At least 90,000 people displaced in Lebanon as Israel calls up reservists

An Israeli ground operation inside Lebanon does not appear "imminent," the Pentagon said Wednesday, after Israel's army chief told troops to prepare for a possible ground offensive against Hezbollah.

"It doesn't look like something is imminent," Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told journalists in reference to a possible Israeli incursion into Lebanon.

"We certainly don't want to see any action taken that could lead to further escalation in the region," Singh said, adding that "we want to see a diplomatic resolution and a solution to prevent an all-out war."

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday he was dispatching his foreign minister to Lebanon this week as part of efforts to prevent a full-fledged war, calling on Israel and the Hezbollah to immediately stop hostilities.

"There cannot be, must not be war in Lebanon," he said in a speech at the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

"We are firmly calling on Israel to stop the escalation in Lebanon and Hezbollah to stop firing towards Israel," Macron said.

He said his newly appointed Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot would travel to Lebanon at the end of the week.

On the war on Gaza, Macron said that while Israel had a right to defend itself, the war had lasted too long and needed to end now.

"There is no justification, no explanation for thousands of civilian Palestinian deaths. Too many civilians are dead," he said.

The US is not providing intelligence support to Israel for its "operations" in Lebanon, the Pentagon spokesperson has said.

Iraq's Hezbollah Brigades, a pro-Iran armed group, on Wednesday called for intensified attacks on Israel as tensions soar over the Gaza war and Israel's air offensive in Lebanon.

Brigades spokesman Abu Ali al-Askari issued the appeal for ramped-up operations against Israel and criticised current efforts, saying they fell short of the ambitions of the pro-Iran "axis of resistance".

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Wednesday that the international community must urgently implement a solution to stop Israel's aggression, the Turkish presidency said, adding he had also voiced support for Lebanon.

"President Erdogan said Israel was disregarding fundamental human rights, committing a genocide in front of the world, noting that stopping this and the humanitarian crisis that emerged as a result of the attacks was a humanitarian duty," his office said in a post on X.

The two met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The Israeli military said it has hit more than 2,000 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon over the past three days, including hundreds on Wednesday.

"Over the past three days we have struck more than 2,000 terrorist targets in Lebanon, including several hundred today," military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told a media briefing.

A drone allegedly sent from Iraq exploded in the southern Israeli port city of Eilat Wednesday evening.

It was not immediately clear if the blast caused any injuries.

⚡️BREAKING: A drone makes direct impact in Eilat port. According to Initial reports the drone is sent from Iraq. pic.twitter.com/mRTFhnXA27

— Suppressed News. (@SuppressedNws) September 25, 2024

"We are delivering blows to Hezbollah that it could never imagine, we are doing that with force and by being clever": Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu

The US is floating a proposal for temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, officials say.

Hezbollah is "open to any settlement" on Gaza and Lebanon, a Lebanese official and source familiar with Hezbollah's thinking told Reuters.

The United States and France are trying to hammer out an interim accord to halt hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah with a view to opening broader diplomatic talks, Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides said on Wednesday.

"I don't see that we can have a (broad) agreement but a form of interim agreement in order to avoid further escalation. This is the effort right now especially from the United States and France," Christodoulides told Reuters on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

Christodoulides said he had spoken to caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York and by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel's army chief told soldiers Wednesday to prepare for a possible ground offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon as US President Joe Biden warned against "all-out war" in the Middle East.

"We are attacking all day, both to prepare the ground for the possibility of your entry, but also to continue striking Hezbollah," Herzi Halevi told a tank brigade, a statement from the military said as Israeli warplanes conducted hundreds of deadly strikes around Lebanon.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday repeated a vow to return the tens of thousands of Israelis evacuated from northern border areas to their homes and said the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement was being hit harder than it could imagine.

"I can't go into detail about everything we do, but I can tell you one thing: We are determined to return our residents in the north safely to their homes," he said in a brief video message that did not comment on US-led efforts to secure a ceasefire deal.

(Reuters)

President Joe Biden said Wednesday that "all-out war" is still possible as fighting between Israel and Hezbollah escalates, but he's hopeful an off-ramp can be found to prevent further bloodshed.

Biden spoke during an interview on ABC's The View. His comments come after days of back and forth between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon that have killed hundreds and rekindled fears of a broader war in the Middle East.

Israel's army chief told troops on Wednesday to be prepared for possible entry into Lebanon as Israeli fighter jets bombarded Hezbollah targets across the border.

"You can hear the planes here; we are attacking all day, both to prepare the ground for the possibility of your entry, but also to continue striking Hezbollah," Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi told a tank brigade, according to a statement issued by the military.

"We are not stopping. We will keep attacking and harming them everywhere," Halevi said.

