Israel after Hezbollah launched a barrage of rockets from Lebanon.
Planes were seen dropping water and responders were extinguishing fires near houses.
18:00 Hezbollah fighters launched a "rocket salvo" at "the city of Haifa", the group said, adding the attack was "in response to the aggressions on Beirut's southern suburbs in the morning".
Sirens blared in Haifa after the projectiles were fired.
17:30 Hezbollah says it has shelled an Israeli army base in Rosh Pina, northern Israel.
In a post on Telegram, the group says it launched a "large rocket salvo" on the Filon base around 12:30 local time (10:30 BST).
It comes after the Israeli army earlier said sirens sounded in the Upper Galilee area around the same time with about 30 projectiles crossing over from Lebanon.
Some were intercepted by its air force and others fell, it added.
A fire rages on a hill after rockets were fired from southern Lebanon, on the outskirts of Rosh Pinna in the Upper Galilee on October 20, 2024. AFP
15:55 Hezbollah said it attacked Israeli troops in two Lebanon border villages.
15:20 Lebanon army says three of its soldiers were killed in Israel strike that struck an army vehicle on the Ain Ebel-Hanin road in the south.
14:20 Iran announced that one of its citizens, Masoumeh Karbaschi, was killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, along with her Lebanese husband.
Tansim News agency reported that an Israeli drone strike killed the couple while driving on the highway in Jounieh, a Christian-majority city north of Beirut, on Saturday.
Tansim added that eyewitness accounts said the drone fired at a car three times before a man and a woman fled on foot, before being struck down in a field next to the highway.
The Iranian Embassy in Lebanon said in a statement that the couple were killed in "the Zionist regime’s anti-human drone strike on a public area in Lebanon’s Jounieh on 19 October." The embassy condemned the “brutal Zionist” attacks targeting innocent civilians, expressing condolences to the children and relatives of the Iranian woman."
It also called for immediate and effective action from the international community "to protect the lives of innocent people who are under the threat of the Zionist regime's war machine."
14:05 Hezbollah resistance group said it launched "a big rocket salvo" at an Israeli army base east of the northern town of Safed.
The group said the attack was "in defence of Lebanon" and "in response to the Israeli enemy's attacks on villages and homes."
Smoke billows following Israeli bombardment on the hills of the Lebanese village of Kafarshouba in southern Lebanon. AFP
13:00 The Israeli army police have opened an investigation into the death of a Hezbollah detainee while he was in the custody of troops in southern Lebanon, the army said.
No further details were provided on the incident, which occurred between Thursday and Friday, according to Israeli media.
11:45 Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that in case of a large-scale war in the region, the US will be drawn into it and Iran does not want this at all.
"Sinwar's death will not stop Hamas' activities, but will only strengthen the movement's determination and motivate Palestinian youth," Araghchi said in an interview with the Turkish broadcaster NTV.
He emphasized that there was a risk of conflict in many countries in the region, including Syria.
"Israel is not capable of existing without US assistance, is not capable of committing crimes in Gaza and Lebanon without the United States. All the weapons used there are from the US," Araghchi noted.
"If Washington had real political will, they would be able to stop the attacks and stop Israel. For us, the US is an ally of the Zionists. If a large-scale war breaks out in the region, the US will be drawn into it, we do not want this at all," he added.
According to the MEHR news agency, Araghchi said the war may spread to the Persian Gulf countries. However, he added: "But I am sure that there is still a chance for diplomacy, we cannot leave everything to the will of one person in the Zionist regime."
Smoke fumes cover a neighbourhood of Beirut's southern suburbs near Beirut International Airport following an Israeli airstrike. AFP
11:50 Hezbollah announced that they targeted an Israeli military gathering in the Shlomi settlement with a large barrage of rockets.
They also reported striking Israeli forces gathering in the Ya'ara settlement with another significant rocket barrage.
The Israeli army said in a statement around 70 rockets fired from Lebanon at north Israel triggering sirens in the western and upper Galilee regions.
Some rockets were shot down, while several landed, sparking fires, the army said.
According to Haaretz, fires have erupted in locations in western Galilee due to the falling rockets, and firefighting teams are currently working to extinguish the flames.
11:30 Five people were killed in Israeli raids targeting houses in the towns of Srifa and Kfardounin in southern Lebanon, according to the Lebanese National News Agency.
The agency added that the Israeli warplanes raided the town of Hanin, which led to the destruction of several houses.
10:40 Israel's army said it hit Hezbollah 'command centre' in Beirut. It claims the killing of Reda Abbas Awada, an expert in the field of wireless communications in the Lebanese group, and Ahmed Ali Hussein, the head of the weapons production team.
10:00 Iran's mission to the United Nations denied any Iranian involvement in the drone attack that targeted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence in Caesarea, north of Tel Aviv, on Saturday.
“We have already responded to the Israeli regime, and the action in question has been carried out by Hezbollah in Lebanon,” the Iranian mission said about Iran’s retaliatory operation on Israeli military targets on 1 October. The operation was carried out in response to the Israeli assassination of regional resistance leaders and a senior Iranian military commander.
Netanyahu attributed the attack carried out earlier in the day to “the agents of Iran.”
09:10 Israel carried out at least 10 airstrikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, a heavily populated area known as Dahiyeh.
Multiple casualties and massive destruction have also been reported following a series of Israeli airstrikes targeting the city of Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, for a third time this week.
"Warplanes struck ... the city of Nabatiyeh seven times," Lebanon's official National News Agency said. It added that Israeli jets "conducted strikes" on more than 50 towns and villages, reporting casualties.
"Israeli troops blew up the Tarrash neighbourhood in Mais Al-Jabal," a border village where Hezbollah has clashed with Israeli soldiers, "after booby-trapping it with highly explosive materials," the NNA said.
The troops "bulldozed the cemetery in the village of Blida" nearby, the NNA added.
09:00 The United States is investigating an unauthorized release of classified documents that assess Israel's plans to attack Iran, three US officials told The Associated Press.
A fourth US official said the documents appear to be legitimate.
The documents are attributed to the US Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency and note that Israel was still moving military assets in place to conduct a military strike in response to Iran's retaliatory blistering ballistic missile attack on 1 October.
They were sharable within the “Five Eyes” — the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.
The documents, which are marked top secret, were posted to the Telegram messaging app.
The investigation also examines how the documents were obtained — including whether it was an intentional leak by a member of the US intelligence community or obtained by another method, like a hack — and whether any other intelligence information was compromised, one of the officials said.
Saturday 19 October
21:00 The US would like to see Israel scale back some of its strikes in and around the Lebanese capital of Beirut, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said.
“The number of civilian casualties has been far too high,” Austin told reporters at a G7 defence gathering in the Italian city of Naples.
“We’d like to see Israel scale back on some of the strikes it’s taking, especially in and around Beirut, and we’d like to see things transition to some sort of negotiation that will allow civilians on both sides of the border to return to their homes.”
20:25 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said "Iran proxies" tried to 'assassinate' him and his wife. Netanyahu said Iranian-backed groups would pay "a heavy price," after his office reported a drone targeted his residence in Caesarea earlier in the morning.
"Iran's proxies who tried to assassinate me and my wife today made a grave mistake," said Netanyahu who, his office said, was not home at the time of the incident.
19:05 The Lebanese National News Agency is reporting a series of Israeli raids on multiple towns across the country.
Those include Yatar, Zubfin, Aita Al-Shaab, Marouhin, Ramia and Beit Lif.
17:30 Israel's military claimed that 55 rockets had been launched from Lebanon towards Haifa and other northern Israeli cities.
In a statement, the Israeli army said that some were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome air defence system.
Israel's medical service Magen David Adom said a 29-year-old man sustained moderate injuries from shrapnel, while another had mild injuries after a rocket hit a house in Haifa.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah said it fired a "large salvo" of advanced rockets at a military base east of Haifa, the AFP news agency reports.
First responders checked a car that was damaged by shrapnel from a rocket fired from Lebanon, near Acre in northern Israel on October 19, 2024. AFP
16:15 Air strikes appear to have hit a suburb in Lebanon's capital Beirut, less than an hour after Israel's military ordered residents to evacuate from the area.
Images show plumes of smoke billowing over Dahieh, Hezbollah’s stronghold in the south of the city.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported that a building in Haret Hreik was struck twice.
Israel has not yet commented, but earlier a military spokesman issued an evacuation order for residents in Dahieh and Haret Hreik.
"You are located near facilities and interests belonging to Hezbollah, against which the Israeli military will be operating shortly," the spokesman wrote on X.
Thick smoke billows over buildings following an Israeli airstrike on Beirut's southern suburb of Haret Hreik on October 19, 2024, AFP.
15:26 Lebanon state media said four people including a mayor were killed on Saturday in an Israeli strike on a town in the eastern Bekaa Valley region.
The strike hit a residential building in the town of Baaloul, killing four, the official National News Agency said, adding that the dead include Haidar Shahla, the mayor of the nearby town of Sohmor.
15:11 The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders for south Beirut residents, a warning usually followed by strikes on those areas of the Lebanese capital.
"Urgent warning to residents of the southern suburb (of Dahiyeh), specifically those in ...Haret Hreik neighbourhood," the Israeli army spokesman wrote on X. The Israeli army "will be operating soon," he added.
14:50 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that “nothing will deter” him following a drone attack on his residence, asserting that his country is “going to win this war.” In videos shared on social media, he referred to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who died in a gun battle with Israeli forces in Gaza, as the mastermind "whose goons beheaded our men, raped our women, and burned babies alive.”
However, forensic analysis and investigation of the events of 7 October revealed that Israeli claims of atrocities, including the mass killing and beheading of babies and widespread rape, were false.
14:05 European Commission Vice President Josep Borrell and the head of EU diplomacy suggested on Saturday to strengthen the mandate of the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which is currently unable to stop the Israeli attacks on Lebanon and accused the Israeli army of deliberately firing on its positions.
