Israel-Lebanon latest: UK charters flight to get Brits out as Israel begins ground invasion against Hezbollah
Israel says a ‘limited, localised and targeted’ ground operation has started in Lebanon
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The UK has chartered an emergency flight out of Lebanon for Britons caught up in the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel as tanks roll into the southern half of the country.
Around 5,000 Britons remain in Lebanon and the government said it is working on “all contingency options” to get them out.
UK foreign secretary David Lammy described the situation in Lebanon as “volatile” and with the “potential to deteriorate quickly”.
Israel’s military says it has begun a “targeted” ground operation in southern Lebanon, with its troops conducting raids on Hezbollah targets and infrastructure along the border.
Ground forces were being supported by the air force and artillery carrying out “precise strikes”, the Israeli military said in a statement.
Local residents in the Lebanese border town of Aita al-Shaab reported heavy shelling and sound of helicopters and drones overhead.
Israel described its offensive as “limited, localised, and targeted ground raids based on precise intelligence” against Hezbollah targets that posed “an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel”.
The ground invasion of Lebanon represents a significant escalation of the conflict in a Middle East that threatens to suck in the US and Iran.
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Uk government charters flight for Britons in Lebanon
The UK government has chartered a flight out of Lebanon for Britons wanting to leave as Israel said it had begun a limited, localised” operation in the southern part of the country.
Foreign secretary David Lammy described the situation in Lebanon as “volatile” and with the “potential to deteriorate quickly” as the flight, due to leave Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport on Wednesday, was confirmed.
Earlier, Mr Lammy reiterated calls for Britons in Lebanon to leave and said the government will do “all that we can” to assist people in fleeing.
Hours after Mr Lammy’s announcement, the Israeli military said it had begun a “limited, localised” operation against its Hezbollah targets in the region.
Report:
UK Government charters flight out of Lebanon for Britons
Foreign Secretary David Lammy described the situation in Lebanon as ‘volatile’ and with the ‘potential to deteriorate quickly’.
In Pictures: Israeli troops deploy to staging area along Lebanon border
Missile targets US military facility near Baghdad airport
A missile attack has targeted a US military facility near the Baghdad airport, two Iraqi security officials said.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly, said one rocket fell in an adjacent area used by Iraqi security forces and damaged vehicles parked there.
No casualties were reported in the attack early on Tuesday. Air traffic was halted as a result of the strike.US officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment and no group claimed responsibility.
Iran-backed Iraqi militias have regularly targeted bases housing US troops in Iraq over the past year, which they have said is a response to Washington’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas and Hezbollah in Gaza and Lebanon.
US supports Israel's right to defend itself, Austin says
US defence secretary Lloyd Austin told Israel’s defence minister that he agreed on the need for a ground offensive inside Lebanon to rid the border area of Hezbollah weapons and other means it can use to carry out attacks across the frontier.
Mr Austin told Yoav Gallant in a call that the US supports Israel’s right to defend itself and discussed Israel’s military operations.
Israeli ground forces moved into southern Lebanon overnight, marking a significant escalation of an offensive against Hezbollah.
The Israeli military said on Tuesday it has begun a “limited” ground operation against Hezbollah targets it said posed an “immediate threat” to northern Israeli communities.
“We agreed on the necessity of dismantling attack infrastructure along the border,” Mr Austin said in a statement posted on the X social platform.
Biden urges immediate ceasefire hours before Israel begins ground operation
The White House and the US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Israel’s ground operations in Lebanon. But on Monday, US president Joe Biden had called for a ceasefire.
“I’m more worried than you might know and I’m comfortable with them stopping,” Mr Biden told reporters when asked if he was comfortable with Israeli plans for a cross-border incursion. “We should have a ceasefire now.”
Israel last week rejected a proposal by the US and France calling for a 21-day ceasefire on the Lebanon border to give time for a diplomatic settlement that would allow displaced civilians on both sides to return home.
