Israeli strikes have pummelled Beirut for another day as residents were seen running for shelter and blasts echoed through the southern suburbs, sending huge plumes of smoke and flames into the night sky.
As buildings shook miles away from the explosions on Friday, Israel also cut off the main border crossing between Lebanon and Syria, which is used by the tens of thousands of people fleeing the Israeli bombardment of Hezbollah.
Beirut was also rocked by huge explosions the previous night, amid reports Israeli strikes targeted senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine, who is regarded as the successor to the militant group’s leader Nasrallah Hassan after he was killed in an Israeli strike.
Following the reported targeting of its allies’ next leader, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed his country and his regional proxies across the Middle East would carry on fighting Israel, as tensions escalate across the region.
“The brilliant action of our armed forces a couple of nights ago was completely legal and legitimate”, Khamenei said of a massive missile barrage that saw Iran launch around 180 rockets at Israel.
Key Points
- Israeli airstrikes rock southern suburbs of Beirut and cut off a key crossing into Syria
- Iran vows it will not back down from Israel
- Israel’s deadliest attack on West Bank in decades kills 18
- Trump urges Israel to strike Iran's nuclear sites: 'Worry about everything else later'
- Hamas leader killed along with family in Lebanon, Hamas says
UAE first aid shipments arrive in Lebanon
06:20
Vishwam Sankaran
Shipments carrying first aid from the United Arab Emirates have arrived in Lebanon.
The UAE has pledged $100m in urgent relief to Lebanon amid Israel’s invasion of the country.
UAE’s first plane arrived yesterday with 40 tonnes of medical supplies in Beirut.
Israel attack on Lebanon in pictures:
05:50
Vishwam Sankaran
South Korea airlifts nearly 100 citizens and their families from Lebanon
05:20
Vishwam Sankaran
The South Korean military has evacuated 97 citizens and their family members from Lebanon amid Israel’s invasion and escalating tensions in the region, the country’s foreign ministry said.
A KC-330 aircraft carrying the evacuees, including Lebanese family members, departed from Beirut on Friday and is expected to return to South Korea on Saturday afternoon.
South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol ordered military aircraft to be deployed to rescue citizens from parts of the Middle East affected by the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
Trump urges Israel to strike Iran's nuclear sites: 'Worry about everything else later'
04:50
Vishwam Sankaran
Former US president and Republican nominee Donald Trump said Israel should target Iran’s nuclear facilities, days after president Joe Biden said that an “all-out war” in the Middle East should be avoided.
“That’s the thing you want to hit, right?..I mean, it’s the biggest risk we have, nuclear weapons,” Mr Trump said at a campaign event in North Carolina, adding that Israel should “worry about everything else later”.
“If they’re going to do it, they’re going to do it. But we’ll find out whatever their plans are,” he added.
Kamala Harris meets Arab American leaders angered by US support for Israel
04:19
Vishwam Sankaran
US Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris met with Arab American and Muslim leaders in Flint, Michigan, who are angered by the White House’s support for Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
During the meeting, Ms Harris reportedly discussed efforts to prevent a regional war.
“Emgage Action asked Vice President Harris to impress upon President Biden the urgency of bringing an immediate end to the violence,” Wa’el Alzayat, the chief of Emgage Action, a group of organisations seeking to empower Muslim Americans, said.
“She agrees that this war needs to end,” Mr Alzayat added.
Hamas leader killed along with family in Lebanon, Hamas says
03:55
Vishwam Sankaran
Israeli strike in northern Lebanon has killed a leader of Hamas armed wing along with three of his family members, Hamas media said.
Israel stated that it is considering various options in response to Iran’s missile strike on Tuesday, which Iran launched in retaliation for Israel’s invasion of Lebanon.
More than 2,000 people have been killed so far in Israel’s attacks across Lebanon, including 127 children and 261 women, according to the country’s health ministry.