"They cannot act autonomously; it is a limited role. We could consider expanding this role, but it requires a decision from the United Nations Security Council," Josep Borrell told reporters during a meeting of G7 defence ministers in Naples, Italy.
At the same time, Borrell detailed his priorities for Lebanon on his X account, which include "an immediate ceasefire" and "a more robust mandate for UNIFIL."
"There is in Lebanon a new political context, full of dangers, but that could also potentially lead to changes. The most important is the possibility for the country to build at last its full sovereignty, shattered by external actors. Five major steps should be taken," Borrell wrote.
He said, "The Paris conference in Lebanon next week will be an opportunity for us all to concretely express our solidarity with the Lebanese people."
He added that he spoke with the Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament Nabih Berri. "I discussed with him the urgent need for a ceasefire and to get as soon as possible to the election of the President."
13:10 Hezbollah's massive rocket attacks on northern Israel killed one person and wounded 13 others.
Israel's emergency services said a 50-year-old man was killed after being hit by shrapnel while sitting in his car in the city of Acre northern Israel. Shrapnel also wounded five people in the Haifa city of Kiryat Ata.
The Israeli army said at least 115 projectiles were fired from Lebanon targeting mainly the northern areas.
13:00 Israel's aggressive stance in Lebanon and Gaza is pushing Iran to take "legitimate steps," Turkey's foreign minister Hakan Fidan said in a joint press conference in Istanbul with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was "constantly opening new fronts in the region" and "trying to draw Iran into this war," he said.
"The risk of war spreading to the entire region should not be underestimated."
11:45 Hezbollah said it fired rockets on Saturday towards a region north of Israel's Haifa in retaliation to Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon.
"The large rocket salvo" came in retaliation for Israeli attacks on south Lebanon villages, Hezbollah announced after the Israeli army said a barrage of projectiles was fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, with sirens blaring at regular intervals.
Israel's army said some 55 projectiles were fired in two separate barrages at northern Israel from Lebanon in the morning. Some were intercepted, the army said.
11:00 Israel claimed it killed Hezbollah’s deputy commander in the southern town of Bint Jbeil.
10:30 Israel’s government said a drone launched from Lebanon targeted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's house in Caesarea.
Neither he nor his wife were home and there were no casualties, said his spokesperson in a statement.
Netanyahu’s office has refused to disclose Netanyahu’s location at the time of the explosion.
It was not immediately clear whether the structure reported hit by the military earlier was his private residence.
Hezbollah said Friday that it planned to launch a new phase of fighting by sending more guided missiles and exploding drones into Israel as Tel Aviv sent ground troops into Lebanon earlier in October and assassinated the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah in late September.
10:00 Al-Azhar, the highest institution of Sunni Islam, issued a statement mourning the heroic “martyrs of the Palestinian resistance,” who have been targeted by the criminal hand of Zionism."
Al-Azhar emphasized that the martyrs of "the Palestinian resistance are not terrorists, as the enemy falsely and deceitfully tries to portray them." Instead, they are "steadfast resisters clinging to the soil of their homeland, until God granted them martyrdom while they were repelling the enemy’s plot and aggression, defending their land, their cause, and our cause,” the statement asserts.
In its statement, Al-Azhar criticized the global silence surrounding these atrocities, likening it to "the silence of the dead in their graves." It denounced international law as being rendered ineffective, stating that its value was not worth the price of the ink with which it was written.
The institution also called for a vigilant stand against the Zionist media machine, which "seeks to distort the image of the Palestinian resistance in the minds of youth and children." Al-Azhar emphasized the importance of countering these narratives that generalize the portrayal of resistance as terrorism.
09:40 Two civilians were killed and several others injured in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a residential building in Chtoura town in Bekaa, the Lebanese news agency reported.
LBC Lebanon TV reported that Israel also targeted a car, killing two people on board, on the Jounieh highway towards Beirut.
09:00 A drone launched from Lebanon into Israel on Saturday struck the central town of Caesarea, where Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu has a residence.
The drone did not cause any casualties, the Israeli army said, without elaborating.
It added that two other drones were intercepted.
Sirens also sounded in Glilot, north of Tel Aviv.
The Israeli army said it had intercepted a suspicious "aerial target" approaching from Syria late on Friday.
Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the drone was launched by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq group.
"Israeli air defences in the occupied Syrian Golan targeted two drones launched by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, coming from Iraq through Syrian territory," the war monitor said in a statement.
Friday 18 October
20:00 Lebanon's Hezbollah group said it targeted the Israeli city of Haifa and areas to its north with rockets on Friday, dedicating one of the salvos to the group's slain leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Hezbollah fighters launched "a salvo of rockets... that targeted the city of Haifa", the group said in a statement, adding the attack was "at the service" of Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli strike last month. In another statement, Hezbollah said fighters launched a separate "rocket salvo" at areas north of Haifa.
17:45 Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited Lebanon on Friday, the first head of state or government to visit the country since the Israeli escalation last month.
The premier was welcomed at Beirut International Airport by Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, with whom she was due to hold talks before making a joint statement to the press.
Italy has around 1,000 troops as part of the UN's peacekeeping force in Lebanon which has come under repeated Israeli fire near their border positions.
