Israel on alert after killing of Hezbollah leader, army spokesperson says
Israel is on high alert for a broader conflict after the military killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, a military spokesperson has told reporters.
“We hope this will change Hezbollah’s actions,” Lt Col Nadav Shoshani said in a media briefing in which he stressed there was still much more of Hezbollah’s capabilities to be degraded.
“We’ve seen Hezbollah carry out attacks against us for a year. It’s safe to assume that they are going to continue carrying out their attacks against us or try to,” he added.
Hezbollah said on Saturday that it had targeted Israeli sites, including Rosh Pina in the north, with missiles in response to Israeli attacks on Lebanese cities, villages and civilians.
British nationals in Lebanon have been urged to leave the country immediately as Israel intensifies its attack on the country.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said on Friday night that British nationals in Lebanon should leave on the next available flight.
It added: “We are working to increase capacity and secure seats for British nationals to leave.”
British nationals in Lebanon should register their presence on the FCDO’s website to stay up to date with the latest information, it said in a statement.
Iran's supreme leader moved to secure location under heightened security - report
Reuters has been told by two regional officials that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been transferred to a secure location inside the country with heightened security measures in place.
They told the news agency that Iran was in constant contact with Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group, to determine the next step after Israel announced it had killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a strike on south Beirut on Friday (see earlier post at 09.04 for details).
Iran has been Hezbollah’s ally since the Lebanese armed group’s establishment in 1982. Khamenei, a former president of Iran, is the country’s head of state, responsible for the Revolutionary Guards Corps, and is viewed as the source of religious emulation under Iran’s system of Shia clerical governance.
Here are some of the latest images coming out of the newswires from Tehran, the capital of Iran:
At least 11 civilians were killed and 10 doctors, nurses and paramedics injured in Israeli army attacks on civil defence centres and a medical clinic, according to a correspondent from Lebanon’s state-run national news agency. The attacks were reported to have been carried out close to the Israeli border in the towns of Taybeh and Deir Serian. These claims have not yet been verified by the Guardian.
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A source close to Hezbollah has told to Agence France-Presse (AFP) that contact with Hassan Nasrallah had been lost since Friday evening.
Hassan Nasrallah killed in strike alongside Hezbollah commanders, military says
The Israeli military claims that Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed alongside Hezbollah commanders in Friday’s airstrikes on Beirut, the Lebanese capital, which, before last week was a place rarely targeted directly by Israel.
The military said the strikes killed Ali Karake, who the statement identified as commander of Hezbollah’s southern front, and an unspecified number of other Hezbollah commanders.
The IDF said fighter jets conducted a “targeted strike” on the central headquarters of Hezbollah located “underground embedded under a residential building in the area of Dahiyeh in Beirut”.
It said the strike was launched while the Lebanese militant group’s “senior chain of command” was operating from the Dahiyeh suburb of southern Beirut. These claims have not yet been independently verified.
In a statement, the Israeli military said of Nasrallah:
During Hassan Nasrallah’s 32-year reign as the secretary-general of Hezbollah, he was responsible for the murder of many Israeli civilians and soldiers, and the planning and execution of thousands of terrorist activities.
He was responsible for directing and executing terrorist attacks around the world in which civilians of various nationalities were murdered. Nasrallah was the central decision-maker and the strategic leader of the organisation.
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'There are more tools to go,' IDF chief says after military confirms it killed Hezbollah leader
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief, Herzl Halevi, has given comments following the confirmation of Hassan Nasrallah’s death.
“Whoever threatens the state of Israel, we’ll know how to get to him: in the north, in the south and in more distant places,” he said in quotes carried by Hareetz, the Israeli daily.
“This is not the last of the toolbox, there are more tools to go,” he said, adding that the IDF is prepared on all fronts.
Halevi said that the attack on Beirut that killed Nasrallah was planned for a long time and “came at the right time in a very sharp way”.
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Israeli army announces killing of Hezbollah leader
The Israeli army has officially announced the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Nasrallah, who had been the leader of the Iran-backed militant group for 32 years, was reported to have been the target of Friday’s strikes on Beirut.
