Israel's invasion of southern Lebanon begins following night of heavy Beirut bombing

Lebanon's Hezbollah said on Tuesday it had used new Fadi 4 missiles to attack the Tel Aviv headquarters of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency and the Glilot military base, where the army’s 8200 intelligence unit is headquartered on the outskirts of the Israeli city. 

(Reuters)

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 21 people in Gaza on Tuesday, local medics said.

Palestinian health officials said at least 13 people, including women and children, were killed in two Israeli strikes on two houses in Nuseirat, one of the enclave's eight historic refugee camps.

There has been no immediate comment by the Israeli army on the two strikes.

Another strike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinian families in the Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City killed at least seven people, medics added.

(Reuters)

The Kremlin said on Tuesday it was deeply concerned about Israel's military activity in Lebanon and a strike on the Syrian capital, Damascus.

Israel said intense fighting had erupted with the Hezbollah movement in south Lebanon on Tuesday after its paratroops and commandos launched raids there at the start of a ground incursion that followed airstrikes against Hezbollah's leadership. 

(Reuters)

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has briefed US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Israel's raids into Lebanon, Gallant's office said.

"The Minister discussed the localized and targeted raids that the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) launched overnight, against Hezbollah terror targets in the border area of southern Lebanon," it said.

"These ground operations build on the recent and ongoing measures taken to eliminate senior Hezbollah leadership and to degrade Hezbollah's offensive capabilities."

(Reuters)

A security official said on Tuesday that the invasion by Israeli troops in southern Lebanon that began overnight was limited and went only a short distance over the border, adding that no direct clashes with Hezbollah fighters were reported.

The official said a wider operation targeting the Lebanese capital, Beirut, which has been hit by repeated airstrikes in recent days, was "not on the table".

(Reuters)

Sirens sounded in central Israel following the launch of projectiles which then crossed the border from Lebanon, the Israeli military said on Tuesday.

An explosion was heard in Tel Aviv and air raid sirens went off, a witness told Reuters.

(Reuters) 

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, and UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon, Imran Riza, launched on Tuesday a $426 million appeal to help civilians affected by the escalating conflict, the UN said in a statement.

(Reuters)

A missile damaged a ship northwest of the rebel-held Yemeni port city of Hodeida on Tuesday, a British maritime agency said, just hours after an earlier attack.

"The vessel was attacked by a missile. The vessel has sustained damage. All crew are reported safe," the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said, shortly after reporting a sea drone strike on another ship in the area.

A sea drone hit a ship off Yemen's rebel-run port city of Hodeida on Tuesday, puncturing a ballast tank which is used to adjust buoyancy, a British maritime agency said.

"The vessel has been hit by an uncrewed surface vessel. Number 6 port ballast tank has been punctured," the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, run by Britain's Royal Navy, said in a statement.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said on Tuesday it had received a report of an incident 97 nautical miles northwest of Yemen's Hodeidah, adding that the authorities are investigating.

British security firm Ambrey also reported that it is aware of the situation and said that this is the second reported incident in three hours. Ambrey said it is investigating.

(Reuters)

A vessel reported being hit by an Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV) 64 nautical miles northwest of Yemen's Hodeidah on Tuesday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency.

The vessel reported seeing four splashes close by, and that all crew were safe and it was proceeding to its next port of call, the agency added.

(Reuters)

As Israel has launched its ground invasion into southern Lebanon, the Israeli army said it will target Hezbollah strongholds along the border, not a war against the Lebanese people.

"These localized ground raids will target Hezbollah strongholds that threaten Israeli towns, kibbutzim and communities along our border," said military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari. "Hezbollah turned Lebanese villages next to Israeli villages into military bases ready for an attack on Israel." 

(Reuters)

Yemen's Houthi movement targeted Israeli military posts in Tel Aviv and Eilat with drones on Tuesday, the group's military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a televised speech. 

(Reuters)

A Syrian state television presenter was killed in an Israeli strike on the country's capital, Damascus, Syrian state television reported early on Tuesday without providing further details. Three civilians were killed, and nine others were injured.

Syrian air defences intercepted "hostile targets" over the vicinity of Damascus three times in a row in one night, following explosions that were heard in the capital, state media added.

When asked about the reported attack, the Israeli military said it does not comment on foreign media reports.

(Reuters)

Lebanon is facing one of the most dangerous stages in its history, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Tuesday during a meeting with UN organisations and ambassadors of donor countries.

(Reuters)

Lebanese group Hezbollah said Tuesday it had twice targeted Israeli troop movements in Metula in northern Israel, after Israel announced the start of a "limited" cross-border ground operation.