"To do this, we are preparing for the course of the manoeuvre, and the sense is that your military boots, your manoeuvre boots, will enter enemy territory," Halevi said.

The United States is spearheading a new diplomatic effort to end hostilities in both Gaza and Lebanon, linking the two wars as part of a single initiative, six sources familiar with the initiative told Reuters.

Two Lebanese officials, two Western diplomats, a source familiar with Hezbollah's thinking, and a source briefed on the talks say details are being hammered out at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The deal may eventually lead to the release of captives in Gaza, according to a senior Lebanese official, the source familiar with Hezbollah's thinking and the source briefed on the talks.

"If you don't put together a package, it's impossible to get an agreement, and the war won't stop," the second Lebanese official said.

The senior Lebanese official and the source familiar with Hezbollah's thinking told Reuters that Hezbollah was "open to any settlement that would include both Gaza and Lebanon."

(Reuters)

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has engaged in "serious efforts" with international parties to limit Israel's latest escalation on Lebanon, he told the pan-Arab daily Al-Asharq Al-Awsat. He added that the next 24 hours will be "decisive."

Berri said he had intensified contacts with international parties and in coordination with outgoing Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who is currently in New York for the UN General Assembly meeting.

He expressed hope for the success of his initiative, saying there was no alternative to "war and further tragedies."

He reiterated that the Gaza and Lebanon fronts were linked, adding that the way forward would be based on proposals previously agreed on with US President's envoy Amos Hochstein.

The United Nations said Wednesday that some 90,000 people had been displaced in Lebanon this week, as Israel pounds what it says are Hezbollah targets across the country and the Lebanese group attacks Israel.

Since Monday, the UN's International Organisation for Migration has recorded "90,530 newly displaced persons", a statement said.

Among them, "many of the more than 111,000 people displaced since October... are likely to have been secondarily displaced", a statement from the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs added, referring to the start of the cross-border hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.

At least 51 people were killed and 223 wounded in Israeli strikes on Lebanon on Wednesday, the Lebanese health minister Firass Abiad said during a press conference.

(Reuters)

The Israeli military said it hit more than 280 targets of Hezbollah in Lebanon on Wednesday after the Iran-backed militants fired rockets into northern Israel.

"In total, over 280 Hezbollah terror targets have been struck today in Lebanon, and the IDF (military) is continuing to conduct strikes against additional targets," the military said in a statement.

Lebanon said 23 people were killed and dozens injured in Israeli strikes across Lebanon on Wednesday, the third day of major Israeli raids in the country as fighting with Hezbollah has intensified.

Hezbollah earlier said it had fired a ballistic missile that reached the central Israeli city of Tel Aviv for the first time before being intercepted.

The attacks in Lebanon included two rare strikes on the villages of Joun and Maaysra, mountain areas outside Hezbollah's traditional strongholds in the country's south and east.

The Israeli military said on Wednesday it had hit 60 targets belonging to Hezbollah's intelligence directorate.

"The strikes destroyed intelligence-gathering tools, command centres, and additional infrastructure used by the enemy to build an intelligence situational assessment," the military said in a statement.

(Reuters)

The Israeli military said on Wednesday it was calling up two reserve brigades to the north, where its forces are involved in cross-border clashes with the Lebanese group Hezbollah.

"The IDF (military) is calling up two reserve brigades for operational missions in the northern arena," the military said in a statement, adding that this would "enable the continuation of combat against the Hezbollah terrorist organisation".

The United States is deeply concerned by reports of a Hezbollah rocket attack aimed at Israel's intelligence service but still believes a diplomatic solution can de-escalate tensions on the Lebanon-Israel border, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said on Wednesday.

"Deeply concerning," Kirby said in a CNN interview. "Evidence again ... that Israel is facing a legitimate threat from a terrorist group backed by Iran."

The United States continues to support Israel's right to defend itself, he said. "No nation should have to live with these threats right across their border, right next door."

Israel returned the bodies on Wednesday of 88 Palestinians killed in its military offensive in the Gaza Strip, which the territory's health ministry refused to bury before Israel discloses details about who they are and where it killed them.

The bodies were brought into Gaza in a container loaded on a truck through an Israeli-controlled crossing, but according to Palestinian officials, there was no information provided about the names or ages of the victims or the locations where they died.

Health officials at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis refused to receive them and bury them, urging the International Committee of the Red Cross ICRC to seek details from Israel.

"The health ministry halted the procedures to receive the container (carrying the bodies) until the completion of the full data and information about those bodies so their relatives can identify them," the ministry said in a statement.

(Reuters) 

At least four people have been killed, and 38 have been injured after an Israeli airstrike targeted Baalbek-Hermel.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said Israel targeted towns in the area.

Lebanon said 15 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Wednesday, including two rare strikes in mountain areas outside Hezbollah's traditional strongholds in the south and east.

