Israel Hezbollah War Live Updates: Indian embassy in Beirut advises citizens against traveling to Lebanon

Embassy of India in Beirut tweets, "As a reiteration of the Advisory issued on 1 August 2024 and in view of the recent developments and escalations in the region, Indian nationals are strongly advised against travelling to Lebanon till further notice. All Indian nationals already in Lebanon are also strongly advised to leave Lebanon. Those who remain for any reason are advised to exercise extreme caution, restrict their movements and remain in contact with the Embassy of India in Beirut..."

The Israeli military said it hit more than 280 targets of Hezbollah in Lebanon on Wednesday after the Iran-backed militants fired rockets into northern Israel.
"In total, over 280 Hezbollah terror targets have been struck today in Lebanon, and the IDF (military) is continuing to conduct strikes against additional targets," the military said in a statement.

Lebanon said 23 people were killed and dozens injured in Israeli strikes across Lebanon Wednesday, the third day of major Israeli raids in the country as fighting with Hezbollah has intensified.
Hezbollah earlier said it had fired a ballistic missile that reached the central Israeli city of Tel Aviv for the first time before being intercepted.

The attacks in Lebanon included two rare strikes on the villages of Joun and Maaysra -- mountain areas outside Hezbollah's traditional strongholds in the country's south and east.

Fatima from Maaysra, declining to provide her surname, said the targeted two-storey building was her relative's home and housed people displaced from south Lebanon.

"They bombed an area full of displaced people," she said. "Nowhere is safe anymore."

Hezbollah said it had fired a ballistic missile at the Israeli city of Tel Aviv on Wednesday, with Israel launching more air strikes on Lebanon after its military intercepted the unprecedented launch.
It is the first time Hezbollah has claimed a ballistic missile strike since its nearly year-long battle with Israel began after its Palestinian ally Hamas carried out its October 7 attack.

Israel conducted more air strikes on areas around Lebanon on Wednesday, after raids earlier this week killed at least 558 people in the deadliest day of violence since the 1975-1990 civil war.

The Lebanese health ministry said Wednesday's strikes killed 15 people, including in mountain areas outside Hezbollah's traditional strongholds.

According to Lebanese officials, hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled their homes in southern and eastern Lebanon to escape the violence between the Iran-backed militants and Israel.

Nour Hamad, a 22-year-old student in the Lebanese city of Baalbek, described living "in a state of terror" all week.

"We spent four or five days without sleep, not knowing if we will wake up in the morning," she said.

"The sound of the bombardment is very frightening, everyone's afraid. The children are afraid, and the grown-ups are afraid too."

In Tel Aviv, sirens sounded following Hezbollah's unprecedented missile launch, which the Israeli military intercepted.

From the dais of the UN General Assembly just a year ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu triumphantly hailed a new peace he said would sweep through the Middle East. A year later, as he travels back to that same world stage, that vision is in tatters. The devastating war in Gaza is about to hit the one-year mark. Israel is on the cusp of a wider regional war with the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah. And the country finds itself increasingly isolated internationally and led by a polarising leader whose handling of the conflict has sparked protests both in global capitals and on the streets of his own country.

And it's not just the mushrooming regional conflicts weighing Israel down. Netanyahu will head to New York burdened also by what could be an imminent warrant for his arrest by the International Criminal Court, what would put him in a fellowship of sorts with Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir.

"He arrives almost at a point of being persona non grata," said Alon Liel, a former director-general of Israel's Foreign Ministry and outspoken critic of Netanyahu.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that Israel's killing of top Hezbollah commanders couldn't bring the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group to its knees.

"Some of the effective and valuable forces of Hezbollah were martyred, which undoubtedly caused damage to Hezbollah, but this was not the sort of damage that could bring the group to its knees," he said in meeting with military personnel and veterans of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

"The organisational and human strength of Hezbollah is much more than that. Their authority, capabilities and strength are much more than that and cannot be seriously affected by these martyrdoms."