Oil prices rise on possibility of Israeli attack on Iran’s oil facilities
03:00
Tara Cobham
Oil prices have risen on the possibility of an attack on Iran's oil facilities as Israel pursues its goals of pushing back Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and eliminating their Hamas allies in Gaza.
US President Joe Biden said on Friday he would think about alternatives to striking Iranian oil fields if he were in Israel's shoes, adding that he thinks Israel has not yet concluded how to respond to Iran.
Many buildings reduced to rubble in Hezbollah’s stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs
02:15
Tara Cobham
Many buildings have been reduced to rubble in Hezbollah’s stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Nearly all the storefronts in the main market street, Moawad Souk, were damaged and the road filled with broken glass.
"We're alive but don't know for how long," said Nouhad Chaib, a 40-year-old man already displaced from the south.
The Islamic Health Authority, a civil defense agency linked to Hezbollah, said 11 medics had been killed in three separate Israeli attacks across southern Lebanon on Friday.
The Israeli military said that in the past day it had struck several weapons storage facilities, command and control centres, and additional Hezbollah infrastructure sites in the Beirut area.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, visiting Beirut and meeting with top Lebanese officials, said Tehran supported efforts for a ceasefire in Lebanon provided it was backed by Hezbollah and was simultaneous with a Gaza ceasefire.
Boris Johnson claims bugging device found in his bathroom after Netanyahu visit
01:30
Tara Cobham
A bugging device was found in Boris Johnson’s bathroom after a visit by Benjamin Netanyahu when he was foreign secretary, the former prime minister has claimed.
Mr Johnson alleged that his security team had made the discovery when they did a sweep of the toilets after the Israeli premier had used them during a meeting in 2017.
Writing in his memoir, “Unleashed”, the former Tory MP said Mr Netanyahu had excused himself during talks at his old office to use the washroom, described as “a secret annex… a bit like the gents in a posh London club.”
Nina Lloyd reports:
Iran vows not to back down
Saturday 5 October 2024 00:45
Tara Cobham
Iran's missile salvo was partly in retaliation for Israel's killing of Hezbollah secretary-general Nasrallah, a dominant figure who had turned the group into a powerful armed and political force with reach across the Middle East.
Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a huge crowd in Tehran Iran and its regional allies would not back down.
Israel's adversaries in the region should "double your efforts and capabilities... and resist the aggressive enemy," Khamenei said in a rare appearance leading Friday prayers, at which he mentioned Nasrallah and called Iran's attack on Israel legal and legitimate. He said Iran would not "procrastinate nor act hastily to carry out its duty" in confronting Israel.
The semi-official Iranian news agency SNN quoted Revolutionary Guards deputy commander Ali Fadavi as saying on Friday that if Israel attacked, Tehran would target Israeli energy and gas installations.
Axios reporter Barak Ravid cited three Israeli officials as saying that Hezbollah official Safieddine, rumoured to be Nasrallah's successor, had been targeted in an underground bunker in Beirut overnight but his fate was not clear.
Israeli Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said on Friday the military was still assessing the Thursday night airstrikes, which he said targeted Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters.
Earlier the Israeli military reported that it had killed the head of Hezbollah's communication networks, Mohammad Rashid Sakafi. It declined to comment on the report that Safieddine was targeted.
Hezbollah made no comment on the fate of Sakafi.
Khamenei said assassinations would just spur more attacks. "Every strike launched by any group against Israel is a service to the region and to all humanity," he said, adding that Afghanistan should join the "defence".
Blast heard and smoke seen over Beirut’s southern suburbs, witnesses say
Saturday 5 October 2024 00:06
Tara Cobham
A blast was heard and smoke was seen over Beirut’s southern suburbs in the early hours of Saturday, Reuters witnesses said, shortly after the Israeli military issued two alerts for residents of the area to immediately evacuate.
The first alert on Saturday called on residents specifically present in a building at Burj al-Barajneh neighborhood. The second alert mentioned those present in a building at Choueifat district.
The strikes on Beirut come as fighting between the Lebanese Hezbollah group and Israel rages amid Israel's military escalation in the country.
