Israel launches heavy strikes on Beirut, rescue operations ongoing

Israel's Channel 12 has said that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is believed dead, according to an Israeli assessment.

Hezbollah sources earlier said that the group's leader is alive, however an official statement has not been issued.

Hezbollah's media has said there is "no truth" in Israeli statements on the strikes on Lebanon.

The Lebanese army on Friday was protectively setting up a security cordon around the U.S. embassy in Lebanon, which is north of Beirut, a security source told Reuters.

Iran's embassy in Beirut has said that Israel's strikes on the Lebanese capital are a "crime" that warrants "appropriate punishment".

Lebanon's Health Ministry has given a preliminary death toll of 2 dead, 76 wounded following Israel's bombing of a Beirut suburb.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati urged the international community to "stop" Israel from waging a "genocidal war" against Lebanon, following a huge Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs.

"This new Israeli aggression proves that the Israeli enemy doesn't care about all the international efforts and calls for a ceasefire," Mikati, who is in New York, said in a statement issued by his office, urging the international community to stop the "genocidal war that it (Israel) is waging on Lebanon".

Hassan Nasrallah is alive, source close to the Lebanese group's leader said, following Israeli strikes on Beirut.

Hamas accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of telling "blatant lies" in his speech to the UN General Assembly on Friday.

Netanyahu "continued his series of blatant lies and escalated his threats against the peoples of the region, while... expanding his circle of crimes to include our people in Lebanon", a statement from the Palestinian group said.

Source close to Hezbollah says group's leader Hassan Nasrallah 'fine' following strike on south Beirut suburb which targeted him.

Iranian media, chiefly Tasnim News, said that the Hezbollah leader is "doing well".

Israel TV networks say Hezbollah chief Nasrallah was target of Beirut strikes.

The United Nations on Friday said it was alarmed by Israeli strikes on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut.

"The UN is watching with great alarm" the strikes on Beirut, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told a briefing.

Israeli warplanes carried out a series of strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs Friday, Lebanese state media reported, triggering loud explosions that were heard by AFP journalists in the capital.

"Enemy warplanes carried out a series of strikes on the area of Beirut's southern suburbs," the National News Agency said. Lebanese television showed plumes of smoke rising from several locations in the area.

Massive thick clouds of smoke were rising from the Lebanese capital Beirut on Friday after multiple explosions were heard, according to Reuters witnesses.

The Israeli military said on Friday it was carrying out fresh strikes against Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon, minutes after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the UN that operations against the Lebanese armed group will continue.

Israel's military "is currently striking" "targets belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organisation in southern Lebanon," the military said in a statement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Iran on Friday that it will strike if it is hit first and said his country can reach any part of the cleric-run state.

"I have a message for the tyrants of Tehran. If you strike us, we will strike you," Netanyahu told the UN General Assembly.

"There is no place in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach, and that's true of the entire Middle East."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the UN Friday that operations against Hezbollah will continue, dampening hopes of a 21-day truce proposed by France and the United States this week.

"As long as Hezbollah chooses the path of war, Israel has no choice, and Israel has every right to remove this threat and return our citizens to their home safe," Netanyahu told the UN General Assembly, adding that operations against the militant group will "continue until we meet our objectives."

Thousands of Iranians protested on Friday in the capital Tehran and other cities to condemn Israeli attacks on Lebanon and Gaza, AFP journalists and state media reported.

Officials had on Wednesday called on the nation to demonstrate in support of the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement in Lebanon "and to condemn the barbaric crimes of the Zionist regime in Palestine," the official IRNA news agency said.

In Tehran after Friday prayers, a protest took place around Enghelab Square in the city centre, an AFP journalist said.

Demonstrators carried portraits of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah as well as Palestinian and Hezbollah flags.

"Israel is destroyed. Lebanon is victorious," they chanted, deploring "a bloodbath in Lebanon."

Protesters also burned Israeli and US flags.

State television aired footage of other demonstrations in Semnan, Qom, Kashan, Kermanshah, Shiraz and Bandar Abbas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opened a UN General Assembly speech vowing to counter "slanders" at the world body, where many delegates immediately walked out.

"After I heard the lies and slanders leveled at my country by many of the speakers at this podium, I decided to come here and set the record straight," Netanyahu said.

Yemen's Houthis said on Friday they targeted with 23 ballistic and winged missiles and a drone three US destroyers in the Red Sea while on their way to support Israel.

UNICEF said on Friday that Israel's air attacks on Lebanon this week have already killed more children per day than the 2006 war, which lasted for 33 days and killed about 1,200 people.

