Israel has bombarded Lebanon's southern city of Tyre on Wednesday after issuing new displacement orders and pressed its aerial bombardment and ground assault on Lebanon.
Many of the city's residents, who Israel ordered to move north, are fleeing towards the suburbs, according to AFP, which added that many people in the city had already been displaced from the south.
The continued displacements in southern Lebanon come amid renewed Israeli strikes across Gaza which have led the World Health Organisation to halt its polio vaccination effort in the enclave.
The renewed Israeli effort is also causing mass displacement in northern Gaza, which many leading rights groups, including the Israeli group B'Tselem, have labelled an "ethnic cleansing".
Head of the UN's agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) said that in north Gaza "people are just waiting to die", as they have been cut off from food, water, and medical care, with Israeli forces denying humanitarian access.
Some 400,000 people are believed to be trapped in the north of the enclave, which has been cut off by the Israeli military since it started its campaign earlier in October.
Fighting in Lebanon could further destabilize the country's economy, already devastated by years of crisis, the UN warned Wednesday, predicting a 9.2 percent drop in GDP in 2024 if the conflict continues.
After a year of border skirmishes, Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah are now engaging in open conflict. Late last month, Israel launched a ground offensive in southern Lebanon.
Lebanon's Ministry of Health has announced that 28 people have been killed and 139 more have been wounded by Israel in the last 24 hours as it continues its bombardment across the country.
The ministry added that 2,574 have been killed and 12,001 have been wounded in total.
A doctor working for Doctors without Borders (MSF) has said that the situation in the Kamal Adwan Hospital in north Gaza is "disastrous".
Describing the situation Dr Mohammed Obeid, an orthopaedic surgeon at MSF, said "there are injuries in the roads, in all areas. We can't reach the bodies of the killed and we can't save the injured."
"Kamal Adwan Hospital is full of patients and full of displaced people. We don't have the means to treat the injured, we don't have the medical staff or surgical equipment.
Obeid issued an urgent appeal to the world to help North Gaza, saying: "We appeal to all the countries of the world and the World Health Organisation to consider the northern part of Gaza and to lift the blockade that has led to the death of many people in the northern part of Gaza. The situation is generally disastrous."
"I don't know what to say," he added.
A Hamas delegation led by a top official in the movement arrived in Russia's Moscow on Wednesday for talks on the war in Gaza and efforts to halt it, an official with the group told AFP.
The delegation, led by Hamas official Musa Abu Marzuk, was set to meet with Russian authorities to discuss "ways to stop the aggression and war on Gaza and the region", the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Abu Marzuk is a senior member of Hamas's political bureau based in Qatar and has been considered to have a pragmatic approach to negotiations to end the war, including backing a long-term ceasefire with Israel.
Earlier this week, two Hamas sources said the Palestinian militant group was moving towards appointing a Qatar-based ruling committee rather than a single successor to its chief Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by Israeli troops last week.
Hezbollah has announced the killing of the head of its executive council Hashem Safieddine in an Israeli airstrike, which occurred on 3 October.
Safieddine was rumored to succeed Hezbollah's former Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, who himself was killed in an Israeli airstrike on 27 September.
The Israeli army is prepared to keep fighting in Gaza and Lebanon "for months" after more than a year of war, an Israeli security source said Wednesday during a briefing with media outlets.
"We are prepared for months, and we will stay as long as necessary to ensure (Israel's) security," said the source, referring to the ongoing military operations in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. Israel has also vowed to respond to Iran's missile barrage earlier this month.
The source said Israel was not waging "a war against Gaza, nor another war against Lebanon", but rather against Iran-backed militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.
It was "a war against Iran, sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly, via Iran's proxies," the source said.
However, Israel has consistently targeted civilians in its war effort, killed over 42,000 in Gaza alone, as well as displacing millions in both Lebanon and Gaza. In Gaza it has targeted civilian infrastructure including hospitals and schools, as well as killing aid and medical workers.
A senior member of Hama, Mousa Abu Marzouk, has arrived in Moscow on a planned visit, Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported on Wednesday, citing a diplomatic source.
Hamas politburo member, Abu Marzouk, intends to hold a series of meetings with Russian officials, RIA said without providing any further details.
Russia has ties to all key players in the Middle East, including Israel, Iran, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.
Moscow has repeatedly blamed the current crisis in the Middle East on the failure of US diplomacy, and called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and the resumption of talks aimed at finding a peace settlement.