The Israel-Lebanon border has seen near-daily exchanges of fire since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October, after Palestinian militant group Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel.

The violence has escalated dramatically since last week after coordinated sabotage attacks targeting Hezbollah communication devices killed 39 people and wounded almost 3,000.

On Wednesday, Israeli warplanes bombed Hezbollah targets for a third day, after air raids earlier this week killed at least 558 people in the deadliest day of violence since the 1975-1990 civil war.

Lebanon said three people were killed after Israel struck a village north of Beirut on Wednesday -- hit for the first time in nearly a year of clashes between Hezbollah and Israel.

The "Israeli enemy strike on the village of Maaysra in the Keserwan district killed three people and injured nine," Lebanon's health ministry said.

The Shiite-majority village is located in a mostly Christian mountain area about 25 kilometres (15 miles) from the Lebanese capital.

A Lebanese security source had earlier told AFP that "an Israeli strike targeted a house in the village of Maaysra", requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

A female resident said the strike hit her village, destroying a house and a cafe.

Lebanon's National News Agency reported that "two rockets fell in Maaysra".

Earlier Wednesday, the Israeli military said it was carrying out "extensive" air strikes in south Lebanon and the eastern Beqaa Valley after Hezbollah fired a ballistic missile that reached the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.

Pope Francis on Wednesday slammed the "terrible escalation" of the conflict in Lebanon as "unacceptable", after Israeli bombings in the south of the country targeting Hezbollah killed hundreds of people.

"I am saddened by the news coming out of Lebanon... but I hope that the international community will make every effort to stop this terrible escalation. This is unacceptable, I express my closeness to the Lebanese people, who have already suffered too much in the recent past," Francis said.

The Israeli military said it was carrying out "extensive" air strikes in south Lebanon and the eastern Beqaa Valley after Hezbollah fired a ballistic missile that reached the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.

"The IDF (Israeli military) is currently conducting extensive strikes in southern Lebanon and the Beqaa area. Details to follow," the military said in a statement.

The Israeli military said on Wednesday its fighter jets intercepted an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that crossed from Syria.
"The UAV was intercepted ... south of the Sea of Galilee. No damage or injuries were reported," it said.

Lebanon's Hezbollah said on Wednesday it launched a rocket targeting Mossad headquarters near Tel Aviv, which it says was responsible for assassinating its leaders and blowing up pagers and walkie-talkies used by the group, in a new escalation.

Warning sirens sounded in Israel's economic capital Tel Aviv as a single surface-to-surface missile was intercepted by air defence systems after it was detected crossing from Lebanon, the Israeli military said.

There were no reports of damage or casualties and the military said there was no change to civil defence instructions for central Israel.

Warning sirens also sounded in other areas of central Israel, including the city of Netanya.

The Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement in Lebanon fired hundreds of missiles and rockets at Israel in recent days as months of conflict across the border with southern Lebanon has intensified sharply. The Israeli military has been conducting its heaviest air strikes of the war this week, targeting Hezbollah leaders and hitting hundreds of targets deep inside Lebanon that have killed more than 500 people and wounded more than 1,800.

On Tuesday, a strike in Beirut killed senior Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Qubaisi, who headed the group's missile and rocket force.

Warning sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and areas of central Israel, the Israeli military said on Wednesday.

Israeli media reported an interception by aerial defence systems over the city.

There were no immediate reports of any damage or casualties.

Warning sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and areas of central Israel, the Israeli military said on Wednesday.

Israeli media reported an interception by aerial defence systems over the city.

There were no immediate reports of any damage or casualties.

Since war began in Gaza on October 7, Israel's military campaign has received rolling coverage on domestic television, with just one notable aspect missing -- the Palestinians living, and dying, under the bombs.

Every night during prime time, Israeli viewers hear about military operations in the Gaza Strip, now ravaged by the ongoing retaliation for Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7.