Hamas confirms death of commander in Israeli strike on West Bank
Saturday 5 October 2024 00:00
Tara Cobham
Hamas' armed wing al-Qassam Brigades confirmed death of one of its commanders Zahi Yaser Oufi in an Israeli strike on the West Bank city of Tulkarm along with seven other fighters, the group said in a statement on Friday.
The Israeli military said that it killed Oufi, head of the Hamas network in Tulkarm, in an attack on Thursday.
Death toll in Lebanon surpasses 2,000, announces government
Friday 4 October 2024 23:15
Tara Cobham
More than 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon as a result of the conflict in the past year, most of them in the past two weeks, according to the Lebanese government, which has not broken down the overall figure to detail the numbers of civilians and Hezbollah fighters killed.
The Lebanese government has accused Israel of targeting civilians, pointing to the dozens of women and children killed.
Israeli officials say the military precisely targets Hezbollah's military capabilities and takes steps to mitigate the risk of harm to civilians. It accuses the group of hiding among civilians, which the group denies.
Prior to the deaths of two Israeli soldiers in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights announced by the military on Friday, Hezbollah had killed 47 people - soldiers and civilians - over the past year, according to data published on Sept. 2 by Alma, an Israeli think tank specializing in Hezbollah.
American killed in Lebanon was a US citizen, State Dept says
Friday 4 October 2024 22:51
Tara Cobham
An American killed in Lebanon this week was a US citizen, a State Department spokesperson said on Friday, adding that Washington was working to understand the circumstances of the incident.
Kamel Ahmad Jawad, from Dearborn, Michigan, was killed in Lebanon in an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday, according to his daughter, a friend and the US congresswoman representing his district.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller earlier this week said it was Washington's understanding that Jawad was a legal permanent resident, not an American citizen. On Friday, the department said that he was a US citizen.
"We are aware and alarmed of reports of the death of Kamel Jawad, who we have confirmed is a US citizen," the spokesperson said.
"As we have noted repeatedly, it is a moral and strategic imperative that Israel take all feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm. Any loss of civilian life is a tragedy."
Israel says it is targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants, who have been firing rockets into Israel since the war in Gaza began a year ago.
Its recent military campaign in Lebanon has killed hundreds and wounded thousands, according to the Lebanese government, which has not said how many of the casualties were civilians versus Hezbollah members. The Israeli bombardment has also driven more than 1.2 million Lebanese from their homes.
The governor of Michigan has urged the US government to do more to rescue Americans stuck in Lebanon, many of them from Michigan, during Israel's military offensive in the country.
Israeli airstrikes rock southern suburbs of Beirut and cut off a key crossing into Syria
Friday 4 October 2024 22:45
Tara Cobham
Israel carried out another series of punishing airstrikes Friday, hitting suburban Beirut and cutting off the main border crossing between Lebanon and Syria for tens of thousands of people fleeing the Israeli bombardment of the Hezbollah militant group.
The overnight blasts in Beirut's southern suburbs sent huge plumes of smoke and flames into the night sky and shook buildings kilometers (miles) away in the Lebanese capital. Additional strikes sent people running for cover in streets littered with rubble in the Dahiyeh neighborhood, where at least one building was leveled and cars were burned out.
The Israeli military said it targeted Hezbollah's central intelligence headquarters around midnight. It did not say who it was aiming for or if any militants were killed in that strike, but it claimed to have killed 100 Hezbollah fighters in the last 24 hours.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported more than 10 consecutive airstrikes in the area. Some 1,400 Lebanese, including Hezbollah fighters and civilians, have been killed and some 1.2 million driven from their homes since Israel escalated its strikes in late September aiming to cripple Hezbollah and push it away from the countries' shared border.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah launched about 100 rockets into Israel on Friday, the Israel military said.