(Reuters & The New Arab staff)
Hezbollah said it fired rockets at a military base in the Haifa area in northern Israel on Wednesday in response to Israeli raids on Lebanon.
The Iran-backed group said it targeted a military industrial base around Haifa "in defence of Lebanon and its people".
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Wednesday that after Israel strikes in Iran, the world will understand the preparations that went into such an operation.
"After we attack in Iran, they will understand both in Israel and in other places what your preparation process includes, and the arrangements and your readiness," Gallant said in a video statement during a visit to an air force base.
Israel has said it would retaliate against Iran for its massive missile attack on Israel on 1 October.
(Reuters)
Turkish-owned carriers Turkish Airlines and Pegasus have suspended flights to Iran until 1 November, local media said on Wednesday, as Iran braces for a promised retaliatory attack by Israel.
Both airlines have cancelled flights to multiple Iranian cities including the capital Tehran, Shiraz and Isfahan for "security reasons", Turkish broadcaster NTV reported.
The firms have yet to confirm the decision on their websites and social media.
But Turkish Airlines travel to Iran was showing as "cancelled" on the website of Istanbul's airport, while Pegasus closed online bookings to Iran.
Iran has been bracing for retaliatory attack vowed by Israel after Tehran launched a barrage of around 200 ballistic missiles at Israel on 1 October.
Turkish Airlines in August cancelled night flights to Tehran, as fears mounted of an escalation in the Middle East, without officially announcing the decision.
Several carriers including German group Lufthansa have stopped flying to Tehran and the Lebanese capital Beirut.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Wednesday that he had not seen evidence that there was a Hezbollah bunker filled with cash built under a hospital in Beirut, adding that Washington would continue to work with Israel to get a better insights.
Israel's military said that Hezbollah has stashed hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold in a bunker built under a hospital in Beirut, adding that it would not strike the facility as it keeps up attacks against the group's financial assets.
"We have not seen evidence of that at this moment. But, you know, we will continue to collaborate with our Israeli counterparts to gain better fidelity on exactly what they are looking at," Austin told reporters in Rome.
Fadi Alameh, a Lebanese lawmaker with the Shia Amal Movement party and the director of the hospital in question, Al-Sahel, has told Reuters that Israel was making false and slanderous claims and called on the Lebanese Army to visit and show it had only operating rooms, patients and a morgue.
In a televised statement on Monday, the Israeli military's chief spokesman said Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, killed by Israel last month, had built the bunker which was designed for lengthy stays.
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian urged Wednesday members of the BRICS grouping to help "end the war" in 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 BRICS summit in Russia.
During his speech, he described the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon against Israel as "the most cruel and painful."
Iran has formally this year joined BRICS grouping which takes its name from the initial letters of the five members who joined in 2009 -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Pezeshkian's remarks came as Iran intensified diplomatic efforts to push for ceasefires in Lebanon and Gaza as well as ways to contain the conflicts.
Iran itself is braced for Israel's promised retaliatory attack after Tehran launched a barrage of around 200 ballistic missiles at Israel on October 1.
That attack was in retaliation for the killing of various Iran-backed militant leaders and a Revolutionary Guards commander.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that "the Israeli army had significantly weakened Hezbollah, and now the need is to reach a viable diplomatic solution between Israel and Lebanon."
Baerbock arrived today in Beirut, where she is meeting with Lebanese officials to discuss the rapidly escalating military developments, a month after the expanded Israeli aggression on Lebanese territory.
Baerbock pointed out that "hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced in Lebanon, and the complete destabilisation of the country would be disastrous for the most religiously diverse society in the region."
In a statement, the German minister also emphasised that "the current priority is to work with our partners in the United States, Europe, and the Arab world to find a viable diplomatic solution that protects the legitimate security interests of both Israel and Lebanon."
On the eve of her visit, Hezbollah's Head of Public Relations, Mohammed Afif, launched an attack on the German FM, strongly condemning her statements that "justify the Zionist enemy's killing of civilians".
He added: "The new Nazism in Germany justifies Zionist fascism's crimes. If your memory is burdened with crimes against humanity, then you and those you represent are once again complicit in a crime against humanity."
Hezbollah is continuing to maintain its silence on the fate of Hashem Safieddine, despite the Israeli confirmation that he was killed in an air strike in southern Beirut three weeks ago.
There has been no comment from Hezbollah officials nor its media outlets either denying or confirming the announcement.
Gaza's ministry of health has said that in the last 24 hours 74 people have been killed and 130 wounded in Israel's war on Gaza.