The deadly attack "was a surprise for Israeli society, and media gave full priority to Israel's suffering and trauma, which is still present," Jerome Bourdon, a media sociologist and professor at Tel Aviv University, told AFP.

Israel has four main news channels.

There is Channel 11, the main channel of the public broadcaster; Channel 12, "the most watched"; Channel 13, "the most critical" of the government; and Channel 14, "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's propaganda tool, Israel's Fox News", summarised Oren Persico, a journalist for "The Seventh Eye", an Israeli news website focused on the media.

After analysing many hours of news, satire and talent shows, "The Seventh Eye" earlier this month delivered its verdict: "Media in Israel, from Channel 11 to 14, do not show images of human suffering in Gaza."

Television viewers see "images of rubble, of a bombarded building, but not individual stories of people concerned", the website said.

When Hamas militants staged the worst-ever attack on Israel, they took back into the Gaza Strip 251 hostages, some of them already dead.
A year later, 64 people, including two children, are still in captivity and Israel believes they are alive.

For the Palestinian militant group that rules the Gaza Strip, the hostages are key bargaining chips to negotiate a truce with Israel and seek the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

Here is what we know about the hostages still held in Gaza.

- 52 men, 10 women, two children -

Of the 251 hostages seized by militants on October 7, 2023, 117 have been freed, most of them women, children and foreign workers.

Most were released during a week-long truce in late November in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

Nearly a year later, Israel believes 64 hostages still held in Gaza are alive.

The army has confirmed 70 others are dead, 33 of whose bodies are still in Gaza.

Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander Tuesday as part of a two-day bombing campaign that has left more than 560 people dead and prompted thousands in southern Lebanon to seek refuge from the widening conflict.

With the two sides on the brink of all-out war, Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets into Israel on Tuesday, targeting an explosives factory and sending families into bomb shelters.

Families that fled southern Lebanon flocked to Beirut and the coastal city of Sidon, sleeping in schools turned into shelters, as well as in cars, parks and along the beach. Some sought to leave the country, causing a traffic jam at the border with Syria.

Issa Baydoun fled the village of Shihine when it was bombed and drove to Beirut with his extended family. They slept in vehicles on the side of the road because the shelters were full.

“We struggled a lot on the road just to get here,” said Baydoun, who rejected Israel’s contention that it hit only military targets. “We evacuated our homes because Israel is targeting civilians and attacking them.”

Volunteers cooked meals for displaced families at an empty Beirut gas station that first became a hub for relief after a devastating port explosion in 2020.

Israel said late Tuesday that fighter jets carried out “extensive strikes” on Hezbollah weapons and rocket launchers across southern Lebanon and in the Bekaa region to the north.

British Airways on Tuesday said it had suspended flights to Israel until Thursday as as tensions rise between Hezbollah and Israel.

"We've been continually monitoring the situation in the Middle East and have taken the operational decision to cancel our flights to and from Tel Aviv up to and including Thursday, 26 September," said a statement from the airline which does not operate flights to Lebanon.

Israel said it killed a top commander with Hezbollah’s missile and rocket unit Tuesday as the Israeli military traded fire with Hezbollah again and the death toll from a massive Israeli bombardment climbed to nearly 560 people.

Military officials said Ibrahim Kobeisi, who they alleged was responsible for launches towards Israel, was killed in a strike on Beirut. The military said “other key commanders” were with Kobeisi at the time of the strike, but officials did not say whether any of the others were killed or wounded.

Meanwhile, thousands of people fled from southern Lebanon with the two sides on the brink of all-out war.

Displaced families slept in shelters hastily set up in schools in Beirut and the coastal city of Sidon. With hotels quickly booked to capacity or rooms priced beyond the means of many families, those who did not find shelter slept in their cars, in parks or along the seaside.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian denounced the United Nations' "inaction" against Israel, describing it as "senseless and incomprehensible", amid surging tensions across the Middle East."In my meeting with the Secretary General of the United Nations, I said the UN inaction against the crimes of the occupying regime is senseless and incomprehensible," he said in a post on social media platform X, adding that "I expressed my deep concern about the spread of the conflict in the entire Middle East."

