Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon highlights: 356 killed, including 24 children; over 1,000 injured as Israeli air strikes hit about 800 locations in Lebanon

EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said that the escalating clashes between Israel and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah threaten to plunge the Middle East into all-out war.

“I can say we are almost in a full-fledged war,” Borrell said ahead of a gathering of world leaders at the United Nations.

- AFP

The United States does not think Israeli escalation to force Hezbollah to reduce tensions will yield the desired outcome of de-escalation, a senior State Dept official said, effectively disagreeing with Israel’s strategy.

The conflict is a key focus for Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly this week, where Washington had concrete ideas to prevent a broader war and would seek an “off ramp” to the tensions, the official told reporters in New York.

- Reuters

Lebanon’s Iran-aligned Hezbollah said that senior leader Ali Karak, the head of the southern front, is okay and moved to a safe place, after a security source told Reuters he was targeted in an Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Lebanon.

- Reuters

Lebanon said more than 350 people including 24 children had been killed in Israeli strikes on the country’s east and south - the deadliest day in nearly a year of cross-border clashes.

“Israeli enemy strikes on towns and villages in southern Lebanon, the Bekaa and Baalbek” in the east, “killed 356 people, including 24 children and 42 women, and injured 1,246” others, the health ministry said in a statement.

- AFP

Israel wants to drag the Middle East into a full-blown war by provoking Iran to join the nearly year-old conflict between Israel and Tehran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, Iranian President said, warning of its “irreversible” consequences.

Masoud Pezeshkian, speaking to a group of journalists after his arrival in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly, said: “We do not wish to be the cause of instability in the Middle East as its consequences would be irreversible”

“We want to live in peace, we don’t want war,” he added. “It is Israel that seeks to create this all-out conflict.”

- Reuters

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel’s air strikes have destroyed tens of thousands of Hezbollah rockets, adding to the most difficult week for the Iranian-backed movement since its creation.

“Today is a significant peak. On this day we have taken out of order tens of thousands of rockets and precise munition. What Hezbollah has built over a period of 20 years since the second Lebanon War, is in fact being destroyed by the IDF,” he said in a statement.

- Reuters

“The Israeli military is preparing for the next stage of its operation in Lebanon after launching a wave of air strikes against Hezbollah targets on Monday morning,” the Military chief of the general staff, Herzi Halevi, said.

“Essentially, we are targeting combat infrastructure that Hezbollah has been building for the past 20 years. This is very significant. We are striking targets and preparing for the next phases,” he said in a statement, giving no details but adding that he would “elaborate shortly”.

- Reuters

President Joe Biden said on Monday (September 23, 2024) that the United States was trying to calm the situation in Lebanon after Israeli air strikes on Hezbollah strongholds killed at least 274 people, including children.

“I’ve been briefed on the latest developments in Israel and Lebanon. My team is in constant contact with their counterparts, and we’re working to de-escalate in a way that allows people to return home safely,” Biden said as he held talks with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the White House.

- AFP

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is alarmed by the escalating situation in Lebanon and very concerned by the large number of civilian casualties reported by Lebanese authorities, his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Monday.

- Reuters

“Jordan has suspended flights operated by Jordanian carriers to Beirut until further notice,” the country’s Civil Aviation Regulatory Commission said on Monday.

- Reuters

The U.S. is sending additional troops to the Middle East during a sharp spike in violence between Israel and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon that has raised the risk of a greater regional war, the Pentagon said Monday (September 23, 2024).

Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder would provide no details on how many additional forces or what they would be tasked to do. The U.S. currently has about 40,000 troops in the region.

The new deployments come after significant strikes by Israeli forces against targets inside Lebanon that have killed hundreds, and as Israel is preparing to conduct further operations and the State Department is warning Americans to leave Lebanon as the risk of a regional war increases.

“Due to the unpredictable nature of ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel and recent explosions throughout Lebanon, including Beirut, the U.S. Embassy urges U.S. citizens to depart Lebanon while commercial options still remain available,” the State Department cautioned Saturday.

- AP

An Israeli strike on Monday (September 23, 2024) evening in the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital targeted senior Hezbollah leader Ali Karaki, the head of the southern front, a security source told Reuters.

“Karaki’s fate was unclear,” the source said. 

- Reuters

Israel’s Prime Minister urged Lebanese civilians to heed Israeli calls to evacuate their homes, saying “take this warning seriously.”

Benjamin Netanyahu issued the warning Monday (September 23, 2024) in a videotaped message his office said was aimed at Lebanese civilians. 

He spoke as Israeli warplanes continued to strike alleged Hezbollah targets in southern and eastern Lebanon.

“Please get out of harm’s way now,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “Once our operation is finished, you can come back safely to your homes.”

- AP

An Israeli strike hit Beirut’s southern suburbs on Monday (September 23, 2024) evening, a security source told Reuters, but said it was not immediately clear what type of strike was used or what was hit. 