The ministry added that the total death toll has risen to 42,792 killed and 100,412 wounded.
The spokesman for Hamas's military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, has hailed an attack claimed by the Lebanese Hezbollah on the holiday home of the Israeli prime minister.
"Hezbollah's targeting of Netanyahu's home sends a message to the criminal occupation leaders that even if they can escape from the one-eyed international justice, they will not escape the just retribution of the free and resistant people of the nation," the Hamas-run Shehab News website quoted Abu Ubaida as saying yesterday.
Earlier yesterday, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a drone attack last week on Netanyahu's holiday residence in Caesarea in northern Israel.
Hamas has urged the international community to stop the "forced displacement, ethnic cleansing and massacres" carried out by Israeli troops in northern Gaza where about 400,000 people are believed to be trapped.
"The fascist [Israeli] occupation army continues its attempts to implement its criminal plan, known as the Generals' Plan, in the northern Gaza Strip, besieging schools and hospitals, committing massacres against defenceless and displaced citizens and carrying out the most heinous forced displacement operation live on air and in full view of the entire world," Hamas said in a statement posted on Telegram yesterday.
The group said Israel's "flagrant violation of all laws" would not have been possible "without the silence and inaction of the international community and complicity of the US administration".
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Riyadh on Wednesday as he renews 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 totally different direction," he said before leaving Tel Aviv.
"Saudi Arabia would be right at the heart of that, and that includes potentially normalisation of relations with Israel," he added.
Blinken's visit to the region is his 11th since the start of the Israel's war on Gaza and his first since Israel escalated its war against Hezbollah in Lebanon last month.
The Gaza war halted tentative moves towards an agreement dubbed the "mega-deal", under which Saudi Arabia would recognise Israel in exchange for a defence pact and help on a civil nuclear programme.
After meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials in Israel, Blinken said "now is the time" to end the conflict in Gaza.
"Since October 7 a year ago, Israel has achieved most of its strategic objectives when it comes to Gaza... Now is the time to turn those successes into enduring, strategic success," he said.
The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that intense bombardments, mass displacements and lack of access in northern Gaza have forced the postponement of a polio vaccination campaign.
This final phase of an ongoing polio vaccination campaign, due to begin on Wednesday, aimed to vaccinate over 119,000 children in northern Gaza, according to the agency.
(Reuters)
Lufthansa extended the suspension of its flights to Tehran and Beirut until early next year for operational reasons, the German flagship airline said on Wednesday.
For Lufthansa Airlines, this means flights to Tehran will be suspended up to and including Jan. 31, 2025, while those to Beirut are suspended up to and including Feb. 28, 2025, it said.
Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings are all part of the Lufthansa Group.
SWISS said in a separate statement that flights to Beirut would be cancelled up to and including Jan. 18, 2025, to provide greater planning certainty for both its passenger and crew.
(Reuters)
Israel began striking on Wednesday in the historic Lebanese port city of Tyre according to Reuters witnesses.
(Reuters)
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI) group has claimed seven new drone attacks on various Israeli sites.
The group reported on Telegram yesterday and this morning three attacks on the occupied Golan Heights, two other attacks on Eilat, another attack on the Jordan Valley and a seventh one against a "vital" target inside Israel.
IRI released four videos on Telegram this morning and yesterday, which showed the launch of the drones used in the attacks.
The group said that the attacks were "in support of our people in Palestine and Lebanon".
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman discussed efforts to halt the escalation in the region Jordan's King Abdullah II during his visit to Riyadh yesterday.
Bin Salman had received the Jordanian monarch at the Al Yamamah Palace in the Saudi capital where they discussed developments in the Middle East and efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon, according to a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency.
Both sides stressed their "full support for the brothers in Palestine and Lebanon" and would continue to provide humanitarian assistance to ease their suffering but did not give further details on the discussions.
The meeting was attended by a number of senior Saudi and Jordanian officials.
Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have called for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon and Gaza, emphasising the need for regional de-escalation and for "avoiding practices that would push the region towards further crises".
According to a statement yesterday, Sisi met Putin on the sidelines of his visit to Russia to participate in the Brics summit held in Kazan City on 22-24 October.
This is Egypt's inaugural participation at the summit after becoming a Brics member earlier this year.
![Beirut reels from Israeli strikes [Getty]](/sites/default/files/styles/image_156x88/public/2179146318.jpeg?h=a5f2f23a&itok=96iy79fo)
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