The Israeli military also said that a strike in Beirut the day before killed Mohammed Rashid Skafi, the head of Hezbollah's communications division. The military said in a statement that Skafi was "a senior Hezbollah terrorist who was responsible for the communications unit since 2000" and was "closely affiliated" with high-up Hezbollah officials.
Thursday's strike along the Lebanon-Syria border, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Beirut, led to the closure of the road near the busy Masnaa Border Crossing — the first time it has been cut off since Hezbollah and Israel began trading fire almost a year ago.
Israel said it targeted the crossing because it was being used by Hezbollah to transport military equipment across the border. It said fighter jets had struck a tunnel used to smuggle weapons from Iran and other proxies into Lebanon.
Hezbollah is believed to have received much of its weaponry through Syria from Iran, its main backer.
US military strikes 15 Houthi targets in Yemen
Friday 4 October 2024 22:30
Tara Cobham
The US military said it carried out 15 strikes on Friday against targets linked to Iran-aligned Houthi fighters in Yemen, where residents reported blasts at military outposts and even an airport.
Central Command, which oversees US forces in the Middle East, said the targets were tied to Houthi offensive military capabilities, but did not detail whether that included missile, drone or radar capabilities.
In a post on X, Central Command said the strikes took place at about 2pm (GMT).
The Houthis have carried out nearly 100 attacks on ships crossing the Red Sea since November and say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Israel's year-long war in Gaza. They have sunk two vessels, seized another and killed at least four seafarers.
Al Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by the Houthi movement controlling much of Yemen, and residents said airstrikes were launched at several parts of Yemen including its capital Sanaa and Hodeidah airport.
Strikes also targeted the south of Dhamar city and the southeast of al-Bayda province, the channel added.
Residents said that the attack on al-Bayda province targeted several Houthi military outposts.
The Biden administration has been acting mostly defensively against Houthi strikes in the Red Sea, usually moving to intercept drone and missile attacks against commercial vessels and US warships.
It has also struck Houthi military infrastructure with less frequency and avoided broader targets in Yemen, as it seeks to contain fallout from the nearly year-old Israel-Hamas war.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted strikes on 15 Houthi targets in Iranian-backed Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen today at about 5 p.m. (Sanaa time). These targets included Houthi offensive military capabilities. These actions were taken to protect freedom of… pic.twitter.com/w8dC2lacpP
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) October 4, 2024
Britain charters flight to leave Lebanon on Sunday
Friday 4 October 2024 22:06
Tara Cobham
The British government said it has chartered a flight to leave Lebanon on Sunday to support its citizens looking to leave the country.
"There are no more scheduled flights, although we will continue to keep this under review," Britain's foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday, adding that more than 250 British nationals have left Lebanon on flights chartered by the government.
Democrats fear Netanyahu is pushing his Middle East war to influence the US election
Friday 4 October 2024 21:45
Tara Cobham
Democrats fear Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is escalating tensions in the Middle East in order to influence the U.S. election.
This past week, Israel has increased its attack on Lebanon, targeting the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah, and vowed to make Iran “pay” for its recent missile attack.
Democratic Senator Christ Murphy, of Connecticut told CNN he fears Netanyahu is being strategic in launching attacks right before the November election.
Ariana Baio reports:
Biden says he would weigh alternatives to striking Iranian oil if he were in Israel's shoes
Friday 4 October 2024 21:00
Tara Cobham
US President Joe Biden has said he would think about alternatives to striking Iranian oil fields if he were in Israel's shoes, adding he thinks Israel has not yet concluded how to respond to Iran.
"The Israelis have not concluded what they are going to do in terms of a strike. That's under discussion," Biden said in remarks to reporters at a White House press briefing on Friday.
"If I were in their shoes, I'd be thinking about other alternatives than striking oilfields," the president added.
Tensions between Iran and Israel have been high as Israel has been weighing options to respond to Tehran's ballistic missile attack on Tuesday, which Iran had carried out in response to Israel's military action in Lebanon.