"The average number of children killed per day in Lebanon this week is more than double the number of children killed per day during the country’s devastating 2006 conflict," UNICEF said.

An estimated 400 children, or about 12 children per day, were killed then compared with 50 children killed in a span of two days, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.

The escalation in recent days in Lebanon has killed and injured thousands, spurred mass displacement, caused extensive damage to infrastructure and instilled an unimaginable fear in the daily lives of people.

— UNICEF Lebanon (@UNICEFLebanon) September 27, 2024

The UK will reportedly provide £5 million to UNICEF in Lebanon to support humanitarian response efforts and enable the UN agency to distribute aid evenly in the country, where Israel has intensified attacks this week.

In a press release, UK in Lebanon said the package will include essential medical supplies, hygiene kits and fuel for water stations, in a bid to help those displaced by Israel's attacks.

The minister for the Middle East and North Africa said: "Today we are providing £5 million to UNICEF in Lebanon to support the urgent humanitarian response in Lebanon. The number of civilian casualties is unacceptable, and the UK is deeply concerned by the surge in numbers of displaced people".

An Israeli security official said on Friday that any ground operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon would be carried out as swiftly as possible.

"We will try to do it as short as we can," the official told journalists, speaking anonymously in line with security rules. "I think that we are preparing that every day, and for sure that is inside our toolbox."

The comments came as Israel and Hezbollah traded fire after the United States and its allies failed to secure a halt in clashes that have killed more than 700 people in Lebanon this week.

The Israeli security official said the Israeli strikes had killed many Hezbollah militants and significantly curtailed the Iran-backed group's military capabilities.

"I think that they lost many capabilities," the official said.

The UN on Friday decried the escalation in Israeli attacks targeting Hezbollah militants in Lebanon as "catastrophic", warning the country was facing its deadliest period in years.

"The recent escalations in Lebanon are nothing short of catastrophic," said Imran Riza, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Lebanon. "We are witnessing the deadliest period in Lebanon in a generation, and many express their fear that this is just the beginning," he warned.

Yemen's Houthis said on Friday they had targeted Israel's cities of Tel Aviv and Ashkelon with a ballistic missile and a drone in support of Gaza and Lebanon.

The Israeli army said it had intercepted a missile that was fired from Yemen after sirens and explosions were heard early in the day.

The Houthi's military spokesperson said their operations won't halt in the coming days until Israel's offensives in Gaza and Lebanon stop.

"We will carry out more military operations against the Israeli enemy in victory for the blood of our brothers in Palestine and Lebanon," Yahya Sarea said in a televised speech.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 600 people in Lebanon since Monday, with the conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah at its most intense in more than 18 years.

The US Embassy in Beirut will reportedly operate special flights on Saturday via Rafic Hariri International Airport from Beirut as part of a plan to evacuate its citizens following the intensification of escalations between Israel and Hezbollah this week, reported The New Arab's Arabic-language site, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

The flights for US nationals and green card holders will be from Beirut to Turkey, with the ticket priced at $330.

However, the US Embassy confirmed in a statement shared with journalists that it is not yet evacuating US citizens at the moment, and that that US nationals who have expressed interest in leaving Lebanon must book and pay directly with the relevant airline.

Lebanon's health ministry says at least 25 people have been killed since early hours of Friday

Three Palestinians have been killed and several others injured on Friday morning by ongoing Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip.

Medical sources confirmed that a young man was killed and others sustained injuries from Israeli bombardments targeting displaced people's tents at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, the Palestinian Wafa agency reported.

Additionally, two others were killed and others wounded when Israeli forces struck a home in the Jarn area of the town of Jabalia, northern Gaza.

Hezbollah has carried out at least four attacks on Friday morning on Israel, including Kiryat Atta with Fadi-1 missiles, the bombing of the Israeli settlement of Ilaniya, west of the city of Tiberias, also with Fadi-1 missiles and two barrage rockets on Tiberias.

More than 30,000 people, mainly Syrians, have crossed into Syria from Lebanon in the past 72 hours, the UN refugee agency said on Friday, amid an escalating conflict between Israeli forces and the heavily armed Hezbollah that has left hundreds dead in Lebanon.

Israeli forces are carrying out a raid on the Balata refugee camp east of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian media media has reported.

Gunfire and explosions were heard from the camp, according to the Wafa news agency.

Houthi leader Abdulmalek al-Houthi has warned that any Israeli ground operation into Lebanon would be doomed to fail.

