Middle East crisis live: Israel expands ground offensive in Lebanon after wave of overnight strikes
Israel says is it conducting ‘limited, localised, targeted operational activities’ inside southwestern Lebanon
In a statement Israel’s military has said it has deployed its reserve 146th division into Lebanon, where it claims it is conducting “limited, localised, targeted operational activities” against what it says are “Hezbollah terror targets and infrastructure in southwestern Lebanon.”
The divsion, it says, had previously been carrying out defensive duties in northern Israel for the last year.
On its official Telegram channel, the IDF says “The soldiers are operating alongside the 213th artillery brigade and additional forces in order to expose and dismantle terrorist infrastructure in the area.”
Israel’s military issued pictures of the soldiers getting ready for deployment.
Lebanon’s National News Agency has reported that Israeli forces have continued to launch air attacks on Beirut and across eastern and southern Lebanon this morning.
Key events
William Christou
William Christou reports from Beirut for the Guardian
Deputy secretary general of Hezbollah Naim Qassem said in a speech commemorating one year of Hezbollah-Israel fighting that the group will not engage in any discussions before a ceasefire in Lebanon is achieved, but that the group supports political efforts towards a ceasefire.
Qassem added that despite “painful blows” to the group’s leadership, that the group is still “strictly organised”. Israel has eliminated almost all senior military members of the group, as well as its longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah who it killed nearly two weeks ago.
The question of who will succeed Nasrallah remains undecided, with Qassem saying the group will choose a new leader soon but that it is a complex procedure.
Qassem said that Hezbollah has so far prevented Israel’s intrusion into south Lebanon, and that the Israeli army would “suffer great losses.”
Since announcing its ground incursion into Lebanon last week, Israel has set up at least two positions inside Lebanese territory, in the border villages of Maroun al-Ras and Yaroun. Hezbollah has killed at least 10 Israeli soldiers in clashes on the border, while Israel claims it has killed 250 members of the group – a claim Hezbollah denies.
Hezbollah deputy leader: group’s military capabilities are intact and Israel’s ground mission in Lebanon is a ‘failure’
The deputy leader of Hezbollah has said that Israel’s ground mission into Lebanon had been a failure, that the group’s military capabilities were intact, pledging that its attacks would force more people in northern Israel from their homes.
Al Jazeera quotes Naim Qassem saying:
Our military capabilities are fine. What our enemies say about our fighting capabilities is an illusion. They are lying. Our fighters on the frontline are solid. What happened over the last 10 days is [that] the pain of the Israelis is increasing. We are telling them, more and more Israelis will be displaced from the settlements. The Israeli plan is to kill Lebanese civilians and empty villages to cause chaos. But I tell them, your efforts are a failure.
Qassem said that after days of its operation inside Lebanon, Israel’s forces had failed to advance.
Earlier today Israel announced that it had committed a further division of troops to what it described as “limited, localised, targeted operational activities” against what it says are “Hezbollah terror targets and infrastructure in southwestern Lebanon”. The IDF now has four divisions engaged.
Israel’s Arabic language spokesperson again issued a message that residents of southern Lebanon should flee their homes, and that anybody moving south was in danger. Over a fifth of Lebanon’s population are thought to currently be displaced. About 60,000 people in northern Israel have also had to flee the fighting over the course of the last year.
Lebanese media reported continued Israeli airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut and in the east and the south of the country.
Hezbollah deputy leader: US is essential partner of Israel in assault on Gaza
The deputy leader of Hezbollah has said that its former leader “put fear” into the hearts of Israel, and accused the US of being a partner in what he described as crimes taking place in Gaza.
In a message broadcast on Lebanese television, Naim Qassem praised the group’s assassinated former leader Hassan Nasrallah for putting “fear in the hearts of Zionists and fighting the criminals of occupation.”
Qassem described last year’s Hamas attack on southern Israel as “the first step for change” and criticised Israel for, he said, “killing women, killing children, killing elderly” in Gaza.