Biden was also asked if he thought that by not engaging in diplomacy, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was trying to influence the 5 November US election in which Republican former President Donald Trump faces Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
"Whether he is trying to influence the election, I don't know, but I am not counting on that," Biden said in response. "No administration has done more to help Israel than I have."
Full story: Israel launches fresh strikes on Beirut as Iran’s leader vows Hezbollah and Hamas won’t back down
Friday 4 October 2024 20:14
Tara Cobham
Israel has claimed to have targeted Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in Beirut as it carried out strikes against the militant group’s leadership – with Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowing that Tehran and its proxies will not back down.
The air attack on Beirut, part of a wide assault that has driven more than 1.2 million Lebanese residents from their homes, is reported to have targeted the potential successor to Hassan Nasrallah, the longtime leader of Hezbollah who was assassinated by Israel a week ago.
Hashem Safieddine’s fate is unclear, and neither Israel nor Hezbollah has offered any comment. Israeli Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said on Friday afternoon that the military was still assessing the damage caused by the airstrikes in southern Beirut. He added that the army had “eliminated” approximately 250 Hezbollah operatives, including four battalion commanders and nine company commanders.
The Independent’s international correspondent Bel Trew reports from Jerusalem along with international editor Chris Stevenson:
Deadly Israeli strike in West Bank shows how war is spreading
Friday 4 October 2024 19:30
Tara Cobham
The ruins of a coffee shop in the West Bank city of Tulkarm show the force of the airstrike on Thursday night that killed at least 18 people including a senior local commander of the militant group Hamas.
The strike in Tulkarm refugee camp, one of the most densely populated in the occupied West Bank, destroyed the ground floor shop entirely, leaving rescue workers picking through piles of concrete with the smell of blood still hanging in the air.
Two holes in an upper level show where the missile penetrated the three-storey building before reaching the coffee shop, where a mechanical digger was clearing rubble on Friday.
The strike by the Israeli air force was the largest seen in the West Bank during operations that have escalated sharply since the start of the war in Gaza almost a year ago, and one of the biggest since the second "intifada" uprising two decades ago.
"We haven't heard this sound since 2002," said Nimer Fayyad, owner of the cafe, whose brother was killed in the strike. "There is no safe place for the Palestinian people. The Palestinian people have the right to defend themselves."
The Israeli military said the strike killed Zahi Yaser Abd al-Razeq Oufi, head of the Hamas network in Tulkarm, a volatile city in the northern West Bank that has seen repeated clashes between the Israeli army and Palestinian fighters.
Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said the military had verified that at least seven militants were killed in the attack, including Ghaith Radwan, a prominent commander from the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad militant group.
He said the strike had been carried out "as they met to plan a terrorist attack against the State of Israel in the immediate term".
The United Nations Human Rights Office said the attack was "part of a highly concerning pattern of unlawful use of force" by Israel in the West Bank.
French minister heads to Middle East amid worsening crisis
Friday 4 October 2024 19:00
Tara Cobham
France's Foreign Minister will head to Saudi Arabia on Friday evening, beginning a four-day trip that will end in Israel and the West Bank as Paris seeks to revive stalled diplomatic efforts in the region.
Jean-Noel Barrot will be in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan over the weekend before arriving in Israel ahead of 7 October when Israel will mark a year since Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked the country, a French diplomatic source said.
He is also due to travel to the West Bank.
UN says civilian toll in Lebanon from Israeli campaign is ‘totally unacceptable'
Friday 4 October 2024 18:30
Tara Cobham
The toll on civilians in Lebanon from Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah is “totally unacceptable”, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Friday.
”All parties must do whatever they can at all times to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure and ensure that civilians are never put in harm's way,” Dujarric told reporters.
Two Israeli soldiers killed in combat, military says
Friday 4 October 2024 18:00
Tara Cobham
Israel's military announced on Friday that two of its soldiers from the Golani Brigade had been killed in combat, and two others severely wounded.
Israeli media reported that the two soldiers were killed in a drone attack launched from Iraq at the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The Golan Heights were captured from Syria by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move not recognised by most countries.
