At least 274 people have been killed and more than 1,024 wounded, including 39 woman and 21 children, in Israeli strikes that targeted southern Lebanon, the health ministry have said.
The Israeli military said it struck 300 targets in southern and northeastern Lebanon as it steps up pressure against the Hezbollah militant group. It is the deadliest barrage since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.
They have unleashed the most widespread wave of air strikes against Hezbollah on Monday and warned Lebanese citizens to evacuate areas where the armed group was storing weapons, moving closer to all-out war.
“We are deepening our attacks in Lebanon, the actions will continue until we achieve our goal to return the northern residents safely to their homes,” Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said.
It was the first warning of its kind in nearly a year of steadily escalating conflict and came after a particularly heavy exchange of fire on Sunday. Israel said it struck around 290 targets inside Lebanon after Hezbollah launched more than 100 rockets at northern Israel.
Meanwhile, Lebanon’s Hezbollah said it launched dozens of rockets at several Israeli military posts in retaliation for the attacks on Southern Lebanon.
US concerned by Israel shuttering Al Jazeera office in Ramallah, State Department says
The United States is concerned by the Israeli military’s raid and shutdown of media network Al Jazeera’s office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, a State Department spokesperson has said.
“This action is inconsistent with US support for freedom of the press in the West Bank and all over the world,” the spokesperson said.
The US is still gathering information about the Israeli military operation on Sunday, they added.
Watch the video below for context:
Jabed Ahmed23 September 2024 17:16
Breaking: Israeli military says it has conducted strike on Lebanon capital Beirut
The Israeli military has said it had conducted a targeted strike in Beirut. It gave no details on the target.
A security source told news agency Reuters an Israeli strike hit Beirut’s southern suburbs on Monday evening, but said it was not immediately clear what type of strike was used or what was hit.
The Lebanese minister coordinating the crisis response, Nasser Yassin, said tens of thousands of people are fleeing southern Lebanon “due to Israeli atrocities”.
The security source also told the news agency the strike targeted senior Hezbollah leader Ali Karaki, the head of the southern front. He condition is currently unknown
Jabed Ahmed23 September 2024 16:52
Watch: Dashcam footage captures moment Hezbollah rocket hit city in northern Israel
Jabed Ahmed23 September 2024 16:27
Netanyahu says Israel is changing security balance on northern border
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel faced “complicated days” as it stepped up strikes against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and he called on Israelis to stay united as the campaign unfolded.
“I promised that we would change the security balance, the balance of power in the north – that is exactly what we are doing,” he said in a message issued following a situational assessment at military headquarters in Tel Aviv.
Jabed Ahmed23 September 2024 15:59
At least 21 children and 31 women among the 274 dead from Israeli airstrikes, Lebanese health minister says
At least 274 people, including 21 children and 31 women, were killed and 1,024 wounded in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon on Monday, the country’s health minister said during a press conference.
Jabed Ahmed23 September 2024 15:43
Explainer: What happened during 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war?
The 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war was a 34 day armed conflict in Lebanon, northern Israel and the Golan Heights.
The conflict, primarily fought between Hezbollah and the Israeli military, began on 12 July 2006, and continued until a UN-brokered ceasefire came into effect on 14 August.
It is estimated some 1,300 Lebanese people were killed during the war, and 165 Israelis, according to a report by The Independent at the time.
Around one million Lebanese people were displaced during the war.
Today’s strikes on Southern Lebanon from Israel is the deadliest barrage since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.
Jabed Ahmed23 September 2024 15:41
Comment: Why has Israel’s president denied the pager attack on Hezbollah?
The Israeli president has said that he “rejects out of hand any connection” between his state and the wave of detonating pagers and walkie-talkies that hit Lebanon’s Hezbollah in particular, but a lot of bystanders too.
It is not clear what led Isaac Herzog to contradict that otherwise universally accepted connection, which has been cheered on by some, and deplored by others.
Read the full Voices article by Mark Almond below:
Jabed Ahmed23 September 2024 15:29
Top UN officials say ‘atrocities must end’ in Gaza
Top United Nations officials have demanded “an end to the appalling human suffering and humanitarian catastrophe” in the Gaza Strip nearly one year into the war between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas.
“These atrocities must end,” the heads of UN agencies said in a statement as world leaders gathered in New York for the annual UN General Assembly.
Jabed Ahmed23 September 2024 15:19
Pictured: Israeli jets amid most widespread wave of air strikes in southern and northeastern Lebanon
Jabed Ahmed23 September 2024 14:58