Five peacekeepers were injured in a series of attacks last week, with the latest seeing Israeli troops breaking through a gate and entering one of their positions.
Meloni has condemned the incidents as "unacceptable".
17:00 Egypt's Minister of Foreign Affairs Badr Abdelatty reaffirmed to his Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bou Habib Egypt's commitment to continue providing all means of support to Lebanon during the current watershed situation.
During a phone call, the Egyptian FM highlighted the recent arrival of a new shipment of Egyptian relief aid to the Lebanese capital of Beirut, including 22 tons of food supplies and essential items needed to provide basic living conditions for displaced people.
During the call, both sides discussed the latest developments in Lebanon and the efforts being made to contain the deteriorating conditions in the region.
According to the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement, Abdelatty highlighted Cairo's intensive efforts to reach an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon.
He further stressed the need to work on de-escalating the rising tensions during this critical phase to prevent the region from slipping into a full-scale war, which would have severe consequences for regional and international peace and security.
During the call, Abdelatty reiterated Egypt's condemnation of the Israeli forces' deliberate targeting of sites and equipment belonging to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) forces in southern Lebanon.
16:40 Hezbollah said it launched attack drones at troops stationed in the north Israeli town of Safed in response to Israeli strikes on its strongholds in south Lebanon.
The Lebanese group said it launched an attack "with a squadron of attack drones on gatherings of enemy soldiers in the occupied city of Safed."
12:00 Israel’s army said Friday that its forces killed two fighters who crossed into south Israel from neighbouring Jordan.
The fighters entered Israeli territory south of the Dead Sea, the army said.
The army did not provide any more details.
Meanwhile, an Israeli army statement said objects were shot down by jets after crossing into Israeli airspace from Lebanon in the morning, according to Al Jazeera.
The incidents come less than a day after Israel assassinated Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Hamas has not yet commented on his death.
Thursday 17 October
19:00 Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said Thursday that the Israeli army was not fully in control of any village in south Lebanon, where the group says it is fighting Israel's forces at point-blank range.
"Until now, the enemy has been unable to take full control of any village," Fadlallah told a press conference at Lebanon's parliament.
Israeli forces just "destroy, shoot and run," he added, saying Hezbollah fighters are battling troops who have infiltrated Lebanese territory by only a few "metres".
Hezbollah had said it was engaged in close combat with Israeli forces near the border as videos circulating on social media purported to show Israeli flags raised in Lebanese frontier towns.
AFP could not independently verify the authenticity of the footage.
The clashes follow a year of cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah over the Israeli war on Gaza.
Israel ramped up its bombardment on 23 September and, by the end of the month, sent ground troops across the Lebanese border.
Israel has repeatedly called for Hezbollah to be pushed away from the border to ensure its citizens could return to northern Israel.
Fadlallah accused Israel of pursuing a "scorched earth policy through the systematic destruction of villages," particularly near the border with Israel.
He said Israel was "seeking to impose a buffer zone with no people, buildings, fields or trees".
The Israeli war on Lebanon has left at least 1,373 people dead, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures, though the real toll is likely higher.
18:00 A German warship deployed as part of the UN's peacekeeping force in Lebanon has shot down a drone off the Lebanese coast, the German army said Thursday.
"An unidentifiable unmanned aerial vehicle was detected in the vicinity" of the "Ludwigshafen am Rhein" corvette and was "brought down in a controlled manner", an army spokesman said.
The spokesman said he could not provide further details for "reasons of operational security".
Andrea Tenenti, a UNIFIL spokesman, confirmed that earlier on Thursday, "an unmanned aerial vehicle of unknown origin approached one of UNIFIL's Maritime Task Force ships off the southern Lebanese coast".
"Following the procedure, electronic countermeasures were used, and the UAV fell and exploded on its own," Tenenti said, adding that UNIFIL was "looking into the matter".
The UN's peacekeeping force in Lebanon has come under repeated fire in the Israeli-Hezbollah war in recent days.
Five peacekeepers were injured in a series of incidents last week, with the latest seeing the UN force accuse Israeli troops of breaking through a gate and entering one of their positions.
The Israeli military has said it is not targeting UN peacekeepers, but the incidents have sparked a wave of international criticism.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was set up in 1978 to monitor the withdrawal of Israeli forces after they invaded Lebanon.
The peacekeeping mission includes about 10,000 personnel overall, with its Maritime Task Force focused on preventing arms smuggling by sea.
17:00 Washington: The Department of Homeland Security announced on Thursday that it will allow some Lebanese nationals to temporarily remain in the US and apply for work authorisation due to unsafe conditions in their home country.
The temporary protected status (TPS) designation will provide an “immigration reprieve” to eligible Lebanese due to the “ongoing armed conflict and extraordinary and temporary conditions in Lebanon,” the department said in a statement.
15:00 Al Jazeera staff evacuated their offices in downtown Beirut after receiving messages warning them to leave the building, similar to past evacuation warnings from Israel that preceded bombings, Al Jazeera network reported.