In a post on X, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said he “will no longer be able to terrorize the world”. Hezbollah are yet to issue a response to the military’s announcement.
Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorize the world.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) September 28, 2024
Killing Nasrallah has marked a staggering escalation on the Israeli side. For much of the early conflict with Hezbollah (which began on 8 October – a day after Hamas’ attacks on southern Israel) it was understood Israel would not assassinate the group’s most senior leaders. However, this understanding has not been honoured over recent months, with Israel killing several senior members of Hezbollah.
Under Nasrallah’s leadership, Hezbollah has helped train fighters from Hamas and militias in Iraq and Yemen, and reportedly obtained missiles and rockets from Iran for use against Israel. You can read more about his policy goals and ideological origins in this profile.
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'I will never forget the children's screams': Thousands of Beirut residents flee homes to escape Israeli strikes
Thousands of residents in Beirut’s densely populated southern suburbs slept in parks, on streets or in cars overnight as they flee southern Lebanon to try to avoid Israeli attacks.
Many people fleeing Israeli bombardment ended up camping out in Martyrs’ square, Beirut’s main public space. Hawra al-Husseini, 21, was among those who did. She described a “very difficult night” after fleeing Dahiyeh to sleep in the square with her family.
“Missiles rained down over our home. I will never forget the children’s screams,” she told AFP.
“We’re going back home (in the southern suburbs), but we’re scared. It’s impossible to live in this country any more.”
Hala Ezzedine, 55 also slept in the square. She had fled the Burj al-Barajneh neighbourhood in Dahiyeh where strikes took place.
“What did the (Lebanese) people do to deserve this?” she asked, adding that her home had been destroyed by Israeli strikes during the 2006 war.
“They want to wage war but what wrong did we do? We don’t have to go through what happened in Gaza.”
South Beirut resident Rihab Naseef, 56, who spent the night in a church yard, spoke to Agence France-Presse (AFP) about his fears of the conflict escalating.
Naseef said:
I expected the war to expand, but I thought it would be limited to (military) targets, not civilians, homes, and children.
I didn’t even pack any clothes, I never thought we would leave like this and suddenly find ourselves on the streets.
I’m anxious and afraid of what may happen. I left my home without knowing where I’m going, what will happen to me, and whether I will return.
Israeli military carries out 'extensive' strikes on Bekaa Valley
As we have been reporting, Israel launched a series of attacks in the southern suburbs of Beirut overnight. Israel issued fresh warnings for people to leave part of the densely populated Dahiyeh suburbs before dawn on Saturday, forcing many families to spend the night on the streets. Israel’s military have now said jet fighters have attacked “dozens” of Hezbollah targets in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon, with airstrikes continuing in the south. The strikes targeted buildings where weapons were stored and sites where rockets were launched into Israel, the military claimed.
In a statement issued this morning, the Israeli military said:
Over the past two hours, the IAF (air force) conducted extensive strikes on dozens of terror targets belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organisation in the area of Beqaa (east) and in different areas of southern Lebanon.
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Hassan Nasrallah: Fate of Hezbollah leader remains unclear after Israeli strikes on Lebanon
Numerous reports have said that Hezbollah’s long-time leader Hassan Nasrallah was the target of Israel’s strikes on a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on Friday evening. There has been no official confirmation of whether Nasrallah was killed in the strikes or not.
The Israeli Defense Forces said the military carried out a “very accurate” strike on Hezbollah headquarters, but did not mention Nasrallah’s name. Media outlets quoted Hezbollah sources as saying he was “alive and well” but the Iran-backed militant group haven’t yet made an official statement.
The unprecedented five hours of continuous strikes early on Saturday followed Friday’s attack in which several whole apartment blocks were levelled, by far the most powerful by Israel on Beirut since October. The Lebanese health ministry said six people were killed and 91 injured in the strikes on Friday.