The group targeted "a movement of enemy soldiers in Metula with artillery shells", it said in a statement. In another, it said it had targeted a "gathering of enemy soldiers" in the same area with rockets.

The Israeli military said several projectiles were fired Tuesday from across the border into the country's northern areas after Israel began targeted ground raids in southern Lebanon.

The projectiles were fired after sirens sounded in the Metula and Avivim areas, the military said, adding that some of the projectiles were intercepted while others fell in open areas.

The United Arab Emirates reaffirmed on Tuesday its unwavering position towards the unity of Lebanon, its national sovereignty, and its territorial integrity, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday offered support to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for "dismantling attack infrastructure" along the border with Lebanon after Israel launched "targeted ground raids" on Hezbollah.

Austin also issued a warning to Iran of "serious consequences" should it directly attack Israel in response to their attacks on the Tehran-backed militant group.

"We agreed on the necessity of dismantling attack infrastructure along the border to ensure that Lebanese Hezbollah cannot conduct October 7-style attacks on Israel's northern communities," he said in a statement posted to social network X after speaking with Gallant.

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.

Maqdah's 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, the largest of several Palestinian camps in Lebanon, since cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel broke out nearly a year ago. 

(Reuters) 

Canada announced Monday it has reserved 800 seats on commercial flights to evacuate its citizens from Lebanon, where the Israeli military has begun a ground operation.

"The security situation in Lebanon is becoming increasingly dangerous and volatile," Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly wrote on X.

She added: "If you are a Canadian citizen in Lebanon, you must leave now."

About 45,000 Canadians are currently in Lebanon and the next flight is scheduled for Tuesday.

Many airlines have suspended flights to and from Beirut.

My update on efforts to help Canadians leave Lebanon: pic.twitter.com/HIU0suK74D

— Mélanie Joly (@melaniejoly) September 30, 2024

Israel launched a strike on a building in Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian camp near south Lebanon's Sidon early on Tuesday, a Palestinian source and Lebanese media said.

It marked the first strike on the overcrowded camp, Lebanon's largest of several Palestinian camps since cross-border hostilities broke out nearly a year ago.

(Reuters)

Britain said Monday it has chartered a commercial flight for its nationals wishing to evacuate Lebanon, where Israel has begun its ground invasion.

The flight will depart from Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport on Wednesday, with further flights dependant on demand.

"The situation in Lebanon is volatile and has potential to deteriorate quickly," Foreign Secretary David Lammy said.

"The safety of British nationals in Lebanon continues to be our utmost priority," he said, according to a statement from his office.

The government said it would prioritise "vulnerable British nationals" for the flight.

No Arab countries had released any reaction to the Israeli ground offensive in Lebanon as of 08:00 GMT, with the exception of the United Arab Emirates, which expressed deep concern over developments in Lebanon and their impact on regional stability, but did not make a direct reference to the offensive.

​​The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed in its statement "its unwavering position towards the unity of Lebanon" and called for concerted international efforts to stop the escalation of fighting.

Amid the horrors of Israel's bombing of Beirut, the capital also felt an earthquake that struck several hundred kilometres off Lebanon's shores.

The 6.6 Richter earthquake's epicentre was close to Cyprus, but Lebanese also felt the tremors amid a huge Israeli bombardment.

There were understandable fears that Israel had dropped a massive bomb on the capital, as the earth shook.

"Adding to the public's anxiety, and perhaps a moment of dark cosmic irony, Beirut also felt an earthquake of a 6.6 that hit around Cyprus and shook parts of Beirut," said The New Arab's Beirut-based International News Editor Yazan Al-Saadi.

Yazan Al-Saadi, The New Arab's International News Editor, is in Beirut and spoke of the strikes that rocked the capital on Monday night.

"Beirut is waking up to an eerily quiet Tuesday morning, October 1, after a very stressful night. The Israelis launched multiple strikes on certain places in the southern suburb, reportedly bringing down at least 10 residential buildings - way more than the 3 buildings the Israelis had ordered to be evacuated," he said.

"The casualty numbers are still unclear from that Israeli attack last night as the populace in Beirut watched in muted horror."

Israel launched a massive campaign of bombing across Lebanon on Monday night, with southern and central Beirut being hit by airstrikes.

Dahieh and the central Kola districts of Beirut witnessed huge explosions, which shook the city and led to fears that the Israeli invasion of Lebanon had started.

The Ein Al-Hilweh camp and other areas of southern Lebanon were also targeted in heavy strikes.

At least 95 people were killed in the bombing, Lebanon's health ministry said.