The health ministry said an Israeli strike on the village of Joun in the Chouf mountains, southeast of Beirut, killed four people.

Another Israeli strike killed three people in Maaysra, a Shiite majority village in a mostly Christian mountain area about 25 kilometres (15 miles) north of Beirut.

Eight people were killed in Israeli strikes in the south, the ministry said.

Earlier, a Lebanese security official had told AFP " an Israeli strike targeted a house in the village of Maaysra", requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

Protesters in some US cities demonstrated on Tuesday against American military support for Israel as risks have risen of a full-fledged conflict in the Middle East, with anti-war activists demanding an arms embargo against the US ally.

Dozens of protesters gathered in Herald Square in New York City on Tuesday evening and carried banners that read "Hands off Lebanon now" and "no US-Israeli war on Lebanon," according to the ANSWER coalition group, which stands for "Act Now to Stop War and End Racism."

Protesters chanted "Hands off the Middle East," "Free Palestine" and "Biden, Harris, Trump and Bibi; none are welcome in our city," referring to US President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Hundreds of protestors took to the streets in Seattle, Washington, to demand an end to the Israeli genocide in Gaza and support Lebanon. 🇵🇸🇱🇧 pic.twitter.com/VhpeeWiZUT

— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) September 25, 2024

(Reuters)

The foreign ministers of Egypt, Iraq and Jordan condemned Israel's "aggression" against Lebanon Wednesday, warning that it is "pushing the region towards all-out war".

The ministers said that stopping the "dangerous escalation under way in the region... begins by halting Israel's aggression in Gaza", in a joint statement issued after a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

Lebanon said three people were killed after Israel struck a village north of Beirut Wednesday, hit for the first time in nearly a year of clashes between Hezbollah and Israel.

The "Israeli enemy strike on the village of Maaysra in the Keserwan district killed three people and injured nine," Lebanon's health ministry said. A Lebanese security source had earlier told AFP the strike hit a house.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Wednesday that at least 41,495 people have been killed in Israel's war on Gaza, now almost in its 12th month.

The toll includes 28 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which said 96,006 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip.

The Kremlin on Wednesday urged Russian nationals to leave Lebanon as soon as possible for their own safety on commercial flights.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the statement on a daily conference call with reporters after warning a day earlier that Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon had the potential to destabilise the Middle East and widen the conflict there.

(Reuters)

Pope Francis on Wednesday slammed the "terrible escalation" of the conflict in Lebanon as "unacceptable", after Israeli bombings in the south of the country killed hundreds of people.

"I am saddened by the news coming out of Lebanon... but I hope that the international community will make every effort to stop this terrible escalation. This is unacceptable, I express my closeness to the Lebanese people, who have already suffered too much in the recent past," Francis said.

Norway's security police (PST) have begun a preliminary investigation into reports that a Norwegian-owned company was linked to the sale of pagers to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah that exploded last week, a police lawyer told Reuters.

Over a two-day period last week, thousands of pagers, as well as walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah operatives, blew up in Lebanon, killing at least 39 people and wounding thousands. The attacks were widely believed to have been carried out by Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.

"PST has initiated a preliminary investigation to determine whether there are reasons for starting a (full) investigation on the basis of allegations in the media that a Norwegian-owned company may have been involved in the dissemination of pagers to Hezbollah," PST lawyer Haris Hrenovica said in a text message to Reuters.

(Reuters) 

The Israeli military said it was carrying out "extensive" air strikes in south Lebanon and the eastern Beqaa Valley after Hezbollah fired a ballistic missile that reached the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.

"The IDF (Israeli military) is currently conducting extensive strikes in southern Lebanon and the Beqaa area. Details to follow," the military said in a statement.

The Israeli military said on Wednesday its fighter jets intercepted an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that crossed from Syria.

"The UAV was intercepted ... south of the Sea of Galilee. No damage or injuries were reported," it said. 

(Reuters)

The Israeli military said on Wednesday that for the "first time ever" a missile fired by Hezbollah reached the Tel Aviv area and was intercepted by Israel's defence system.

"It is the first time ever a Hezbollah missile reached Tel Aviv area. It was intercepted by IDF (Israeli military)," an army spokesman told AFP.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delayed his departure for the UN General Assembly in New York, his office said Wednesday, as the army pounds Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu will leave for his speech at the UN tomorrow (Thursday), instead of tonight, and will return on Saturday night," his office said. "During the day, the prime minister will hold consultations to discuss the continuation of the attacks in Lebanon."

Israel carried out airstrikes on south and east Lebanon for a third day Wednesday, Lebanese official media reported.

"Since 5:00 am (0200 GMT) enemy warplanes have launched strikes" on several areas of southern Lebanon, the official National News Agency said, adding that "the air aggression continued overnight" on other parts of the south, reporting unspecified casualties.