In a speech aired yesterday on the rebel group's Al-Masirah TV, he said that he would "not hesitate" to support Lebanon and Hezbollah.

The rebel leader condemned Israel's recent heavy strikes on Lebanon, accusing them of deliberately targeting civilians, including women and children, and homes.

"The enemy's foolishness in Lebanon will lead it to great loss on the path to its final downfall," al-Houthi said.

The Israeli military announced late yesterday that it intercepted a missile fired from Yemen.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI) group has claimed new drone attacks against the Israeli occupied Golan Heights. 

The group posted three different Telegram statements early this morning. One claimed a drone attack on Golan, another claimed an attack using an al-Arqab cruise missile on a "vital target" in the occupied territory and a third statement claimed another drone attack on Golan.

IRI also posted two videos showing what it said were the launching of the drones.

The group said in each statement that the attacks came "in support of our people in Gaza, and in response to the massacres the usurper entity [Israel] commits against civilians".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said this morning in an English statement on X that Israel and the US have a "shared goal of returning people safely to their homes". 

Netanyahu's comment comes after he had earlier denied reports of involvement in talks for a temporary ceasefire in the escalating cross-border fighting with the Lebanese group Hezbollah.

A Hebrew statement from the prime minister's office yesterday said that "the report about a ceasefire is incorrect", referring to a US-French initiative backed by allies.

Israeli media later reported that US officials had said they coordinated ceasefire plans with Netanyahu prior to them being announced and believed Israel was on board.

The Philippines said on Friday it will evacuate 11,000 citizens from Lebanon the moment Israeli forces cross the border to launch a ground offensive against Hezbollah.

"A ground invasion will lead to mandatory repatriation," Foreign Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega said at a press conference in Manila, adding the plan was to move thousands out of the country via the sea.

He did not provide other details.

Manila had earlier urged Filipinos to leave Lebanon before airlines stopped flying to Beirut but most of its citizens did not heed the call, Filipino diplomats said.

Millions of Filipinos work overseas - with large numbers concentrated in the Middle East - due to limited job opportunities at home. Around 90 percent of those working in Lebanon are women migrant domestic workers.

"To some of them, getting killed in war is preferable to starving to death," de Vega said, adding there have so far been no Filipino casualties from the Israeli air campaign against Hezbollah.

Lebanon's Hezbollah group said its forces fired a salvo of rockets at the Israeli city of Tiberias on Friday.

In a statement, Hezbollah said it was responding to Israel's "savage" strikes on Lebanese towns and civilians. The Israeli military said drones and projectiles had crossed its territory from Lebanon.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met his Lebanese counterpart at the United Nations and discussed the importance of an immediate ceasefire and a negotiated solution in the conflict with Israel, his office said on Friday.

Starmer met Lebanon's Najib Mikati at the United Nations General Assembly.

"The Prime Minister opened by giving his sincere condolences to Prime Minister Mikati for the loss of civilian life in recent weeks," the statement said.

"They discussed the escalating conflict in Lebanon, and agreed on the importance of an immediate ceasefire and a negotiated solution."

Tokyo is urging its citizens to leave Lebanon, Japan's top government spokesman said Friday, with media reporting plans are afoot to dispatch military aircraft to evacuate them.

Israeli bombing has killed hundreds of people this week in Lebanon, particularly in Hezbollah strongholds while the militant group has retaliated with rocket barrages.

"We're currently checking the safety of Japanese citizens living in Lebanon, as well as urging them to leave the country while regular commercial flights remain in operation", chief cabinet secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said Friday.

Meanwhile, Japanese media reported that arrangements are currently underway for the government to send military aircraft to Jordan where they will be on stand-by.

The C-2 transport aircraft will be mobilised to evacuate around 50 Japanese citizens currently in Lebanon, media outlets including Kyodo News said, citing unnamed government sources.

Yoko Kamikawa, Japan's foreign minister, said Wednesday that Tokyo is "strongly concerned about the escalation of tensions between Israel and Hezbollah."

Japan, she added, "strongly urges" all parties to "exercise the utmost restraint to avoid further escalation."

An Israeli air strike on Friday killed five Syrian soldiers near the border with Lebanon, the official news agency SANA reported, citing a military source.

"The Israeli enemy carried out an aerial attack... on one of our military positions near Kfar Yabus on the Syrian-Lebanese border," SANA said, adding that five Syrian soldiers were killed and one was wounded.

An Israeli strike at around 3 a.m. on Friday killed nine people from the same family in the southern Lebanese border-town of Shebaa, including four children, mayor Mohammad Saab told Reuters.