The Iran-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of Shi'ite armed factions opposed to US and Israeli presence in the region, claimed responsibility for three dawn attacks on sites in the Golan Heights and the Tiberias region.
Plane carrying Poles from Lebanon lands in Warsaw
Friday 4 October 2024 17:30
Tara Cobham
A plane carrying several dozens of Poles and citizens of other countries who wanted to leave Lebanon landed in Warsaw on Friday, the Polish Foreign Ministry said on social media platform X.
Western nations have drafted contingency plans to evacuate citizens from Lebanon after a dramatic escalation in the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese armed movement Hezbollah, coupled with Iran's missile attack on Israel on Tuesday.
No country has launched a large-scale military evacuation yet, though some are chartering aircraft as Beirut airport stays open.
In Warsaw, a plane from Beirut landed with several dozen citizens of and other countries in a humanitarian transport.
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs (@PolandMFA) October 4, 2024
The flight was carried out by the Polish Armed Forces. The MFA is monitoring the situation in , and the government is prepared for various scenarios.
It’s clear we are already in a Middle East war – one that will be difficult to stop
Friday 4 October 2024 17:00
Alexander Butler
Qatar, Oman and the UAE travel advice: What are the current global warnings for tourists?
Friday 4 October 2024 16:30
Alexander Butler
Israeli bombardment kills 29 people in Gaza while militants renew rocket fire into Israel
Friday 4 October 2024 16:30
Tara Cobham
Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 29 Palestinians on Friday, medics said, and sirens blared in southern Israel in response to renewed rocket fire from militants in the Palestinian enclave.
The new rocket salvoes indicated that Hamas-led militant factions in Gaza are still able to fire projectiles into Israel despite a year-long Israeli aerial and ground offensive that has turned wide areas of the enclave into wasteland.
On Friday, the Israeli military said sirens sounded in southern Israel for the first time in around two months.
"Almost a year after 7 October, Hamas is still threatening our civilians with their terrorism and we will continue operating against them," it added, referring to the anniversary of Hamas' cross-border attack that touched off the Gaza war.
In Gaza City in north Gaza, Palestinian health officials said one Israeli aerial strike on a house killed at least seven people. Four people including two women and a baby were killed in the bombing of a home in the southern city of Khan Younis.
The rest were killed in airstrikes on several areas across the densely populated coastal enclave. Residents said Israeli forces operating in Gaza City's Zeitoun suburb and in Rafah, near the southern border with Egypt, blew up clusters of homes.
Israel's military says Hamas combatants use crowded, built-up residential neighbourhoods as cover. Hamas denies this.
Israel media, reporting on the rocket fire, said one rocket was intercepted by air defence and another crashed in an open area. There were no reports of casualties or notable damage.
Iran is on course to build a nuclear bomb and enter a high-stakes gamble
Friday 4 October 2024 16:00
Alexander Butler
Watch: Israel troops prepare for targeted ground operation in Lebanon
Friday 4 October 2024 15:30
Alexander Butler
Editorial: Keir Starmer is right to stand with Israel while calling for de-escalation
Friday 4 October 2024 15:00
Alexander Butler
Pictured: Aftermath of Beirut strikes
Friday 4 October 2024 14:30
Alexander Butler
Iran says any Lebanon ceasefire should be simultaneous with Gaza
Friday 4 October 2024 13:50
Alexander Butler
Tehran backs efforts for a ceasefire in Lebanon on the condition it would be backed by Hezbollah and simultaneous with a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said in Beirut on Friday.
“We support efforts for a ceasefire on the condition that it would be acceptable to the Lebanese people, acceptable to the resistance, and thirdly, it would be synchronized with a ceasefire in Gaza,” he said.
Iran’s most senior diplomat also said his presence in Beirut “in these difficult circumstances” was the best evidence that Iran stood by Lebanon and supported the Shias.
