Israel-Lebanon latest: Intense strikes on Hezbollah launched by Israeli military as it warns civilians to flee

Threat of all-out regional war grows as Israel denies involvement in deadly pager attacks

Moment of explosion in Lebanon as Hezbollah radio devices detonate

The Israeli military has told residents of southern Lebanon to immediately evacuate homes and other buildings where Hezbollah stores weapons as it says it is carrying out “extensive strikes” against the militant group.

It was the first warning of its kind in nearly a year of steadily escalating conflict and came after a particularly heavy exchange of fire on Sunday. Israel said it struck around 290 targets inside Lebanon after Hezbollah launched more than 100 rockets at northern Israel.

Residents in Hezbollah-controlled southern Lebanon have now been told to evacuate as Israeli airstrikes on the area are imminent.

Israeli Arabic-language military spokesperson Avichay Adraee posted a message on X, formerly Twitter, warning that another “raid will begin in the near future”.

“Evacuate the houses where [Hezbollah] weapons are hidden immediately! Hezbollah is lying to you and sacrificing you,” he wrote.

“Hezbollah says that you are its environment and that you are its audience, but it seems that its missiles and drones are more valuable and important to it than you.”

Key Points

• Israel warns of imminent airstrikes in southern Lebanon; tells residents to flee
• Footage shows moment of Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon
• UN envoy says the region is on the brink of 'catastrophe'
• Israel denies involvement with pager attack
• Hezbollah declares ‘open-ended battle of reckoning’ with Israel

[22 September 2024 07:00 · Tara Cobham]

‘Sequence of actions in new phase will continue until our goal is achieved’, warns Israeli defence minister

The Israeli defence minister has warned that his country’s new phase of war “will continue until our goal is achieved”.

Yoav Gallant, who said this week Israel was launching a new phase of war on the northern border, posted on X on Friday: "The sequence of actions in the new phase will continue until our goal is achieved: the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes."

Tens of thousands of people have left their homes on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border since Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel in October in sympathy with Palestinians in Gaza.

[22 September 2024 06:38 · Arpan Rai]

BREAKING: Israel strikes Hezbollah targets in Lebanon after group’s retaliation

Israel‘s military said it is striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon after the Lebanese group’s initial response to deadly remote explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies days earlier.

This comes shortly after more than 100 rockets were fired into Israel from Lebanon early today, with some landing near the northern city of Haifa, as Israel and the Hezbollah militant group appeared to be spiralling toward all-out war following months of escalating tensions.

[22 September 2024 06:35 · Arpan Rai]

Israel raids and shuts down Al Jazeera's bureau in Ramallah

Israeli troops raided the offices of the satellite news network Al Jazeera in the Israeli-occupied West Bank early today, ordering the bureau to shut down amid a widening campaign by Israel targeting the Qatar-funded broadcaster as it covers the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

Al Jazeera aired footage of Israeli troops live on its Arabic-language channel ordering the office to be shut for 45 days. It follows an extraordinary order issued in May that saw Israeli police raid Al Jazeera’s broadcast position in East Jerusalem, seizing equipment there, preventing its broadcasts in Israel and blocking its websites.

The move marked the first time Israel has ever shuttered a foreign news outlet operating in the country. However, Al Jazeera has continued operating in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, territories that the Palestinians hope to have for their future state.

There was no immediate acknowledgement of the shutdown by Israeli forces.

Al Jazeera denounced the move as it continued broadcasting live from Amman in neighbouring Jordan.

[22 September 2024 06:30 · Arpan Rai]

Hezbollah, Israel exchange heavy fire after deadly Israeli strike

Israel and Lebanon exchanged heavy fire in the early hours today, with Israeli warplanes carrying out the most intense bombardment in almost a year of war across Lebanon’s south.

Hezbollah has claimed rocket attacks on military targets in Israel’s north.

The Israeli military said it struck around 290 targets yesterday, including thousands of Hezbollah rocket launcher barrels and said it would continue to strike targets of the Iran-backed movement.