Two embassies, one of which is the Norwegian embassy, is also housed in the same building were also evacuated, according to the Guardian.
Al Jazeera’s office is in the heart of downtown Beirut, a kilometre from the iconic blue mosque and Martyr’s Square where displaced people currently reside.
14:45 A Hezbollah official said that the group’s military command aims to keep fighting “with all available means” to prevent Israel from achieving its goals and to eventually agree on a cease-fire.
Legislator Hassan Fadlallah told reporters that since Israel’s invasion began on 1 Oct., Israeli troops have not been able to capture any village.
Fadlallah said the aim of his group now is to stop the war but refused to go into details saying that Lebanon’s parliament speaker and caretaker prime minister are leading the efforts.
“Our goal today is to end the aggression. We will not go into any detail related to the mechanism or solutions,” he said when asked whether Hezbollah still insists that it will only stop fighting once Israel’s offensive on Gaza stops.
Fadlallah said that Israel has not been able to push deeper into Lebanon, stop Hezbollah rocket fire or create the conditions for its citizens to return to communities in the north near the border, which Israel says is its main war aim.
13:45 Yemen's Houthi vowed to retaliate after the United States conducted multiple strikes with heavy B-2 bombers on weapons storage facilities in areas controlled by the group.
"We confirm that the American aggression will not pass without a response," said a statement from the Houthis' political bureau.
The group asserted in the statement that "the aggressive American airstrikes will not deter Yemen from continuing its support and assistance to Gaza and Lebanon".
14:00 Israel committed another massacre in Gaza as at least 19 Palestinians, including children, were killed after an Israeli strike hit a school in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip that is sheltering displaced people, a Palestinian health ministry official told Reuters.
Dozens were also injured in the strike, said the official, Medhat Abbas, adding “There is no water to extinguish the fire. There is nothing.”
13:00 A strike hit near the south Lebanon coastal city of Tyre, as official media reported an Israeli raid after Israel's military issued an evacuation call.
AFPTV footage captured smoke billowing after the Israeli military on X warned residents in and near a building in Al-Hawsh, just south of Tyre, to evacuate, while Lebanon's official National News Agency reported that "enemy aircraft launched a strike that targeted" the Al-Hawsh area.
12:30 Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has paid a rare visit to Egypt to discuss regional tensions linked to Israel’s war with Iran-allied groups in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
Araghchi met with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and other top officials to discuss ways of de-escalating tensions, according to an Egyptian statement.
During the meeting, El-Sisi reiterated Egypt's call for de-escalating the conflict to avoid slipping the region into a full-scale war, which could have dangerous consequences for the security of all the region's countries and peoples.
El-Sisi also stressed "the importance of continuing and intensifying international efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon, stop violations and aggression in the West Bank," and provide urgent and sufficient humanitarian aid to alleviate the civilians' suffering.
Cairo is Araghchi’s second stop on his regional tour, following Amman, before he heads to Turkey.
The Iranian foreign minister also visited Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq, and Oman last week in efforts to reduce regional tensions.
10:45 The chief of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened Israel with more missile barrages if it strikes Iran.
“Do not repeat your mistake — if you misbehave, if you strike anything of ours either in the region or in Iran, we will again hit you painfully,” said Gen. Hossein Salami in a funeral ceremony for Iranian Guard commander Abbas Nilforoushan, who was killed alongside the head of the Hezbollah group in Beirut in September.
Salami said a missile barrage by Iran on Israel earlier in October in retaliation for killing Nasrallah and Nilforoushan was the “tiniest” action by Iran. He said an air defence battery deployed to Israel by the U.S. will not prevent Iranian retaliation.
“We do know about your weakness, and you know too,” said Salami.
Earlier this month, Iran launched some 180 missiles at Israel in retaliation for the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, killed in Iran in July, as well as Nilforoushan and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in Israel strikes on Beirut in September.
10:30 The Israeli military ordered residents to leave part of the Bekaa region in east Lebanon, warning Israeli forces would again target the area.
"Urgent warning to the residents of the Bekaa region, specifically those located in the building marked on the map in the Tamnine area," military spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X.
Minutes later Adraee posted a second call for residents of nearby Saraain al-Tahta, also in the Bekaa region, to evacuate as well.
On Wednesday, Israel's assault on Lebanon toppled buildings and killed the mayor of Nabatiyeh city.
Lebanon's health ministry said 16 people were killed and 52 wounded in strikes on two municipal buildings in Nabatiyeh. At least six people were killed in other strikes, according to officials and reports.
10:00 Hezbollah said it had destroyed an Israeli tank near the Lebanese border with a "guided missile", after close combat with Israeli troops staging incursions in the area.
On Wednesday, the movement said it targeted another tank in a similar strike near a border village.
Meanwhile, Israeli media reported that a barrage of some 30 rockets was fired at northern Israel. Some were intercepted, while others landed in open areas.
Sirens were activated in Haifa and surrounding towns, as well as the Upper and Central Galilee, according to Israeli media.
09:30 Syrian state media said a rare Israeli air strike on the city of Latakia wounded two civilians.
