Nearly 40 medical centres in Lebanon have been forced to close amid Israel's air strikes, a UN agency said on X on Friday. The news came after Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave a rare sermon in which he praised his country’s recent missile strikes on Israel and vowed that Tehran’s regional allies would keep up the fight. Read our liveblog to see how all the day's events unfolded.
Summary:
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Nearly 40 medical centres in Lebanon have been forced to close amid Israel's air strikes, a UN agency said on X on Friday.
- An Israeli strike near Lebanon's Masnaa border crossing with Syria cut off the main international road linking the two countries. Two massive craters blocked vehicles from crossing into Syria.
- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran and its allies would not back down against Israel in a rare Friday sermon, his first in five years, which came days after Iran fired missiles into Israel.
- Almost 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7 last year, with 1,000 of those coming in the last week. The Lebanese government estimates that around 1.2 million people have been displaced.
- Nine Israeli soldiers have been killed in southern Lebanon since Israel launched a ground operation across its northern border on October 1.
Yesterday's key developments:
- Israel's military said it had hit Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters in the Lebanese capital.
- Israel launched a deadly air strike on central Beirut, killing at least nine people at a Hezbollah-affiliated medical facility.
- The Israeli army issued a new evacuation order in areas of southern Beirut where it will target Hezbollah sites.
- The Iran-backed militant group said it fought off Israeli troops who sought to advance at the Fatima Gate, a former border crossing in southern Lebanon.
- The Lebanese Red Cross said an Israeli strike killed a Lebanese soldier and injured four of its medics as they were evacuating wounded people from southern Lebanon.
- At least 1,974 people have been killed in the recent Israeli offensive in Lebanon, the Lebanese health minister said.
(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP and Reuters)
