Israel-Iran latest: Beirut rocked by huge explosions as Israel ‘targets Nasrallah successor’
Israeli strike lands just outside perimeter of Beirut airport as Lebanon offensive continues
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Beirut has been rocked by huge explosions with a Lebanese government source claiming at least one Israeli strike had come close to the city’s airport.
Senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine, who is widely regarded as the heir of slain leader Hassan Nasrallah, was a target of the blasts, Axios reported, citing sources.
Civilians were fleeing the series of massive blasts in Beirut’s southern suburbs last night, with state media reporting there were more than 10 consecutive airstrikes.
Witnesses said they saw smoke near Beirut’s international airport while a source in Lebanon’s transport ministry said an Israeli strike had come down outside the perimeter this morning.
Earlier at least nine people were killed and 14 wounded in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut, targeting a building near the parliament.
Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes killed at least 18 people, including children, in the occupied West Bank in one of the deadliest attacks in two decades, the Palestinian health ministry said.
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UN peacekeepers in Lebanon stay put despite Israel asking them to move
United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon remain in place - despite Israel asking them to move - and provide the only communications link between the countries' militaries, the UN peacekeeping chief said on Thursday.
"Peacekeepers continue to do their best to implement their Security Council mandate in obviously very difficult conditions," UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix told reporters, adding that contingency plans were ready for both good and bad outcomes.
The mission, known as UNIFIL, is mandated by the Security Council to help the Lebanese army keep the area free of weapons and armed personnel other than those of the Lebanese state. That has sparked friction with Iran-backed Hezbollah, which effectively controls southern Lebanon.
The Israeli military asked UN peacekeepers earlier this week to prepare to relocate more than 5 km (3 miles) from the border between Israel and Lebanon - known as the Blue Line - "as soon as possible, in order to maintain your safety," according to an excerpt from the message, seen by Reuters.
"The peacekeepers are currently staying in their position, all of them," Lacroix told reporters. "The parties have an obligation to respect the safety of and security of peacekeepers, and I want to insist on that."
Lacroix said UNIFIL was continuing to liaise with both countries, describing the mission as "the only channel of communication" between them. The mission was working to protect civilians and support the safe movement of civilians and delivery of humanitarian aid.
The UN peacekeepers operate between the Litani River in the north and the Blue Line in the south. The mission has more than 10,000 troops from 50 countries and about 800 civilian staff, according to its website.
Israel's military told residents of more than 20 towns in south Lebanon to evacuate their homes immediately on Thursday as it pressed on with its cross-border incursion and struck Hezbollah targets in a suburb of Beirut.
UN Security Council backs Guterres after Israel bars him from country
The United Nations Security Council on Thursday expressed its full support for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres after Israel's foreign minister said he was barring him from entering the country.
The 15-member council said in a statement that any decision not to engage with the UN Secretary-General or the United Nations is counterproductive, especially in the context of escalating tensions in the Middle East.
The statement did not name Israel. Such statements by the council are agreed by consensus.
Watch: British man takes shelter as air-raid sirens sound near Tel Aviv in Israel
British man takes shelter as air-raid sirens sound near Tel Aviv in Israel
A British man takes shelter indoors as sirens warn of an imminent attack in Tel Aviv. Keith Ottoway says he is stranded in Israel for weeks because of a lack of commercial flights out of the country to the UK. Mr Ottaway, 46, originally planned to return to the UK on 24 September after visiting his partner in Israel, but successive flights were cancelled. He said the next available ticket with Israeli flag carrier airline El Al is not until 21 October. Mr Ottaway, who lives in south London, said the missiles from Iran that hit Israel on Tuesday night (1 October) were “frightening and scary”.
US backs Israel's operations in Lebanon despite risk of expanding conflict
The Biden administration believes it is appropriate for Israel to continue with its ground and air attacks on Hezbollah for now, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Thursday, even as he acknowledged the risk of the operation in Lebanon expanding beyond Israel's current aims.
Israel sent troops into southern Lebanon on Tuesday after two weeks of intense airstrikes in a worsening conflict that has drawn in Iran and risks sucking in the United States.
Speaking at a regular press briefing, Miller said the nature of all conflicts was "fluid" and "unpredictable" and therefore it was impossible to say how long it would take Israel to achieve its stated goal of clearing Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon, allowing it to return Israelis displaced from their homes across the border by months of rocket fire.
"We do ultimately want to see a ceasefire and diplomatic resolution, but we do think it's appropriate that Israel, at this point, is bringing terrorists to justice," Miller said.
Washington has repeatedly warned Israel against escalating the conflict, but a three-week ceasefire proposal put forward by the US and other countries last week was quickly dismissed by Israel in favor of intensified operations.
More than 1.2 million Lebanese have been displaced by Israeli attacks, and nearly 2,000 people have been killed since the start of the Israeli attacks on Lebanon over the last year, most of them in the past two weeks, Lebanese authorities said.
The United States has continued to provide Israel with arms despite tensions during the past year over the conduct of its war in Gaza, which started when Palestinian Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on 7 October, 2023.
Washington has raised concerns about the civilian toll of that conflict and at times urged Israel to restrain its forces to calm international outrage.
Israeli strikes on Lebanon kill 37 in past 24 hours, health ministry says
Israeli strikes on Lebanon have left 37 people dead and 151 wounded in the past 24 hours, the Lebanese health ministry said in a statement early on Friday.
Israeli strike on Beirut targets senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine, Axios reporter says
An Israeli strike on Beirut targeted senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine, Axios reporter Barak Ravid said in a post on social media platform X early on Friday, citing an Israeli source.
Safieddine is the man widely regarded as the heir of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Reuters could not confirm the information in the social media post and there was no immediate official statement from any side.
Pentagon says it's talking to Israel about response to Iran's attack
The Pentagon said on Thursday that it was in discussions with Israeli officials about their possible response to Iran's missile attack earlier this week but declined to offer more details on those talks.
"We are certainly talking to them about their response, but what their response might be, I'm just not going to speculate further on. But we do continue to engage with them," said Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh.
Israeli military says it killed head of Hamas network in West Bank's Tulkarm
The Israeli military said early on Friday it killed the head of the Hamas network in a strike on West Bank's Tulkarm.
In a statement, the military identified the Hamas operative as Zahi Yaser Abd al-Razeq Oufi.
Israeli strike hits outside perimeter of Beirut airport, transport ministry source says
At least one Israeli strike hit outside the perimeter of Beirut's international airport early on Friday, according to a source in Lebanon's ministry of transport and public works.
A series of loud explosions were heard near Lebanon's Beirut airport, with smoke seen nearby after jets were heard overhead, Reuters witnesses said.
Israel’s ambassador to UN: ‘We have a lot of options with Iran'
Israel has a lot of options when it comes to striking back at Iran in response to its missile attacks earlier this week, the country's ambassador to the United Nations told CNN on Thursday.
"We have a lot of options ... so it's (up to) us to decide where and when we want to attack, but they are vulnerable. They know that," said Danny Danon.
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