"At around 2:50 am (2350 GMT), the Israeli enemy carried out an air attack... targeting one of the points near the southeast entrance of the city of Latakia," state news agency SANA said, citing a statement from a military source.
The attack wounded "two civilians and (caused) material damage to private property in the vicinity", it added.
SANA had earlier reported that "anti-aircraft defence intercepted hostile targets above Latakia" and that "fires were triggered by the Israeli aggression".
Strikes are rare in the port city, located near a Russian air base in Hmeimim.
09:00 US long-range B-2 stealth bombers launched airstrikes on Houthi rebels targets in Yemen.
"US forces targeted several of the Houthis' underground facilities housing various weapons components of types that the Houthis have used to target civilian and military vessels throughout the region," US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement.
The Houthi-run Al Masirah television network reported 15 strikes at dawn on Thursday local time targeting sites north and south of the capital Sanaa, as well as farther north in Saada governorate, a Houthi stronghold.
B-2 bombers conducted precision strikes against five underground weapons storage locations, Austin said, adding that the use of the long-range stealth bomber demonstrates "US global strike capabilities to take action against these targets when necessary, anytime, anywhere."
Wednesday 16 October
22:35 Hezbollah said it attacked a group of Israeli troops in the area of Khallet Warde, opposite the Lebanese village of Aita al-Shaab, which has been bombed repeatedly by the Israeli army.
The group said on its Telegram channel that it targeted “a gathering of Israeli enemy soldiers” with a rocket.
22:15 United States Senator Bernie Sanders said that the US must end the transfer of offensive weapons to Israel, which he accused of carrying out a “cruel and illegal” war.
“When Congress returns, the Senate will be voting on my resolution to block offensive arms sales to Israel. How many thousands more children must Netanyahu starve, kill, or orphan before the US changes its policy?” Sanders said in a social media post.
“We must end our complicity in this cruel and illegal war.”
22:10 Gulf leaders met with EU counterparts in Brussels for talks they hoped could help defuse an "extremely dangerous escalation" in the Middle East.
The 27-nation European Union is seeking to work more closely with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) -- Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- over conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.
The two groups called for a ceasefire in Lebanon and condemned attacks on UN troops in the country, the EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell told a press conference.
"Our shared priority is an immediate and sustainable ceasefire, the release of hostages and full humanitarian access to civilians in Gaza," he added.
The first gathering of its kind, the EU-GCC summit came on the eve of an EU leaders' meeting in the Belgian capital.
"We need a settlement for these conflicts," said Qatar's emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.
21:40 Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived late Wednesday in Cairo, where he is set to have discussions Thursday on regional developments, as Israel continues its strikes on both Gaza and Lebanon and threatens to attack Iran.
It is the first visit by an Iranian foreign minister to Egypt in almost 12 years.
21:00 Senior Hamas official Basem Naim told Reuters in an interview from Istanbul that even a permanent ceasefire in Lebanon will be difficult to reach without solving the issue of Palestine, which he said is the origin of the entire current Middle East conflict.
"The strongest message of the 7 October operation was that any attempt to bypass the Palestinians or to overcome or neglect the Palestinian cause means clearly that no one can enjoy stability and security in the region without solving this longstanding conflict."
He added that "there is still a chance to go for implementation of this brokered deal if the Americans say, ‘It is enough, we have to stop here.’
20:55 The World Health Organization warned there is a "very high" risk of cholera spreading among displaced people in Lebanon, confirming a case of the potentially deadly infection earlier this week.
20:47 The UN peacekeeping force, known as the UNIFIL says Israel fired at its positions in south Lebanon.
"This morning, peacekeepers at a position near Kafer Kela observed an IDF Merkava tank firing at their watchtower. Two cameras were destroyed, and the tower was damaged," the UNIFIL said in a statement.
"Yet again we see direct and deliberate fire on a UNIFIL position."
The UN force said it reminded Israel and all actors of "their obligations to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property and to respect the inviolability of UN premises at all times."
20:05 The White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reiterated Washington's criticism against Israel over its strikes in Lebanon, saying: "We have told Israel directly that we oppose any Israeli campaign... of near-daily strikes in densely populated areas of Beirut."
She also said the United States had told Israel its operations should "not threaten the lives of civilians" UN peacekeepers or the Lebanese military.
20:00 Lebanon's health ministry said 16 people were killed and 52 others wounded in Israeli strikes on municipal buildings in the southern city of Nabatiyeh, revising upwards an earlier toll.
"Sixteen were martyred and 52 others wounded in the final toll of the Israeli enemy raid on the buildings of the Nabatiyeh municipality and the union of municipalities," the ministry said in a statement after earlier reporting six killed.
Mourners and residents of Bhaboush in northern Lebanon’s Koura district pray over the coffins of people killed in the Israeli strike on Aitou. AFP
19:30 Hezbollah says it fired rockets at Israel's Safed for the third time in 24 hours.
The resistance group said they targeted a gathering of Israeli enemy soldiers in Wadi Hunin with a salvo of rockets, Al Jazeera reported.