He said the US was an essential partner of Israel in the attacks being carried out in Gaza, and said that Iran is determined to stand by and support resistance against Israel
EU’s Borrell: the situation in Lebanon worsens daily
The European Union’s foreign top diplomat Josep Borrell has told the European Parliament that the situation in Lebanon is getting worse every day.
Noting that 20% of the Lebanese population has now been displaced from their homes due to Israeli airstrikes and the orders of Israel’s military for Lebanese civilians to flee from the south of the country, Borrell said it was important to achieve a ceasefire.
Borrell also warned that the Lebanese army remained a weak outfit that could not act as a counterweight to Hezbollah, and he cautioned that it is not in a position to ensure the territorial integrity of Lebanon.
Earlier the Lebanese army issued a statement saying it was ready to defend Lebanon against what it described as “the increasing barbaric attacks by the Israeli enemy on various Lebanese regions.”
In a statement Israel’s military has claimed that recent attacks on Gaza have killed three Hamas fighters it says participated in the 7 October attack on southern Israel.
It claims Muhammad Rafai was killed in a 30 September strike on a school in Gaza City, while Muhammad Zanun and Bassel Akhars were killed on 1 October in a strike on Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Warning sirens have sounded in Tiberias, on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, and Israeli media reports that about 30 rockets were fired towards it from the direction of Lebanon.
Reuters reports that the Emirates airline has cancelled all its flights to and from Iran.
Here are the fuller quotes from Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi, who has threatened Iran will retaliate if Israel carries out an attack:
Operations True Promise 1 and 2 [Iran’s previous direct strikes on Israel] demonstrated the impressive willpower and determination of the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran such that everyone knows that any strategic mistake by the enemy Israel will receive a harsher response. In doing so, we will not hesitate or rush.
An attack on the infrastructure of the Islamic Republic of Iran will certainly face a more decisive response, and our enemies are aware of the targets within the Zionist regime of Israel that are within our reach for attack, and they have seen the power and accuracy of our missiles with their own eyes.
The message of the Islamic Republic of Iran during my visit to Beirut and Damascus was clear, which is that Tehran will continue to support the resistance by all means, and no one should doubt that. We have been, are and will continue to support the resistance, and the temporary blows that have been dealt to the resistance will not affect the determination and strength of the will of the resistance, the resistance fighters and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett has called for Israel to strike at Iran’s nuclear facilities, saying there is a “one-time window of opportunity” for Israel to act “without fearing a terrible and intolerable reaction.”
The Times of Israel quotes Bennett saying Iran’s nuclear programme “casts a dark shadow over our futures.”
He continued:
For the first time, we have the ability to act against Iran without fearing a terrible and intolerable reaction. The Iranian regime of terrorism and murder is exposed and vulnerable for the first time. This is a one-time window of opportunity in which we have both the legitimacy and the ability to severely damage the Iranian regime and its nuclear programme.”
Bennett was in office as prime minister in Israel from June 2021 to June 2022.
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi will visit Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region this week, starting today.
Reuters quotes a statement from the minister on state TV, in which he said “Our dialogue continues in regards to the developments in the region to prevent the shameless crimes of the Zionist regime in Lebanon [and] continuation of the crimes in Gaza.”
He continued “Starting today I’ll start a trip to the region, to Riyadh and other capitals in the region and we will strive to have a collective movement from the countries of the region … to stop the brutal attacks in Lebanon.”
Earlier Araqchi said that Tehran would retaliate should Israel launch an attack on Iran.
Israel’s Arabic language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, has again issued a warning to Lebanese residents in the south of the country that they should move north.
In the message, he says:
To the people of South Lebanon, be careful! The IDF continues to attack Hezbollah sites in and near your village, and for your own safety you are prohibited from returning to your homes until further notice. You should refrain from heading south, anyone who heads south is putting their life in danger.
#عاجل الى سكان جنوب لبنان ديروا بالكم!
يستمر جيش الدفاع في مهاجمة مواقع #حزب_الله في قريتكم وبالقرب منها وذلك يحظر عليكم العودة الى بيوتكم حتى اشعار آخر وذلك حفاطًا على سلامتكم.
