Israel-Lebanon latest: Israel strikes central Beirut as Biden fears Iran attack over Hezbollah chief’s death
The number of displaced people in Lebanon has surged from 300,000 to nearly one million
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Israel intensified its military campaign across the Middle East on Monday, striking central Beirut for the first time since 2006.
The attack brings the death toll from Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon to over 1,000 people in the last two weeks, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
In just a few hours this weekend, the number of displaced people in Lebanon surged from 300,000 to nearly one million, said Nasser Yassin, Lebanon’s head of emergency disaster management.
A drone attack also reportedly killed three senior leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a militant group involved in the ongoing conflict with Israel.
It comes as the US administration warned they were concerned Iran, which backs Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, was planning on conducting retaliatory strikes against Israel.
The Pentagon said in a statement Sunday night that “should Iran, its partners, or its proxies use this moment to target American personnel or interests in the region, the United States will take every necessary measure to defend our people.”
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Who was Hassan Nasrallah? Hezbollah leader of Lebanese militant group killed in Israeli strike
Hamas says its leader in Lebanon was killed in Israeli strike
Hamas’s top commander in Lebanon, Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin, has been killed in an Israeli strike, the militant group confirmed on Monday.
Some of el-Amin’s family members were also killed during the airstrike in the south of the country.
Lebanon ‘on verge of catastrophic humanitarian situation’
In just a few hours this weekend, the number of displaced people in Lebanon surged from 300,000 to nearly one million, according to Nasser Yassin, Lebanon’s head of emergency disaster management.
Despite opening hundreds of shelters, Mr Yassin warned that Lebanon is on the brink of a “catastrophic” humanitarian crisis. The country, already hosting 1.5 million Syrian and 250,000 Palestinian refugees, now has one million of its own people internally displaced due to ongoing Israeli strikes.
“We don’t want this to collapse fully, but we are on the verge of coming to a catastrophic humanitarian situation,” he told Sky News.
“We have been taking this on our shoulders, and now we have an additional burden of one million Lebanese people being displaced or affected by the current aggression.”
He criticised Israel’s tactic of announcing attacks on social media, calling it the “professionalisation of genocide”.
US kills dozens of al-Qaeda militants
The US military says it killed 37 militants linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group in two strikes in Syria this month.
US Central Command said it struck northwestern Syria on Tuesday, targeting a senior militant in charge of military operations for the al-Qaeda-linked Hurras al-Deen group and eight others.
It also said a large-scale airstrike on two weeks ago targeted an IS training camp in a remote location in central Syria. That attack killed 28 militants including “at least four Syrian leaders,” the US said.
There are 900 US forces in Syria, along with an undisclosed number of contractors, mostly trying to prevent any comeback by the extremist IS group, which swept through Iraq and Syria in 2014, taking control of large swaths of territory.
Israeli strike allegedly kills three leaders of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
A Palestinian militant group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), alleged that three of its leaders were killed in an Israeli airstrike on central Beirut’s Kola district.
The attack comes as Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon killed over 1,000 people in the last two weeks, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, with a fifth of the population now displaced.
The strikes, previously limited to southern Beirut, have now spread to the city’s centre for the first time since 2006.
The Israeli military has not commented on the latest incident.
Biden says need to avoid ‘all-out’ war in the Middle East
US president Joe Biden said that he planned to speak with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu shortly before Israel intensified its military actions in Lebanon.
Israel has launched its first airstrike on central Beirut since 2006. The strike followed a weekend of IDF attacks targeting Hezbollah, including the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Mr Biden said that there is a need to avoid an all-out war in the Middle East, adding that the US is working with international partners to de-escalate the situation. “It has to be. We really have to avoid it.”
“I’ll tell you what I say to him when I talk to him,” he said.
Iranian leader calls for ‘decisive’ response to killings
Iran’s president has said a “decisive response” is needed following Israel‘s killing of numerous leaders of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
President Masoud Pezeshkian characterised the Israeli attacks on Hezbollah as crimes.
“The Lebanese fighters should not be left alone in this battle,” Pezeshkian said during a Sunday cabinet meeting, his office reported.
Iran, which has armed and trained Hezbollah for decades, also condemned Israeli airstrikes on power plants and port facilities in Yemen that targeted Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
Pezeshkian branded Israel a “brutal” regime and urged all Islamic countries not to be indifferent.
He won Iran’s presidential race in July, and is thought to be a reformist politician within Iran’s Shia theocracy:
Moderate reformist politician Masoud Pezeshkian wins Iran’s presidential race
Stances of Iran’s president-elect reflect dualities of being a reformist politician within Shia theocracy
Israel strikes central Beirut for the first time in almost two decades
Israel intensified its military campaign across the Middle East on Monday, striking central Beirut for the first time since 2006.
A drone attack also reportedly killed three senior leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a militant group involved in the ongoing conflict with Israel. The airstrike hit a residential building near the Kola intersection, causing significant damage and killing at least two others on the scene, the group said.
The attack comes as Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon have killed over 1,000 people in the last two weeks, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, with a fifth of the population now displaced.
Meanwhile, Israel launched a wave of airstrikes against Houthi forces in Yemen, targeting infrastructure in the port city of Hodeidah. The strikes, which hit fuel facilities and power plants, were reportedly in response to Houthi missile attacks on Israel. At least four people were killed and 33 wounded in the Yemeni strikes.
Hezbollah leadership ‘wiped out’ by Israel
Bombing has forced a fifth of Lebanese to flee, a minister says. Full report:
Israel ‘wipes out’ Hezbollah leadership as bombing ‘forces one million’ to flee homes
Israel claims it killed 20 Hezbollah members in the strike that assassinated the Lebanese group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah
Netanyahu puts former rival in war cabinet
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed a former rival, Gideon Saar, to his cabinet. The move expands Netanyahu’s governing coalition and helps entrench the Israeli leader in office.
Under their agreement, Mr Netanyahu said Mr Saar would be given a spot in the Security Cabinet, the body that oversees management of the war.
Mr Saar had hoped to replace defence minister Yoav Gallant, another rival of Mr Netanyahu’s. But a deal for the job fell through after fighting intensified with Hezbollah.
Israel's prime minister appoints a former rival to strengthen his hold on office
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin has appointed a former rival as a member of his Cabinet
Curbs eased in northern Israel
The Israeli army has eased restrictions in parts of the country’s north - a move that appears to reflect a determination that the threat of incoming rocket fire has slightly diminished, although restrictions in the north still remain much stricter than other parts of the country.
The changes applied to parts of the Haifa Bay area and several adjacent towns. Schools will be allowed to operate if they have quickly-accessible shelters and restrictions on gatherings will ease.
Shortly after the announcement, sirens warned of incoming rockets throughout the Haifa area and Israel’s northern coast. The army said some 35 rockets were launched from Lebanon at northern Israel and two drones that crossed from Lebanon into the territorial waters of Israel were intercepted.
Thousands of Israeli children have been kept home from schools for the past week across the country’s north as fighting between Israel and Hezbollah escalated.
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