The group also published a video of what it said were scenes from the operation targeting the Beit Lid barracks east of Netanya with Nasr 1 missiles.
19:25 The Israeli Army Radio reported that a fire broke out near Shlomi in Western Galilee following the crash of a drone.
19:00 The Israeli army claimed it killed another Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon, AP reports.
The army said that Jalal Mustafa Hariri, Hezbollah’s commander of the Qana area, was killed in a strike alongside other Hezbollah resistance militants.
There was no immediate confirmation from Hezbollah, though Lebanese authorities say 15 civilians were killed in Israeli attacks in the town.
19:00 UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert described as “alarming” the killing of the mayor of Nabatiyeh in an Israeli airstrike.
“This attack follows other incidents in which civilians and civilian infrastructure have been targeted across Lebanon,” she said in a statement.
Hennis-Plasschaert called for an immediate ceasefire.
“Military solutions will not and cannot bring safety or security to either side of the Blue Line,” she said, referring to the UN-drawn boundary between Lebanon and Israel.
18:50 The International Committee of the Red Cross has deployed a team of surgeons to treat war-related wounds at the government-run Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut.
Many of the patients have been evacuated from hospitals in the south as Israeli strikes intensify. About 1.2 million people have fled southern and eastern Lebanon.
The head of the ICRC in Lebanon, Simone Casabianca-Aeschlimann, said that the country's healthcare system is overstretched because of a large influx of wounded patients.
“The fact that we do not know how this conflict is going to evolve and what is going to happen for us is very trying,” she told The Associated Press.
18:45 Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth reported that sirens sounded in Shlomi, Mateh Asher, Ma'ale Yosef, Peki'in, Beit Jann, Safd and other communities located in northern Israel amid reports of suspected drone infiltration in the area.
18:32 British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK government is considering sanctioning two extremist Israeli Cabinet ministers.
Starmer said “We are looking at” imposing sanctions on Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. He said the pair have made “abhorrent” comments about the situation in Gaza and the West Bank.
Britain, France and Algeria have called a meeting of the UN Security Council on Wednesday on the humanitarian situation in northern Gaza, which Starmer called “dire.”
18:30 Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has taken shots at French President Emmanuel Macron for banning Israeli firms from a naval arms trade show set to take place next month.
“French President Macron’s actions are a disgrace to the French nation and the values of the free world, which he claims to uphold,” Gallant said on X.
He claimed, despite Paris's full support to Israel since the start of the war on Gaza, that “France has adopted and is consistently implementing a hostile policy towards the Jewish people."
18:00 Israel's strike injured 2 paramedics during a UN-coordinated mission, the Lebanese Red Cross said.
17:22 The 16 European Union countries participating in the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon have agreed they must keep “a stable presence” in the region.
During the meeting Wednesday, defence ministers and delegates from the participating EU nations expressed “unanimous concern” and strongly condemned recent attacks by Israeli forces on the peacekeeping mission in Lebanon known as UNIFIL. At least five UNIFIL troops have been wounded in these attacks.
“The importance of ensuring full respect for UNIFIL’s mandate and the protection of its personnel was stressed, urging the international community to maintain a steady and resolute commitment,” the ministers said in a statement after the meeting.
The ministers also said they have “a shared willingness to exert maximum political and diplomatic pressure on Israel so that no further incidents occur.”
16:29 Iran's atomic energy agency said an Israeli attack on key nuclear sites was "very unlikely" and the country would be able to "quickly compensate" for any potential damage.
"It is very unlikely to happen," said the agency spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi in a video interview with Nournews agency.
"In the event of an attack on a key site: be sure it will not succeed," he continued, adding that "the country can quickly compensate for" any potential damage.
15:57 Jordan's foreign minister told his Iranian counterpart that the kingdom would not allow any parties to violate its airspace, as the region braces for Israel's attack, following an Iranian retaliatory missile attack on Israeli military targets.
Jordan will "not be a battlefield for anyone and will not allow any party to violate its sovereignty and airspace and threaten its citizens' security," Ayman Safadi said in a meeting with Iran's top diplomat Abbas Araghchi.
14:30 The UN special coordinator for Lebanon urged the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure after deadly Israeli strikes hit municipality buildings in the southern city of Nabatiyeh on Wednesday.
"Today, Israeli air strikes hit the town of Nabatiyeh in southern Lebanon, yet again," Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said in a statement, adding that "civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times".
13:45 Lebanese official media reported that Israeli jets caused two sonic booms over Beirut and the surrounding area, with AFP journalists in the capital hearing loud bangs.
"Enemy aircraft violently broke the sound barrier twice in the airspace of (Beirut's) southern suburbs" and surrounding areas, the National News Agency said.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah said it targeted an Israeli Merkava tank near the border village of Ramia with a guided missile, adding the attack was in defence of Lebanon and its people.
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a neighbourhood in Beirut's southern suburbs on October 16, 2024. AFP
13:30 The French government banned Israeli companies from setting up any stand or exhibiting hardware in the Euronaval defence exhibition, the world's largest naval weapons fair, set to take place next month in Paris, Israeli Ynet reported.