It also reported that "enemy warplanes and drones" targeted multiple locations in the Baalbek area in eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley after midnight, also reporting casualties there.

Hezbollah and its arch-foe Israel have been exchanging near-daily cross-border fire since 7 October, with the Lebanese group saying it is acting in support of Palestinian ally Hamas.

But the violence has spiralled in recent days, and on Monday, Israel launched devastating strikes that resulted in the deadliest single-day toll since the end of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.

Warning sirens sounded in Israel's economic capital, Tel Aviv, on Wednesday as air defence systems intercepted a single surface-to-surface missile after it was detected crossing from Lebanon, the Israeli military said.

There were no reports of damage or casualties, and the military said there was no change to civil defence instructions for central Israel.

The warning sirens also sounded in other areas of central Israel, including Netanya.

(Reuters) 

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shiaa al-Sudani has ordered the launch of air and land bridges to send humanitarian and medical aid to Lebanon.

Sudani also ordered the facilitation of fuel delivery to operate the power stations needed by Lebanese hospitals and service institutions, in addition to receiving the wounded Lebanese people in Iraqi hospitals.

The prime minister called for holding an emergency summit for leaders of the Muslim countries who are present in New York to attend the UN General Assembly session, describing the Israeli strikes as "terrorist attacks and crimes committed by Zionist criminality".

Sudani also ordered the extension of entry visas for Lebanese citizens currently visiting Iraq by 30 days, the continuation of granting visas for Lebanese arriving at the country's border crossings, and the exempting of the Lebanese who violate residency conditions from penalties stipulated in the law.

The decisions came shortly after Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's highest Shia authority, called on Iraqis to contribute to alleviating the suffering of the Lebanese people and securing their humanitarian needs.

Hezbollah has warned residents in the country's eastern Bekaa Valley region against using their phones to scan a QR code which appeared on leaflets dropped by the Israeli army urging evacuations of certain areas.

The group said in a statement that using the barcode could lead to data leaks from any device.

"Please do not open or circulate the barcode. Rather you must destroy it immediately because it is very dangerous and withdraws all the information you store. It is a harmful code for your safety. Please be careful and cautious," the statement said.

Israeli forces have raided Hebron in the occupied West Bank and arrested six Palestinians, security sources told the Palestinian Wafa news agency.

Israeli forces also arrested one man from Idhna, west of Hebron.

Earlier, Israeli forces stormed the Fawwar refugee camp south of Hebron, raiding a number of Palestinian neighbourhoods and homes.

Qatar's Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani has criticised Israel's "barbaric" and "heinous" aggression in the Gaza Strip and its intensified strikes in Lebanon.

"This is not a war within the international relations' well-known and common concept of war, but rather it is a crime of genocide by means of the most sophisticated weapons against people besieged in a detention camp where there is no escape from the barrage of aerial bombing," he said during his address to the 79th UN General Assembly in New York.

The Qatari leader also criticised Israel for over-committing "a major crime" in Lebanon, urging the need to "avert an all-out regional war".

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI) group said it had carried out an attack with an al-Arqab developed cruise missile on what it described as "a vital target" in northern Israel.

The group said in a Telegram statement that the attack came "in support of our people in Palestine and in response to the massacres committed by the usurping entity against civilians, including children, women and the elderly".

The IRI also claimed two other drone attacks, one on a "military target" in northern Israel and another on "a target" near the Jordan Valley.

The Israeli army posted on X that "following the alerts activated in the Araba area, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was detected crossing from the east, and a fall was identified in the area", adding that there were "no casualties".

Since the Israeli army intensified its targeted strikes in Beirut and southern Lebanon, the IRI has increased its attacks on different parts of Israel.

Hamas has sent a letter to the United Nations urging its secretary-general to take direct action to immediately stop "the aggression and war of genocide in the Gaza Strip and the flagrant violations in the West Bank and Jerusalem".

"We call upon you to intensify relief efforts for our steadfast people in the Gaza Strip by opening the crossings and directing urgent aid of food, medicine, clothing and shelter supplies," Hamas said in a statement on its website on Tuesday.

The group held the Israeli government and its supporters, as well as the US, responsible for the failure of the ceasefire talks. 

It noted its previously announced position of not going to further rounds of negotiations and refusing to discuss new proposals that would provide "cover for the occupation's aggression and give it more time to continue its war of genocide against our people".

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan and his Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bou Habib have held a meeting on the ongoing military escalation between Israel and Hezbollah.

The meeting, which took place on the sidelines of UN General Assembly meetings in New York, discussed the impact of the current developments on security and stability in Lebanon and the Middle East region.

The two officials stressed the need for Lebanon's stability and sovereignty to be "respected" in accordance with international law.