As the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah grabs global attention, Palestinians in Gaza wonder: What will become of their plight after nearly a year of devastating war? They are petrified that international concern has been diverted, and that a dark possibility looms: abandonment.
The families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza have the same worry.

Nezar Zaqout, one of some 1.9 million Palestinians forced to flee their homes since the Israel-Hamas war broke out, said he fears the fighting across the Israel-Lebanon border will overtake interest in the abysmal living conditions in Gaza and efforts to negotiate a cease-fire.

"We have become completely forgotten," said Zaqout, who is living in Khan Younis after fleeing from Gaza City months ago. "There is no news about us in the media."

Palestinians fret the miserable conditions in Gaza will become permanent. Ninety per cent of the population is homeless, with hundreds of thousands in unsanitary tent camps struggling to find food and clean water.

Some 500 people have crossed from Lebanon to war-torn Syria, a Syrian security official told AFP Tuesday, fleeing the deadliest Israeli bombardment since Hezbollah and Israel fought a devastating war in 2006.
"Around 500 people crossed the border through the Qusayr and Dabousiya crossings between 4 pm (1300 GMT) and midnight" Monday, the security official told AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

"Vehicles were still crossing in the early hours of the morning, with people heading towards friends' and acquaintances' homes in the Homs countryside and in the city of Homs," he said.

Lebanon's Hezbollah group has fought alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces in the country's civil war and wields influence on both sides of the border.

Cab driver Osama Bilal, who often drives customers across the border, said he saw dozens of cars with Lebanese registration plates packed with passengers and their belongings at the Masnaa border crossing.

German airline group Lufthansa said Tuesday it had extended the suspension of flights to and from Israel's Tel Aviv and Iranian capital Tehran up to and including October 14.
Lufthansa continued to "monitor the situation closely and will assess it further in the coming days", the group said on its website as the escalation in the conflict between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah threatened to destabilise the region. Flights to Beirut remain suspended until October 26, Lufthansa added.

The Kremlin said Tuesday that the escalation of the conflict between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah risked completely destabilising the region.
"It is, of course, an event that is potentially very dangerous," risking expansion of the zone of the conflict and "complete destabilisation of the region", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

"Of course that causes us extreme concern and worry," the Kremlin spokesman added.

Israel announced dozens of new air strikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon Tuesday, a day after 492 people, including 35 children, were killed in the deadliest bombardment since a devastating war in 2006.

Peskov was responding to a question about how the Kremlin views the latest Israeli strikes on Lebanon and the possible ways it sees to resolve the conflict.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement that Moscow "decisively condemns the massive military attacks committed against Lebanon".

Moscow views "indiscriminate attacks targeting civilians" as categorically unacceptable, she added.

Lebanon said Tuesday the death toll from Israeli bombardment a day earlier had risen to 558, including 50 children, in the deadliest day of violence since Hezbollah and Israel went to war in 2006.
"So far, the health ministry has recorded 558 deaths, including 50 children and 94 women," Health Minister Firass Abiad said, adding that "the vast majority, if not all of those killed in yesterday's attacks were unarmed people in their homes."

According to the United Nations, a significant number of individuals in Lebanon have been displaced due to Israeli military actions. Matthew Saltmarsh, a spokesperson for the UN refugee agency, addressed reporters in Geneva on Tuesday, stating that the situation has been ongoing since Monday. "Tens of thousands of people were forced from their homes yesterday and overnight, and the numbers continue to grow," Saltmarsh emphasized, expressing concern over the impact on the civilian population. He further added that "the toll on civilians is unacceptable", highlighting the severity of the situation and the need for action to protect those affected by the conflict.