The apparent targeting of Nasrallah – who has been the leader of Hezbollah for 32 years – marks the most alarming escalation in almost a year of war between Hezbollah and Israel, as my colleague Peter Beaumont explains in this analysis piece. Nasrallah represents Iran’s most important regional asset and has long been seen as linchpin in the so-called axis of resistance.
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The Syrian foreign ministry has issued a statement following the Israeli attacks on Beirut that many officials fear could lead to a wider regional conflict.
The ministry was quoted as saying in a statement:
The Syrian Arab republic strongly condemns all these continuous crimes, and renews its affirmation that the Israeli terrorist entity’s insistence on shedding blood and committing all kinds of war crimes and crimes against humanity that are blasphemy, will lead the region to a dangerous acceleration that is impossible to predict its consequences.
Zeina Khodr of Al Jazeera has also put up a video on X with footage of downtown Beirut and cited a “massive displacement crisis” as Lebanese left southern neighbourhoods amid Israeli strikes.
She quotes a woman telling her: “The 2006 war was nothing compared to what we witnessed last night.”
Massive displacement crisis - people left neighborhoods in #Beirut southern suburbs due to intense Israeli strikes “the 2006 war was nothing compared to what we witnessed last night,” one woman told me pic.twitter.com/bJZ7BrdXjp
— Zeina Khodr (@ZeinakhodrAljaz) September 28, 2024
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Television journalist Ali Hashem has posted a short video on X of southern Beirut filmed from above, saying it is “shrouded in a thick grey cloud”.
This morning, Beirut’s southern suburb is shrouded in a thick grey cloud, as seen from above. pic.twitter.com/zBT53zAPi0
— Ali Hashem علي هاشم (@alihashem_tv) September 28, 2024
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IDF claims killing of Hamas leader in Syria
The Israeli military says it killed the leader of Hamas in southern Syria on Friday night, naming him as Ahmed Muhammad Fahd.
Israel’s Arabic-language military spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, posted on X in Arabic saying (in a translation to English) that “the so-called Ahmed Fahd was responsible for carrying out numerous terrorist operations against IDF forces and the state of Israel from the southern Syrian area, including launching rockets towards the Golan Heights area”.
Adraee said Israeli air force warplanes carried out the attack under the guidance of the intelligence service and the northern command.
Fahd was liquidated when he planned to carry out another terrorist plot in the immediate future.
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Israeli fighter jets’ bombardment of Beirut’s southern suburbs overnight into Saturday sent panicked families fleeing the area.
After heavy shelling sounded across the city on Friday, Israel issued fresh warnings for people to leave part of the densely populated Dahiyeh suburb before dawn on Saturday.
Agence France-Presse reports hundreds of families spent the night on the streets, seeking shelter in central Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square or along the seaside boardwalk area.
Syrian refugee and father of six Radwan Msallam said they had “nowhere to go”, telling AFP:
We were at home when there was the call to evacuate. We took our identity papers, some belongings and we left.
Israel said it was attacking Hezbollah’s headquarters and weapons facilities, while US and Israeli media reported that Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was the target, although a source close to the group said he was “fine”.
The explosions that shook southern Beirut were the fiercest to hit Hezbollah’s stronghold since Israel and Hezbollah last went to war in 2006.
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The Israel Defence Forces says it has intercepted more projectiles fired from Lebanon.
The IDF posted on X that it occurred after warnings were activated a short time ago in several areas in the north of the country, “in the Samaria area and in the Menasha area”.
Five launches were detected that crossed the territory of Lebanon, most of the launches were intercepted.
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Our full report with the latest on Israel’s fresh series of attacks in Beirut and Lebanon has gone live – see it here:
Lebanon’s health ministry has said hospitals in Beirut’s southern suburbs will be evacuated after the heavy Israeli strikes in the area, urging hospitals in unaffected areas to stop admitting non-urgent cases.
A ministry statement on Saturday called on hospitals unaffected by Israeli strikes to “stop receiving non-emergency cases until the end of next week in order to make space to receive patients from hospitals in Beirut’s southern suburbs which will be evacuated due to the developments in the aggression”, Agence France-Presse reported.
The health ministry has yet to provide an updated toll for strikes.