عليكم الامتناع عن التوجه جنوباً, كل من يتوجه جنوبا فهو يعرض حياته للخطر. pic.twitter.com/QzsbgCmhB8— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) October 8, 2024
The Lebanese caretaker government has said that at least 1.3 million people, more than a fifth of the country’s population, have been displaced from their homes due to Israel’s stepped up air campaign.
Over the previous year tens of thousands of people in southern Lebanon and northern Israel had already been forced to flee by continued fighting between Israel, Hezbollah and other anti-Israeli forces.
Lebanon’s army has issued a lengthy statement saying that it “maintains its readiness to defend the land within the available capabilities, based on the decisions of the political authority and its directives to do what it deems appropriate in order to protect Lebanon.”
It says it has issued the statement “in light of the increasing barbaric attacks by the Israeli enemy on various Lebanese regions, and the resulting deaths, injuries and great destruction.”
The army states “experience has proven that the army is the institution that forms the backbone of Lebanon” and that “we look forward to the success of international efforts to stop the Israeli aggression as soon as possible.”
It criticises “campaigns of slander, fabrication and treason” against the army in the media.
في ظل الاعتداءات الهمجية والمتزايدة من جانب العدو الإسرائيلي على مختلف المناطق اللبنانية، وما ينتج عنها من سقوط شهداء وجرحى ودمار كبير، يهم قيادة الجيش أن توضح أن الجيش اللبناني، إذ ينتشر على كامل مساحة الوطن بما فيها الحدود الجنوبية، يتولى مسؤولياته الوطنية ويقدّم الشهداء ويحافظ… pic.twitter.com/JlIEkIg9Xq
— الجيش اللبناني (@LebarmyOfficial) October 8, 2024
Several soldiers from Lebanon’s army have been killed by Israeli strikes in the last couple of weeks.
Iran’s Isna news agency is carrying a readout from a call between Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and his Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdelatty.
Araghchi is said to have told the Egyptians that Hezbollah is “in a good situation” and “fully ready to confront a potential ground invasion of Lebanon.”
Israel says is it conducting ‘limited, localised, targeted operational activities’ inside southwestern Lebanon
In a statement Israel’s military has said it has deployed its reserve 146th division into Lebanon, where it claims it is conducting “limited, localised, targeted operational activities” against what it says are “Hezbollah terror targets and infrastructure in southwestern Lebanon.”
The divsion, it says, had previously been carrying out defensive duties in northern Israel for the last year.
On its official Telegram channel, the IDF says “The soldiers are operating alongside the 213th artillery brigade and additional forces in order to expose and dismantle terrorist infrastructure in the area.”
Israel’s military issued pictures of the soldiers getting ready for deployment.
Lebanon’s National News Agency has reported that Israeli forces have continued to launch air attacks on Beirut and across eastern and southern Lebanon this morning.
Iran warns it will retaliate if Israel launches expected attack
Tehran has warned Israel that any attack on Iran’s infrastructure will be met with retaliation.
Reuters reports that Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, made the statement on Tuesday morning.
On Monday evening Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported that Tehran’s military had prepared at least ten scenarios preparing for an expected Israeli attack.
It quoted a military source saying “Iran’s response will not be necessarily reciprocation at the same level of the Israelis’ action, but it may be harsher and aim for different targets that would intensify the effectiveness of the response.”
On 1 October Iran launched its second direct attack on Israel this year, triggered, it said, by Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Two Israelis were lightly wounded in the 1 October attack, and one Palestinian was killed by falling debris in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Iran successfully managed to hit and damage at least one military base in Israel.
Imran Khan has been reporting for Al Jazeera from Hasbaiyya in southern Lebanon. He tells the news network:
In southern Lebanon, about 130 towns and villages have been ordered to evacuate by the Israeli military. It’s got people worried because they’re wondering what the definition of Israel’s “limited” ground offensive is.
They’re hearing about the mass staging of troops on the Israeli side of the border, reserves being brought up. And just in the last few hours, Hezbollah says it’s hit Israeli soldiers.
Al Jazeera has been banned from operating inside Israel by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
