Beirut: An Israeli airstrike on an apartment in the Lebanese capital has killed nine people, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. Israel has been pounding areas of the country where the Hezbollah militant group has a strong presence since late September, but has rarely struck in the heart of Beirut.
There was no warning before the strike late Wednesday, which hit the building close to the United Nations headquarters, the prime minister’s office and parliament. Hezbollah’s civil defence unit said seven of its members were killed.
Israel is also conducting a ground incursion into Lebanon against Hezbollah, while also conducting strikes in Gaza that killed dozens, including children. The Israeli military said nine soldiers have died in the conflict in southern Lebanon.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since the day after Hamas’ cross-border attack October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 others hostage. Israel declared war on the militant group in the Gaza Strip in response. More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory, and just over half the dead have been women and children, according to local health officials. Nearly 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Here is the latest:
Jerusalem — Israel says it has killed another senior Hezbollah leader — The Israeli military says it has killed a senior Hezbollah militant involved in the group’s development of precision-guided missiles.
It says Mohammed Anisi was killed in a recent airstrike that targeted the militant group’s intelligence branch in Beirut.
Hezbollah has not commented on the Israeli military’s claim. If it is true, it would mark the latest in a string of assassinations of top Hezbollah officials in recent weeks, including its longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah.
US and Israel discuss how to respond to Iranian missiles
Washington — US military leaders have been talking to Israel about how to respond to Iran’s ballistic missile attack, a defence official said Thursday.
Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh says Joint Chiefs Chairman General CQ Brown Jr spoke with Israeli military’s chief, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, on Wednesday. And Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin has held “almost daily” conversations with Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant since the attacks, Singh says.
Iran fired almost 200 ballistic missiles at Israel Tuesday, raising concerns about the possibility of an all-out war in the region.
“We are discussing with them what a response to Iran should look like,” Singh says. “I certainly think any response, we will be part of those discussions.”
14 killed in Israeli strike on West Bank refugee camp
Jerusalem — The Palestinian Health Ministry says 14 people have been killed in an Israeli strike on a refugee camp in the northern West Bank
The Israeli army says it carried out a strike in Tulkarem, a militant stronghold. It says the operation on Thursday was carried out in coordination with the Shin Bet internal security service.
The army provided no further details on the target.
Violence has flared across the Israeli-occupied territory since the Israel-Hamas war erupted last October. Tulkarem and other northern cities have seen some of the worst violence.
US Embassy offers loans to Americans needing help to leave Lebanon
Washington — The State Department says the US Embassy in Beirut is prepared to provide emergency loans to Americans who wish to leave Lebanon on US-contracted flights after the cost of tickets sky-rocketed in recent days.
Some Americans have complained that fares for tickets to even close destinations such as Cyprus have become unaffordable as commercial airline service in and out of Beirut has dwindled. The Lebanese flag carrier Middle East Airlines is the only commercial airline operating international flights.
MEA has set aside about 1,400 seats on its flights for Americans over the past week and several hundred had taken them, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Thursday.
Miller says the US government has no regulatory oversight over MEA flight costs. He says the maximum fare for a US-organised contract flight is USD 283 per person.
About 250 Americans have left Lebanon in the past 2 days
Washington — The State Department says roughly 250 Americans and their immediate families, including non-US citizens, have left Lebanon in the past two days on government-organised contract flights.
Spokesperson Matthew Miller says 134 American citizens and family members left Beirut on a flight to Istanbul, Turkey, Thursday. That’s in addition to more than 100 who left on a similar flight Wednesday.
Miller says the US will continue to organise such flights as long as the security situation in Lebanon is dire and there is demand. More than 6,000 American citizens have contacted the US Embassy in Beirut seeking information about leaving since the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah began to escalate.
Miller says some Americans, many of them dual US-Lebanese nationals and long-time residents of the country, may choose to stay. He says the US Embassy in Beirut is prepared to offer loans to those who choose to stay in Lebanon but need to relocate to a safer part of the country.
Nearly 1.2 million people have been displaced in Lebanon
Beirut — Lebanon’s crisis response unit says nearly 1.2 million (12 lakh) people have been displaced from their homes in Lebanon because of the escalating war between Israel and Hezbollah.
Among them are more than 250,000 Syrian citizens and 82,000 Lebanese citizens who have crossed into Syria between September 23 and September 30, according to the report released Thursday, citing figures provided by Lebanese General Security.
Nearly 164,000 are living in group shelters in Lebanon.
Among them is Fatima Abdul Nabi. Her daughter turned 10 days old on September 23, when Israel began a widescale bombardment of southern Lebanon to drive the militant group Hezbollah back from the border.
“They began hitting our village and said we had to leave the village, so we fled,” Abdul Nabi said. It took them 11 hours to get to the coastal city of Sidon, about 40 km (25 miles) away.
Now she and the newborn girl are staying with five other families in one room in a shelter.
“When she cries, I feel that she’s bothering everyone — five families and a baby in one room is too much,” Abdul Nabi said.
Israeli army says is has white phosphorous smoke shells in its arsenal
Jerusalem — The Israeli army says it does possess smoke shells that contain white phosphorus but has not confirmed that it used phosphorous bombs in a recent attack in the Lebanese capital that killed nine people.
The strike late Wednesday was the closest yet to downtown Beirut. In the hours after the attack, residents reported a sulfur-like smell, and Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency accused Israel of using internationally banned phosphorus bombs.
Seven of those killed were Hezbollah-affiliated civilian first responders.
“The primary smoke shells used by the IDF do not contain white phosphorus,” the Israeli army said. “Like many Western militaries, the IDF also possesses smoke shells that include white phosphorus, which are lawful under international law.” The IDF is the Israeli Defense Force.
Human rights groups have accused Israel of using white phosphorus incendiary shells on towns and villages in southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah militants have a strong presence.
Israeli army says another of its soldiers has been killed in southern Lebanon
Jerusalem — The Israeli army says one of its soldiers was killed in battle in southern Lebanon.
The 21-year-old officer was killed Wednesday. The military did not explain how the officer died.
The military says a total of nine Israeli soldiers have been killed since the army started limited ground incursions in south Lebanon to battle Hezbollah militants earlier this week. Hezbollah says it has killed 17 Israeli soldiers, but has provided no proof.
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has escalated in recent weeks as Israel has expanded airstrikes across southern Lebanon, south Beirut and the eastern Bekaa Valley.
Lebanon’s caretaker PM wants to resume efforts to find a new president
Beirut — Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister is calling for a national dialogue between the country’s divided political groups to agree on who should become the country’s new president.
Lebanon’s presidency has been vacant since October 2022, when the six-year term of President Michel Aoun ended.
Najib Mikati made his comments Thursday night after meeting Cardinal Bechara al-Rai, the head of the Maronite Catholic church, Lebanon’s largest. It is unclear where such a dialogue would take place or if any political groups would agree to participate.
“We want a president that does not provoke anyone,” Mikati said. Lawmakers have failed to elected a new head of state in more than a dozen sessions over the past two years.
According to Lebanon’s power-sharing agreement, the president should be a Maronite Catholic, the parliament speaker a Shiite Muslim and the prime minister a Sunni Muslim. Christians, Sunnis and Shiites each make about a third of Lebanon’s 5 million (50 lakh) people.
Turkey asks the UN to take action to prevent further Israeli violence
Ankara — Turkey is urging the United Nations Security Council and other “actors” shaping global politics to take swift action to prevent further Israeli attacks that it says are escalating conflict in the Middle East.
In a statement issued Thursday, Turkey says it will stand by the people and government of Lebanon against “Israel’s inhumane attacks”.