Opening summary
Welcome to our continuing live coverage of Israel’s strikes in Lebanon and the wider Middle East crisis – it’s just gone 8.20am in Beirut and Tel Aviv.
A wave of air raids hit Beirut’s southern suburbs early on Saturday as Israel stepped up attacks on Hezbollah, after a massive strike on the Iran-backed movement’s command centre that apparently targeted leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Reuters witnesses heard more than 20 airstrikes before dawn on Saturday. Thousands of Lebanese fled their homes in the southern suburbs and congregated in squares, parks and sidewalks in central Beirut and seaside areas.
Israel’s military said early on Saturday that about 10 projectiles had crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory and that “some” had been intercepted. They were detected after sirens sounded in the Upper Galilee area, a military statement said.
An unprecedented five hours of continuous strikes early on Saturday followed Friday’s attack, by far the most powerful by Israel on Beirut during nearly a year of war with Hezbollah and making a sharp escalation of the conflict, Reuters reported.
The latest escalation has sharply increased fears the conflict could spiral out of control, potentially drawing in Iran, Hezbollah’s principal backer, as well as the United States.
There was no immediate confirmation of Nasrallah’s fate after Friday’s heavy strikes, but a source close to Hezbollah told Reuters he was not reachable. The militant group has not made a statement.
In other developments:
The Lebanese health ministry said six people were killed and 91 injured in Friday’s attack. The toll appeared likely to rise much higher as rescue workers cleared the rubble. Several apartment blocks in the Haret Hreik neighbourhood were reduced to rubble, and footage from the scene showed huge slabs of concrete topped by piles of twisted metal and wreckage. Several craters were visible, into one of which a car had fallen.
Israel’s military earlier ordered southern Beirut residents to evacuate and warned it was planning to strike three specific buildings in the area. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) posted a map of certain areas of Dahiyeh and said residents “were obliged to evacuate the buildings immediately and move away from them at a distance of no less than 500 meters”.
Hezbollah responded to Israel’s Friday attack on Beirut by bombing Safed, a city in north Israel, with a rocket salvo “in response to Israeli attacks on cities, villages and civilians”. The Iran-backed group announced more attacks at Karmiel and Sa’ar. Israel braced for potential retaliation from Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as from Yemen and Iran, urging residents of Golan Heights, Safed and Merom HaGalil to stay near protected areas.
The Israeli military claimed to have killed the commander of Hezbollah’s missile unit in southern Lebanon, Muhammad Ali Ismail, and his deputy, Hossein Ahmed Ismail, in fighter-jet attacks. The IDF also said on X that “with them other commanders and terrorists of Hezbollah were eliminated”.
Hundreds of families crammed into vehicles and fled Beirut’s southern suburbs overnight into Saturday after Israel’s strikes and warnings to evacuate. Bottlenecks formed in the middle of the night on normally deserted streets of the capital, many of them in darkness due to power cuts.
Joe Biden has directed the Pentagon to “assess and adjust as necessary” American forces in the Middle East, the White House said after Friday’s attacks. The US president said earlier on Friday the US had “no knowledge of or participation” in the strike. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he had personally approved the strike, and announced that he had cut short his US visit and would return immediately to Israel.
The European Union’s foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, voiced regret that no power, including the US, could “stop” Benjamin Netanyahu, saying the Israeli prime minister appeared determined to crush militants in Gaza and Lebanon.
Tens of thousands of people protested in Iranian cities and in the Yemeni capital to condemn Israeli attacks on Lebanon and Gaza, Agence France-Presse journalists and state media reported.
The strikes came shortly after Netanyahu gave a bellicose speech in the UN general assembly and shrugged off global appeals for a ceasefire in Lebanon and Gaza. Instead the Israeli prime minister denounced the UN as an “antisemitic swamp” and insisted Israel was “winning” its wars on multiple fronts. Many national delegations walked out in protest as he took the floor.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, reiterated his call for a Middle East ceasefire, saying: “Gaza remains the epicentre of violence, and Gaza is the key to ending it.”
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