Resistance forces ready for ground engagement with Israel, says Hezbollah
Hezbollah’s deputy leader Naim Qassem, in a first public speech on Monday since Hassan Nasrallah’s death, said that “the resistance forces are ready for a ground engagement” with Israel.
He said Hezbollah had continued to fire rockets as deep as 150km into Israeli territory.
“We know that the battle may be long. We will win as we won in the liberation of 2006,” he said, referring to the last big conflict between the two foes.
Late on Monday, Lebanese troops pulled back about 5km from positions along Lebanon’s southern border with Israel, a Lebanese security source told Reuters. A Lebanese army spokesperson did not confirm or deny the movement.
Lebanon’s army has historically stayed on the sidelines of major conflicts with Israel, and in the last year of hostilities has not fired on the Israeli military.
Israeli strikes kill 95 in Lebanon
At least 95 people have been killed and 172 wounded in Israeli strikes on Lebanon’s southern regions, the eastern Bekaa Valley, and Beirut in the last 24 hours, Lebanon’s health ministry said early on Tuesday.
Israel’s ground invasion into Lebanon follows its deadly detonation of booby-trapped Hezbollah pagers, two weeks of airstrikes, and its killing on Friday of Hezbollah head Hassan Nasrallah, which dealt the group one of the heaviest blows in decades.
The intensive air strikes have eliminated several Hezbollah commanders but also killed about 1,000 civilians and forced one million to flee their homes, according to the Lebanese government.
Overnight, strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs, a security source said. A Reuters reporter witnessed a flash of light and a series of loud blasts about an hour after the Israeli military warned residents to evacuate areas near buildings it said contained Hezbollah infrastructure south of the Lebanese capital.
Israeli strike on Damascus kills 3 civilians, Syrian media says
Three civilians were killed and nine others injured in an Israeli airstrike on the capital Damascus, Syrian state media said on Tuesday citing a military source. Israel’s military said it does not comment on foreign media reports.
Israel has been carrying out strikes against Iran-linked targets in Syria for years but has ramped up raids since the Hamas attack on Israel’s southern territory on 7 October 2023.
Hamas killed 1,200 people and took about 250 hostage in its assault on Israel, according to Israeli tallies. Israel in response launched a massive assault on Hamas in Gaza, reducing most of the Palestinian territory to rubble, displacing most of its 2.3 million people and killing more than 41,300 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
Israel targets Palestinian Fatah movement's Lebanese commander, Palestinian officials say
An Israeli strike in Lebanon early on Tuesday targeted Mounir Maqdah, commander of the Lebanese branch of the Palestinian Fatah movement’s military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, according to two Palestinian security officials.
His fate was unknown.
The strike hit a building in the crowded Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near the southern city of Sidon, the sources said. It marked the first strike on the camp, Lebanon’s largest Palestinian camp, since cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel broke out nearly a year ago.
Israel says ground raids are 'limited, localised and targeted'
Israel’s widely expected ground invasion of Lebanon appeared to be getting underway early on Tuesday as its military said troops had begun “limited” raids against Hezbollah targets in the border area.
The military said in a statement that it had begun “limited, localised, and targeted ground raids based on precise intelligence” against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon villages close to the border that posed “an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel”.
It said the air force and artillery were supporting the ground forces with “precise strikes”.
Local residents in the Lebanese border town of Aita al-Shaab reported heavy shelling and the sound of helicopters and drones overhead. Flares were repeatedly launched over the Lebanese border town of Rmeish, lighting up the night sky.
On Monday, Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant had told local council heads in northern Israel that the next phase of the war along Lebanon’s southern border would begin soon, and would support the aim of bringing home Israelis who have fled Hezbollah rockets during nearly a year of border warfare.
The ground invasion represents an escalating conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Iran-backed militants, sparked by an assault on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas on 7 October 2023, that now threatens to suck in the US and Iran.
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