Israel closed schools and restricted gatherings in many northern areas of the country and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights early this morning.

Sirens sounded all night as multiple rockets and missiles were fired from Lebanon and Iraq, most of which were intercepted by Israeli aerial defence systems, the military said.

Israeli media reported that a number of buildings were hit directly or by falling missile debris, and ambulance services said they treated some lightly injured people. No serious casualties were reported.

Hezbollah said it targeted the Israeli Ramat David Airbase with dozens of missiles in response to “repeated Israeli attacks on Lebanon”, the group posted on its Telegram channel early today.

The successive barrages of rocket attacks launched by Hezbollah at Ramat David are the deepest strikes it has claimed since hostilities began.

Iran-backed Iraqi militants in a statement also claimed an explosive drone attack on Israel early today.

[22 September 2024 06:00 · Alexander Butler]

Israeli strike kills 7 in Gaza school, ministry says

At least seven people have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on a Gaza school, the Hamas-run health ministry said.

The strike hit Kafr Qasem School in Gaza City at around 11am (8am GMT) local time on Sunday as it was being used to shelter displaced people, the ministry added.

The Israeli military said the strike targeted Hamas fighters and it had used aerial surveillance to limit the risk to civilians.

[22 September 2024 06:00 · Tara Cobham]

Israel braces for retaliation

Hezbollah has said it will keep fighting Israel until it agrees to a ceasefire in its war against Hamas in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza – triggered by a Hamas-led rampage in southern Israel on 7 October.

US officials say that is unlikely anytime soon. Israel wants Hezbollah to cease fire and withdraw forces from the border region, adhering to a UN resolution signed with Israel in 2006, irrespective of any Gaza deal.

Anticipating retaliation, the Israeli military restricted gatherings and raised the alert level for residents of northern communities. The alert went as far south as the coastal city of Haifa, signalling Israel thought Hezbollah could strike deeper than it had since the war with Hamas began.

[22 September 2024 05:00 · Tara Cobham]

David Lammy considers plans to evacuate Britons from Lebanon as Israel conflict escalates

David Lammy is looking at contingency plans to evacuate UK nationals from Lebanon as tensions rise in the Middle East.

The foreign secretary has already urged Brits to leave the country amid the conflict with Israel.

Ministers are keen to avoid a repeat of the chaotic scenes three years ago when as Britons attempted to flee Afghanistan as the Taliban took over the country.

Whitehall editor Kate Devlin reports:

[22 September 2024 04:00 · Tara Cobham]

US national security adviser concerned about escalation in Israel-Hezbollah conflict

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan has said he is worried about escalation but that the Israeli killing of a top Hezbollah leader brought justice to the group, which Washington designates terrorists.

"While the risk of escalation is real, we actually believe there is also a distinct avenue to getting to a cessation of hostilities and a durable solution that makes people on both sides of the border feel secure," Sullivan told reporters.

[22 September 2024 03:00 · Tara Cobham]

What to know about the growing conflict between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah

This week saw a dizzying escalation in the 11-month-old conflict between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

First came two days of exploding pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah — deadly attacks pinned on Israel that also maimed civilians around Lebanon.

Hezbollah’s leader vowed to retaliate, and on Friday the militant group launched dozens of rockets into northern Israel. Later in the day, Israel said it killed the commander of Hezbollah’s most elite unit with a strike in Beirut that Lebanese authorities say left at least 37 dead.

Lee Keath reports:

[22 September 2024 02:00 · Tara Cobham]

What is Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese group hit in ‘double tap’ pager attacks?

Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged intense rounds of rocket fire and airstrikes after the Lebanese militant group was targeted by an attack which caused their communication devices to explode.

In an unprecedented attack, pagers used by the group were simultaneously detonated on Tuesday, sparking widespread panic in Beirut and southern Lebanon. The following day, walkie-talkies were also remotely detonated across the country.

The total death toll in those attacks has risen to 39, and more than 3,000 were injured.

My colleagues Tom Watling and Andy Gregory report: