At least eight dead and thousands injured from exploding pagers in Lebanon, officials say

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Israel strikes Houthi targets in Yemen as attacks continue in Lebanon

Israel's military launched "large-scale" airstrikes targeting Houthis in Yemen on Sunday and continued to carry out strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The IDF said it hit Hodeida and Rass Issa ports along with two power plants in Hodeida city, which is a stronghold for the Iranian-backed Houthis.

At least four people were killed and 33 wounded in the attacks on Hodeida, Houthi-run media reported, with plumes of smoke seen in the air over the city.

The Houthi group said the airstrikes would not stop them from attacking shipping routes and Israel.

The strikes came a day after Houthis launched a missile attack on Israel’s Ben Gurion airport as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was arriving.

Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defence minister, has pledged that the country will strike its enemies no matter how far away they are.

“Our message is clear - for us, no place is too far,” Gallant said on Sunday.

The attacks on Yemen came as Israel carried out further attacks in Lebanon on Sunday, killing dozens of people.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said at least 24 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes that hit two buildings in Ain el-Delb, east of Sidon. The strikes also injured 29 people, the health ministry said.

Videos showed a building swaying and then collapsing after it was struck.

Intensified strikes in Lebanon over the last week have killed seven high-ranking commanders and officials from Hezbollah, including the group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

On Sunday, Israel said it had killed another two high-ranking officials - Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of Hezbollah's Central Council, and top commander, Ali Karaki.

The IDF said it was continuing to strike Hezbollah targets, including “launchers that were aimed towards Israeli territory, structures in which weapons were stored and additional Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure.”

In a video shared along with the statement, the IDF said strikes were conducted in several areas in southern Lebanon, including Marjayoun, Deir Aames and Jouaiyya, as well as towns in the eastern Baalbek-Hermel and Bekaa regions.

“Over the past day, the IDF struck hundreds of Hezbollah terror targets throughout Lebanon,” the IDF statement said, adding it continues to “operate to degrade and dismantle Hezbollah’s capabilities.”

It comes after the Israeli military said it had killed Nasrallah in a strike on the group's headquarters on Friday.

Hezbollah confirmed the death, but has yet to launch a major retaliation. It is likely assessing how to meet, communicate and respond to the attacks.

Iran, which backs Hezbollah and has given an assurance of its solidarity in the wake of Nasrallah’s killing, has vowed revenge.

Iran’s envoy to the United Nations on Saturday requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to “condemn Israel’s actions in the strongest possible terms.”

Lebanon and Iran have also declared several days of mourning for Nasrallah.

It comes as hundreds of families slept in public squares, on beaches or in cars around Beirut after days of intense Israeli strikes.

Footage from Lebanon's capital shows groups of people sleeping outdoors, trudging up to the mountains, holding infants and a few belongings.

The assault was part of a rapid escalation of Israeli strikes the past week that has killed more than 700 people in Lebanon.

Israel has vowed to cripple Hezbollah and put an end to 11 months of its fire onto Israeli territory in what Nasrallah described as a “support front” for his ally Hamas in Gaza.

The people escaping Friday night’s mayhem joined tens of thousands who have fled to Beirut and other areas of southern Lebanon the past week to escape Israel’s bombardment.

The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, said this week’s escalation had more than doubled the number of people displaced by the conflict in Lebanon.

There are now over 211,000 people displaced, including some of the humanitarian workers who should be responding to the crisis, it said. Around 85,000 of them are sleeping in shelters, it said.

“Humanitarian capacities to respond have been severely overstretched,” it added.

[Solauren]

Looks like Israel is going after anyone that they have an issue with, or that has an issue with them, that they think they can get away with.

So, the insergencies/militant groups for now.

But how long until they decide "well, no one is stopping us, and we have plenty of firepower left..."

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Netanyahu warns 'nowhere Israel cannot reach' amid threats of Lebanon invasion

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned "there is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach" amid speculation the military may be about to launch an invasion of southern Lebanon.

Speaking on Monday, Netanyahu directed his criticism at Iran, which backs Hezbollah and Hamas saying: "Every day, their (Iran’s) puppets are eliminated. Ask Mohammed Deif. Ask Nasrallah."

CNN has reported the US believes Israel is planning an imminent incursion into south Lebanon.

US officials briefing the media said they believe the attack would be limited in nature targeting Hezbollah infrastructure near the border.

Following the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah the group has vowed to keep on fighting.

Deputy leader Naim Kassem used his first speech since their leader's death was announced, he said Hezbollah were ready if Israel launched a ground offensive into Lebanon.

In a televised address following the deaths of many within Hezbollah's top chain of command, he said: "Israel was not able to affect our (military) capabilities.

“There are deputy commanders and there are replacements in case a commander is wounded in any post.”

Over the past week, Israel has killed seven high-ranking Hezbollah commanders and officials. Iran, Hezbollah’s main backer and sponsor, has vowed to retaliate.

“Iran’s tyrants don’t care about your future,” Netanyahu said. “When Iran is finally free, that moment will come a lot sooner than people think. Everything will be different.”

Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah for 32 years, was killed in a strike on its headquarters in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Friday.

As deputy secretary-general, Kassem now is the acting leader of the militant group until a replacement for Nasrallah is chosen.

Israel carried out attacks on central Beirut on Monday, after a weekend of dramatic missile strikes against its enemies in the Middle East - including in other parts of Lebanon and Yemen.

Meanwhile, Israeli special forces have been carrying out raids in Lebanon, sources told CNN.

In recent days, commandos have infiltrated Lebanese territory and destroyed Hezbollah posts close to the border, the source added - but the Israeli military declined to comment.

Monday morning's strike, which hit an apartment block and killed at least one person, marks the first time Israel has targeted the centre of Beirut since the recent conflict began on October 7.

At least 16 people were left wounded after the multi-storey residential building was hit, according to a Lebanese Civil Defence official.

Recent attacks have centred on the city's southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said at least 105 people were killed around the country in airstrikes on Sunday.

Over the past ten days, more than 1,000 people have been killed by in Lebanon, according to the country's health ministry. Nearly a quarter of those have been women and children.

Recent fighting in the country may have displaced up to a million people, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has renewed calls for the thousands of British nationals believed to be in Lebanon to leave the country immediately.

Starmer’s official spokesman said: “The Prime Minister has been very, very clear that British nationals should leave now, particularly whilst commercial flights are still available.

“We’re doing everything we can to work with commercial airlines to maximise capacity because we want people to leave."

The spokesman also emphasised 700 troops have been deployed to Cyprus to work on "all contingency options".

The person killed in Monday's apartment block strike was a member of Al Jamaa Al Islamiya, a Sunni political and militant group that is allied with Hezbollah, a Lebanese official claimed.

Meanwhile, Palestinian leftist group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed in a statement on Monday that three of its members were killed in the attack, including military and security commanders.

Neither group has played a significant or meaningful role in the months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

On Saturday, the Israeli military confirmed Nabil Kaouk had died, becoming the seventh senior Hezbollah leader killed by Israeli strikes in little over a week.

A separate strike on Monday killed a commander of Hamas, Fatah Sharif. The militant group said he was killed with his family in a strike on the Al-Buss refugee camp in the port city of Tyre.

Two strikes near the southern city of Sidon, around 45 kilometres (28 miles) south of Beirut, killed at least 32 people on Sunday, the ministry said.

Separately, Israeli strikes in the northern province of Baalbek Hermel killed 21 people and wounded at least 47.

The militant group also confirmed Ali Karaki, another senior commander, died in Friday's strikes on its headquarters, the same blast which killed leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Multiple high-rise blocks of flats in the southern suburbs of Beirut were destroyed in the biggest blast to hit the Lebanese capital over the past year.

News of the explosion came shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's United Nations address in New York. He cut his trip short soon after.

Subscribe free to our weekly newsletter for exclusive and original coverage from ITV News. Direct to your inbox every Friday morning.

Netanyahu has since said the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was "necessary" to achieve Israel's goals and to restore a "balance of power" in the Middle East.

In a statement, he described the moment as a "historic turning point", whilst US President Joe Biden called it a “measure of justice for his many victims,” including Americans.

Attacks on Lebanon's capital follow Israeli strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen on Sunday, including power plants and sea port facilities in the city of Hodeida.

In response to the dramatic escalation in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, Hezbollah significantly increased its rocket attacks in the past week, from several dozen to several hundred daily, the Israeli military said.

The attacks injured several people and caused damage, but most of the rockets and drones were intercepted by Israel’s air defence systems or fell in open areas.

Biden said on Sunday that he would soon speak with Netanyahu, and added he believes that an all-out war in the Middle East must be avoided.

In response to the killing of Hezbollah's leader, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said the strike had “wiped out” Hezbollah’s command structure, but he warned the group will work quickly to rebuild it.

“I think people are safer without him walking around,” Kirby said, referring to Nasrallah.

“But they will try to recover. We’re watching to see what they do to try to fill this leadership vacuum."

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Netanyahu vows Iran 'will pay' after hundreds of missile fired into Israel

Israel says it will carry out a “significant response” after Iran launched a barrage of almost 200 missiles into the country

Sirens were blaring across the country as citizens were told to take shelter, but there has been no immediate reports of casualties. The aerial attack has since stopped

It comes after Israel says it has launched a ground operation in southern Lebanon, but Hezbollah refutes the claims

Israeli officials described the offensive as “localised raids” that are “very limited in scope"

The escalation in the war has killed more than 1,000 people, destroyed homes and displaced one million in Lebanon, authorities say

Israel says it will "attack" in retaliation to Iran launching a missile strike into the country on Tuesday night.

“Iran made a big mistake tonight and it will pay for it,” Prime Minister Netanyahu said as he gathered his Security Cabinet for a late-night meeting.

Netanyahu said the missile attack was a failure and that Iran would soon learn a painful lesson just as its enemies in Gaza, Lebanon and other places have learned.

“Whoever attacks us. We attack them,” he said.

Those warnings echoed the message from Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Hagari, who said in a televised message that the attack "will have consequences.”

“We have plans, and we will operate at the place and time we decide,” Hagari said.

Earlier on Tuesday, an estimated 180 “projectiles” were fired at Israel from Iran, according to the IDF, sending citizens fleeing to bomb shelters.

The threat has since been declared over by the Israeli military and there are no immediate reports of casualties.

It is not clear how many missile made contact, nor how many were intercepted.

Israel and Iran have fought a shadow war for years, but rarely have they come into direct conflict.

Iran has claimed responsibility for the attack, confirming it was responding to a series of previous strikes, which killed members of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah leadership, figureheads of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corpsnian and a Hamas political leader.

The Iranian military said: "In response to the martyrdom of martyr Ismail Haniyeh, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and martyr Nilforooshan, we targeted the heart of occupied lands, the statement reads."

While Iran claims it targeted military targets, pictures and videos posted to social media showed shrapnel and missiles buried into tarmac in the streets and damaging buildings.

In Tehran, people were seen celebrating the attack, setting off fireworks and dancing in the streets.

As the world grapples with the intensifying escalations in the Middle East, international leaders are issuing divided responses to Iran's latest attack on Israel.

The strikes come after Israel claimed it launched a ground invasion into Lebanon.

The military said earlier on Tuesday it has entered southern Lebanon in what it has called a "limited, localised and targeted raids against Hezbollah terror targets".

In a statement, the IDF said the targets "are located in villages close to the border and pose an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel".

But, Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif dismissed what he said were “false claims” of an Israeli incursion.

Hagari has claimed Israel have already made several smaller-scale incursions across the border in the past year.

He alleged evidence gathered during these raids proves Hezbollah were planning to launch an attack on the north of Israel.

"To make sure that Hezbollah can never carry out such an attack, and in order to enable 60,000 Israelis to safely return back to their homes in northern Israel, the IDF is taking action," he said.

Nearly two dozen Lebanese communities close to the Israeli border have been ordered to evacuate by the Israeli military.

In a statement posted in Arabic on X, an IDF spokesperson said: “You must immediately head north of the Awali River to save yourselves, and leave your houses immediately."

Earlier on Tuesday, officials declined to say how deep Israeli troops would move into Lebanese territory but Hagari said troops would not go to Lebanon's capital.

"We're not going to Beirut," he said. "We're only going to areas next to our border and will do what is necessary to dismantle and demolish Hezbollah infrastructure."

Israel carried out attacks on central Beirut on Monday, after a weekend of dramatic missile strikes against its enemies in the Middle East - including in other parts of Lebanon and Yemen.

Monday morning's strike, which hit an apartment block and killed at least one person, marks the first time Israel has targeted the centre of Beirut since the recent conflict began on October 7.

Recent attacks have centred on the city's southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence.

Amid Israel's ground incursion, Hezbollah launched rockets at central Israel, setting off air raid sirens and wounding one person, according to the IDF.

The Israeli military also said Hezbollah had launched projectiles at Israeli communities near the border, targeting soldiers without wounding anyone.

Anticipating more rocket attacks from Hezbollah, the Israeli army announced beaches would close, and restrictions would be in place on public gatherings.

Following the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah after the Israeli military bombed high-rise buildings in the southern suburbs of Beirut, the group has vowed to keep on fighting.

Deputy leader Naim Kassem, in his first speech since their leader's death was announced, said Hezbollah were ready if Israel launched a ground offensive into Lebanon.

[Juubi Karakuchi]

Damn. I honestly did not expect that to happen. The last time, following the embassy bombing, Iran was on fairly solid legal ground. This time, not so much.

Judging by the small scale and lack of casualties (none reported so far), it could be just Iran stomping and snorting to try and save face. That said, unless I'm very much mistaken, Israel is now legally entitled to shoot back. I fear this will not end well.

[Ralin]

Damn. I honestly did not expect that to happen. The last time, following the embassy bombing, Iran was on fairly solid legal ground. This time, not so much.

Judging by the small scale and lack of casualties (none reported so far), it could be just Iran stomping and snorting to try and save face. That said, unless I'm very much mistaken, Israel is now legally entitled to shoot back. I fear this will not end well.

Israel is always legally justified according to the US and Iran is always legally in the wrong, so what difference does it make?

[Solauren]

Damn. I honestly did not expect that to happen. The last time, following the embassy bombing, Iran was on fairly solid legal ground. This time, not so much.

Judging by the small scale and lack of casualties (none reported so far), it could be just Iran stomping and snorting to try and save face. That said, unless I'm very much mistaken, Israel is now legally entitled to shoot back. I fear this will not end well.

Israel is always legally justified according to the US and Iran is always legally in the wrong, so what difference does it make?

I think he means in front of the United Nations if it came to that.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Now Israel can turn round and say that it's Iran that's doing the escalating, they already let them get away with it once, relatively speaking.

[Ralin]

Now Israel can turn round and say that it's Iran that's doing the escalating, they already let them get away with it once, relatively speaking.

Turn around and say to who? They always have permission. Last time they bombed a consulate and their target got censured by the UN. Who are these people who are going to be won over by the fact that this time Iran was only responding to them attacking a neighbor and threatening to destroy the Iranian government?

[Formless]

Iran can always argue the same thing that the US has done countless times: they are intervening in an ongoing genocide, and Israel is an illegitimate government not actually recognized by the UN in the first place. Thus, lobbing missiles at legitimate military targets is fully justified as long as those facilities are being used to commit genocide.

The fact that this excuse is only ever treated as valid when its the US that's using it isn't an indictment of Iran's actions, but the UN's continued inaction to stop the crime of genocide, not just in Palestine, but in general. If international law never gets enforced except to defend injustices, then it isn't worth the paper its printed on.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Victim named after at least seven die in Tel Aviv shooting and stabbing attack

One victim has been named after Israeli authorities said at least seven people were killed in a stabbing and shooting attack in Tel Aviv.

Eight others were injured as police say two suspects opened fire on Tuesday evening in a boulevard in Jaffa.

"One of the victims from yesterday’s terrorist attack in Tel Aviv, Inbar Segev-Vigder, murdered while shielding her nine-month-old son Ari," the official Israeli X account posted on Wednesday.

"She saved his life. There are no words. Only heartbreak."

Photos and videos posted on social media showed the gunmen attacking bystanders, while people lay injured on the ground.

MDA medics said they treated victims at several sites on Jerusalem Boulevard, including near train tracks, in the street, at a synagogue and in a butcher’s shop.

A police spokesperson said that two suspects were killed by officers and civilians who were on the scene. The motive was described as "terror".

An eyewitness told the Jerusalem Post: “We were on the light rail when we suddenly heard gunfire from outside.

“At first, we thought it was fireworks, but then we realised it was something much worse. There were many gunshots. We dropped to the floor, and people were crying. I saw someone bleeding on the ground.”

A nearby shop owner added: “I saw crowds of people running and shouting ‘terror attack.’ I quickly closed my shutters and locked up.”

The attack happened at the same time a large volley of Iranian rocket fire hit Israel.

In a post on X, the IDF said Israeli citizens were "in bomb shelters" as rockets were fired from Iran. People have been told they can now leave the shelters.

There have been no immediate reports of casualties.

[Raw Shark]

This is a good ol' fashioned cold war proxy war. Israel vs Iran. I don't agree with it, but that's what's happening. And on Rosh Hashanah, the day to reflect upon what you've done. There's no good guys in this, except the innocent.

[Ralin]

This is a good ol' fashioned cold war proxy war. Israel vs Iran. I don't agree with it, but that's what's happening. And on Rosh Hashanah, the day to reflect upon what you've done. There's no good guys in this, except the innocent.

Is it really a proxy war when only one side can be accurately described as a proxy or a cold war when one side just fired a couple hundred missiles at the other?