Comment: I’ve advised two Israeli prime ministers – and this is what really scares me about the current conflict…
Friday 4 October 2024 13:30
Alexander Butler
Rockets, missiles and the Iron Dome: who calls the shots in the Middle East?
Friday 4 October 2024 13:00
Alexander Butler
'Time to leave', Starmer tells Britons in Lebanon
Friday 4 October 2024 12:45
Alexander Butler
British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has once again called for any British nationals in Lebanon to leave the country.
More than 150 Britons left Beirut on the first government-chartered flight on Wednesday, with another plane landing in Birmingham yesterday.
It’s not clear how long Beirut’s airport can remain open, with some Israeli strikes yesterday hitting nearby areas, according to witnesses.
“I repeat importantly to UK nationals in Lebanon that now is the time to leave, now is the time to take up that evacuation plan,” Sir Keir said.
“That is a really important message to everybody listening who may be in that position. Now is the time to leave, we have got the plans in place. So, please come forward and we can make sure that they are evacuated.”
How close are we to all-out war across the Middle East?
Friday 4 October 2024 12:30
Alexander Butler
Analysis: It’s clear we are already in a Middle East war – one that will be difficult to stop
Friday 4 October 2024 12:15
Alexander Butler
UK reveals £10m funding support for Lebanon as thousands are displaced
Friday 4 October 2024 12:00
Alexander Butler
“Vital” humanitarian aid is on its way to Lebanon, the UK government has announced, with £10m in funds being sent to support the growing number of people displaced in the country.
More than 1.2 million Lebanese have been displaced by Israeli attacks, according to authorities in the country, while nearly 2,000 are reported to have been killed over the past year - most in the past two weeks.
The announcement comes as the UK continues to urge all British nationals to leave Lebanon, with another plane landing in Birmingham carrying more than 150 people from Beirut yesterday.
Nasrallah ‘temporarily buried in secret location’
Friday 4 October 2024 11:30
Alexander Butler
Hezbollah’s former leader Hassan Nasrallah has been buried in a secret location amid fears Israel would target a public funeral, sources said.
Nasrallah was killed on September 27 in Israeli airstrikes which targeted the Hezbollah headquarters in south Beirut.
“Hassan Nasrallah has been temporarily buried, until the circumstances allow for a public funeral,” the source said.
The source said a public funeral had been impossible to hold “for fear of Israeli threats they would target mourners and the place of his burial”.
Israel blocks Lebanon's main crossing to Syria
Friday 4 October 2024 11:15
Alexander Butler
Israeli strikes sealed off Lebanon’s main border crossing with Syria early on Friday, hours after an intense Israeli attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs that is thought to have targeted the heir apparent to Hezbollah’s slain secretary general.
The strikes added to fears inside Lebanon that Israel’s targeting of Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah militants will bring an all-out conflict, with Israel also poised to respond to Tuesday’s Iranian missile barrage on its territory.
Iran says it will not back down from Israel
Friday 4 October 2024 10:51
Alexander Butler
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that Tehran and its regional proxies will not back down from Israel.
It came just hours after an Israeli attack on Beirut that is thought to have targeted the successor apparent to Iran-backed Hezbollah’s slain secretary general Hassan Nasrallah.
“The brilliant action of our armed forces a couple of nights ago was completely legal and legitimate”, Khamenei said.
Iran’s “axis of resistance” comprises a group of violent proxies across Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon and Palestine, coordinated by Iran’s Quds Force, the foreign arm of the IRGC.
The Quds Force’s aim is to export Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution abroad. The US assassinated the former head of the Quds Force, Qassem Solemaini, in January 2020.
Iran says 7 October attack was ‘legitimate'
Friday 4 October 2024 10:39
Alexander Butler
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Hamas’s 7 October attack which killed 1,200 Israelis was legitimate.
Khamenei said the barbaric attack was the “minimum punishment” for Israel against their “astonishing crimes” on Friday.
He also called Israel a “vampire” regime, and its chief ally, the United States, a “rabid dog”.