"The French government informed Euronaval of its decision to approve the participation of Israeli delegations at Euronaval 2024, without any stand or exhibition of equipment," said the organisers of the show, due to start on 4 November, according to AFP.
This follows a similar decision in June at the Eurosatory arms exhibition, where Israeli companies were barred and Israeli nationals were denied entry, according to the Israeli outlet.
On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron stressed “the absolute necessity of a cease-fire without further delay in Lebanon” and called for Israel to stop operations there in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Macron urged Israel “to put an end to this unjustifiable targeting," according to a statement from his office, which also said France would continue to work with troop contributors and alongside the United Nations Secretary-General to ensure the full implementation of the mission of the peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL.
After the call, Netanyahu announced in a statement that he opposes a cease-fire in Lebanon.
13:00 Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned "the new Israeli aggression against civilians in the city of Nabatieh," saying it deliberately targeted a municipal council meeting discussing the city's service and relief situation.
"This new aggression, coupled with all the crimes committed by the Israeli enemy against civilians, is a clear message to a world that deliberately remains silent about the crimes of the occupation, encouraging it to persist in its arrogance and atrocities," Mikati said in a statement.
"If all the countries in the world are unable to deter the blatant aggression against the Lebanese people, then is there any point in resorting to the Security Council to demand a ceasefire? What can deter the enemy from its crimes, which have reached the point of targeting peacekeeping forces in the south? And what solution can be expected in light of this reality?" he added.
The Israeli army said its air force planes attacked Nabatiyeh, claiming it targeted dozens of Hezbollah targets around the city, situated next to civilian structures.
The army also claimed it destroyed a tunnel and bunker network belonging to Hezbollah’s Radwan force situated under homes in south Lebanon.
11:30 The mayor of Nabatiyeh Ahmad Kahil was among five killed Wednesday in Israeli strikes on the municipality building of the southern Lebanese city, authorities said.
"The mayor of Nabatiyeh, among others... was martyred. It's a massacre," Nabatiyeh governor Howaida Turk told AFP, adding he had been in the municipality building.
Earlier, Turk told AFP that Israel carried out 11 air strikes on Nabatiyeh and surrounding areas, days after strikes destroyed the southern city's marketplace.
She added that the intense raids "formed a kind of belt of fire" in the area.
Turk also reported casualties but could not provide a precise toll.
Smoke billows during Israeli airstrikes in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatiyeh on October 16, 2024. AFP
10:30 US Delta Airlines said it extended its cancellation of all flights to Israel through at least April 2025 due to ongoing regional conflict.
Moreover, Wizz Air, a low-cost Hungarian carrier, announced on Wednesday the suspension of flights to and from Tel Aviv until 14 January due to the situation in the region.
On Monday, Italian flagship carrier ITA Airways announced it would temporarily halt air travel between Italy and Israel until at least 1 Nov.
09:10 The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said five people were killed by Israel in Riyaq, in the Bekaa Valley in east Lebanon.
In the south, another five were killed in Srebbine and three in Touline, the ministry added.
In Qana, near Tyre in the south, there has been a series of Israeli strikes, killing 15 and wounding 30, according to the health ministry.
Elsewhere in the south, four people were killed by Israel in Mazra'at Meshref, the civil defence authority said.
09:07 On Wednesday, Iran's top diplomat warned UN chief Antonio Guterres that his country is ready for a "decisive and regretful" response if Israel attacks the Islamic Republic.
"Iran, while making all-out efforts to protect the peace and security of the region, is fully prepared for a decisive and regretful response to any adventures" by Israel, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, quoted by his office.
09:05 Israeli strikes reportedly hit Beirut’s southern suburbs early on Wednesday morning, the first time in days since the area has been targeted.
Reuters said witnesses reported hearing a blast and seeing a plume of smoke.
AFP reported that black smoke billowed between buildings in Haret Hreik after the strike, before a second strike moments later.
The Israeli army has repeatedly bombarded south Beirut in recent weeks, as well as carrying out deadly strikes elsewhere in the capital and across Lebanon.
Israel has killed at least 1,356 people in Lebanon since it escalated its bombing in September, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures. However, the real toll is likely higher.
09:00 Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi is visiting Jordan, Egypt, and Turkey as part of Tehran’s diplomatic outreach to countries in the region “to end genocide, atrocity and aggression,” the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’s spokesperson said on Wednesday in a post on X.
10 : 30: Israel gave the U.S. a document last week with its conditions for a diplomatic solution to end the war in Lebanon, two U.S. officials and two Israeli officials told Axios.
One Israeli demand is that the Israeli army be allowed to engage in "active enforcement", under the pretext of ensuring that Hezbollah doesn't rearm and rebuild its military infrastructure in the areas of southern Lebanon that are close to the border, an Israeli official said.
The official added that Israel also demands its air force have freedom of operation in Lebanese air space.
These two demands contradict UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which states that the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) enforce a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, Axios said.
A U.S. official said it is highly unlikely Lebanon and the international community would agree to these conditions, which would dramatically undermine Lebanon's sovereignty.
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