On Tuesday, the Kremlin expressed its apprehension regarding the escalating situation in the Middle East, cautioning that Israeli strikes on Lebanon could lead to regional instability. The Russian government conveyed its deep concern over the recent developments.

Nearly 500 people were killed in Lebanon after Israeli airstrike.

Flydubai has announced the cancellation of flights between Dubai and Beirut scheduled for September 24 and 25. A spokesperson from the airline stated that the decision was made due to "the ongoing developments".

Similarly, Air Arabia has also cancelled its flights from Sharjah and Abu Dhabi to Beirut on September 24.

In a statement, Etihad Airways also confirmed the cancellation of its flights to and from Beirut on September 24, citing "ongoing regional developments" as the reason behind the decision.

On Tuesday morning, the Israeli military reported that northern Israel was hit by a barrage of over 50 projectiles launched from Lebanon. The attack occurred between 9:36 am (0636 GMT) and 09:44 am, according to the statement.
The Israeli military said that "The majority of the projectiles were intercepted."

Numerous flights scheduled for Tuesday, both arriving at and departing from Beirut, have been called off, as per the information provided on the website of Rafic Hariri International Airport. The cancellations affect a total of 44 flights. The website indicates that 15 departing flights and 29 arriving flights, operated by several airlines such as Qatar Airways, multiple carriers from the United Arab Emirates, and Turkish Airways, will not be operating as planned.

Israel's armed forces reported conducting airstrikes against numerous Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon on Monday night, following a day of intense attacks against the Iran-backed organization's locations in Lebanon, resulting in the country's highest fatality count in decades.

On Tuesday morning, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for attacking several Israeli military targets, including an explosives factory 60 km (37 miles) into Israel, using the Fadi series of rockets. The group stated that it attacked the explosives factory around 4 a.m. (0100 GMT) and the Megiddo airfield three separate times overnight.

Israel is now shifting its attention to the northern border, where Hezbollah has been launching rockets into Israel in support of Hamas, which is also backed by Iran, after nearly a year of fighting against Hamas in Gaza on its southern border.

According to the Israeli military, a Hezbollah militant cell was targeted, and its artillery and tanks struck other Hezbollah positions in the south. Fragments of interceptor missiles were discovered in various locations in northern Israel, according to police.

Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon on Monday killed nearly 500 people and forced tens of thousands to flee for safety, according to Lebanese authorities.
Israel warned people in Lebanon to evacuate areas where it claimed the armed movement was storing weapons after some of the heaviest cross-border exchanges of fire since hostilities erupted in October when the Gaza war began.
Families from south Lebanon packed cars, vans, and trucks with belongings and people of all ages. Highways heading north were congested.

Nasser Yassin, the Lebanese minister in charge of the crisis response, told Reuters that 89 temporary shelters in schools and other facilities had been established, with a capacity for more than 26,000 people fleeing what he described as "Israeli atrocities".
According to Israel's military, Hezbollah was targeted in Lebanon's south, east, and north, including rocket launchers, command posts, and militant infrastructure. The Israeli Air Force claimed to have struck approximately 1,600 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.
At least 492 people were killed, including 35 children, and 1,645 were wounded, according to Lebanon's health ministry. According to one Lebanese official, this was Lebanon's highest daily death toll from violence since the 1975-1990 civil war.

In the early hours of Tuesday, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for multiple strikes on Israeli military targets. The group stated that it had fired the "Fadi" series of rockets, which they began using on Sunday, at an explosives factory located 60 km (37 miles) inside Israel. According to Hezbollah, the explosives factory was targeted around 4 a.m. (0100 GMT). Additionally, the group reported launching three separate attacks on the Megiddo airfield throughout the night.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said on Tuesday that they conducted airstrikes against multiple Hezbollah positions across various locations in southern Lebanon during the night. In a statement, the military said, "Overnight ...the IAF (air force) struck dozens of Hezbollah targets in numerous areas in southern Lebanon."

As world leaders gather for the annual UN General Assembly meeting on Tuesday, they face a world grappling with escalating conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan, as well as the looming threat of a broader Middle East war. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in his "State of the World" address at the "Summit of the Future" on Sunday, warned that the world is "heading off the rails" and called for tough decisions to get it back on track.

Guterres highlighted the numerous conflicts "raging and multiplying, from the Middle East to Ukraine and Sudan, with no end in sight" and the global security system, which he said is "threatened by geopolitical divides, nuclear posturing, and the development of new weapons and theaters of war." He also pointed out the vast inequalities, the absence of an effective global system to address emerging and existential threats, and the devastating effects of climate change.

US President Joe Biden's likely final major appearance on the world stage will be a notable moment at Tuesday's opening assembly meeting. US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield stated that the US will focus on ending "the scourge of war," noting that approximately 2 billion people live in conflict-affected areas. She added, "The most vulnerable around the world are counting on us to make progress, to make change, to bring about a sense of hope for them."

Other speakers on the opening day include Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, King Abdullah II of Jordan, and Iran's new President Masoud Pezeshkian. The Iranian leader accused Israel on Monday of seeking a wider war in the Middle East and laying "traps" to lead his country into a broader conflict, citing the deadly explosions of pagers, walkie-talkies, and other electronic devices in Lebanon last week and the assassination of Hamas' political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31. "We don't want to fight," the Iranian president said. "It's Israel that wants to drag everyone into war and destabilize the region. … They are dragging us to a point where we do not wish to go." Iran supports both Hamas in Gaza and Lebanon's Hezbollah militants.

David Miliband, President of the International Rescue Committee, recalled that at the 1945 San Francisco conference where the UN was established, then-US President Harry Truman urged delegates to reject the notion that "might makes right" and instead embrace the idea that "right makes might," which was enshrined in the UN Charter.

As President Joe Biden prepares to address the United Nations General Assembly for the final time on Tuesday, the Middle East is on the brink of a full-scale conflict between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. The situation is further complicated by the approaching one-year anniversary of Israel's bloody operation against Hamas in Gaza. In his speech, Biden is anticipated to emphasize the necessity of resolving the Middle East conflict and the 17-month-old civil war in Sudan, as well as to underscore the support provided by the US and its Western allies to Kyiv since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

This speech also presents Biden with one of his final opportunities as president to make a compelling argument for continued robust support for Ukraine, which could be at risk if former President Donald Trump, who has been critical of the war's cost, defeats Vice President Kamala Harris in the upcoming November election.

Upon taking office, Biden pledged to revitalize US relations worldwide and extricate the nation from the "forever wars" in Afghanistan and Iraq that have dominated American foreign policy over the past two decades. He successfully achieved both objectives. However, his foreign policy legacy may ultimately be defined by his administration's handling of two of the most significant conflicts in Europe and the Middle East since World War II.

On Monday, the Pentagon announced the deployment of a small contingent of additional US troops to the Middle East to bolster the approximately 40,000 already stationed in the region, in response to the escalating tensions. Despite this, the White House maintains that Israel and Hezbollah still have the opportunity to step back and de-escalate the situation. "It's in everyone's interest to resolve it quickly and diplomatically," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters as Biden made his way to New York on Monday ahead of his address at the UN.

According to two senior administration officials, Biden administration officials will engage in discussions with their counterparts on the sidelines of the UN to explore ideas that could potentially prevent the escalation of the conflict between Israel and Lebanon. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, declined to provide further details on the potential off-ramps. One of the officials mentioned that other countries were also eager to present ideas to reduce tensions.

Just a year ago, when Biden addressed the UN, he had a more optimistic outlook for the Middle East. In that speech, Biden spoke of a "sustainable, integrated Middle East" coming into view. (AP)