The Israeli military said it had conducted a targeted strike in Beirut. It gave no details on the target.

- Reuters

Tens of thousands of people are fleeing southern Lebanon “due to Israeli atrocities”, the Lebanese Minister coordinating the crisis response, Nasser Yassin, told Reuters on Monday (September 23, 2024).

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian accuses Israel of seeking a wider war in the Middle East and laying “traps” to lead Iran into it.

Mr. Pezeshkian told about two dozen media representatives that Iran doesn’t want to see the current war in Gaza and airstrikes across the Israeli-Lebanon border expanded.

He said while Israel insists it doesn’t want a wider war, it is taking actions that show otherwise.

He pointed to the deadly explosions of pagers, walkie-talkies and other electronic devices in Lebanon last week, which he blamed on Israel, and the assassination of Hamas’ political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on the eve of his inauguration.

- AP

The Israeli military said it had struck around 800 targets connected to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group in southern Lebanon and the area of the Bekaa valley on Monday (September 23, 2024).

“Among the targets struck were buildings where Hezbollah hid rockets, missiles, launchers, UAVs and additional terrorist infrastructure,” the Military said in a statement.

- Reuters

Warning sirens sounded in the northern part of the occupied West Bank on Monday as (September 23, 2024) Hezbollah rocket fire extended further south from the border areas in northern Israel, which have been most heavily targeted in the latest exchange of fire.

“Alarms were also sounded in areas across northern Israel,” the Military said.

- Reuters

At least 274 people, including 21 children and 31 women, were killed and 1,024 wounded in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon on Monday (September 23, 2024), the country’s Health Minister said during a press conference.

- Reuters

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon warned Monday that further escalation on the Israel-Lebanon border risked having “devastating” regional consequences, as Israel said it hit Hezbollah targets and the group struck back.

“Any further escalation of this dangerous situation could have far-reaching and devastating consequences, not only for those living on both sides of the Blue Line but also for the broader region,” the UNIFIL peacekeeping force said in a statement, referring to the demarcation line between Israel and Lebanon.

- AFP

Lebanon’s Hezbollah group said it targeted two more Israeli bases on Monday in retaliation for the deadliest strikes on the country’s east and south in nearly a year of clashes.

Hezbollah launched “dozens of rockets” at two Israeli bases “in response to the Israeli enemy’s attacks on the south and the Bekaa” in Lebanon’s east, after targeting three other sites earlier in the day as part of their retaliation.

- AFP

More than 700 other people were wounded in the strikes — a staggering one-day toll for a country still reeling from a deadly attack on communication devices last week.

The Government ordered schools and universities to close on Tuesday (September 24, 2024), across most of the country and began preparing shelters for people displaced from the south.

- AP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 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.

- Reuters

The Palestinian militant group Hamas condemned Israeli strikes on south Lebanon on Monday (September 23, 2024), which saw the deadliest bombardment in nearly a year of cross-border clashes between Hezbollah and Israel.

“We, in the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas, affirm that this wide-scale barbaric aggression is a war crime,” Hamas said in a statement, adding that the group reaffirmed “our solidarity... with our brothers in Hezbollah and the brotherly Lebanese people”.

- AFP

Iran’s Foreign Ministry warned Israel on Monday of “dangerous consequences” following deadly strikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani called the Israeli strikes “insane”, and warned of “the dangerous consequences of the Zionists’ new adventure”.

Mr. Kanani said Israel’s “crimes” in Palestinian territories and their “expansion to Lebanon are a clear example of a serious threat to regional and international peace”.

He strongly criticised U.S. support for Israel and called upon the United Nations Security Council “to take immediate action to stop these crimes”.

- AFP

Israeli strikes killed more than 180 Lebanese on Monday (September 23, 2024) in the deadliest and most intense barrage in nearly a year as the Israeli military warned residents in southern and eastern Lebanon to evacuate their homes ahead of a widening air campaign against Hezbollah.

Thousands of Lebanese fled the south, and the main highway out of the southern port city of Sidon was jammed with cars heading toward Beirut in the biggest exodus since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war. More than 400 other people were injured in the strikes.

- AP

Israeli strikes in Gaza left 24 dead and 60 wounded in the last 24 hours, the Health Ministry in the Palestinian territory said Monday (September 23, 2024).

“The fresh fatalities brought the overall death toll in Gaza since the war began on October 7 to 41,455, and 95,878 wounded,” said the Ministry which doesn’t differentiate between combatants and civilians.

Israel launched its campaign vowing to destroy Hamas after the militants launched an attack on southern Israel in which they killed some 1,200 people and abducted 250 others.

- AP

Thousands of people are leaving south Lebanon and heading north after Israel intensified airstrikes on Monday, leaving 100 people dead and hundreds wounded.

In the southern port city of Sidon, the main north-south highway was packed with cars heading north in the direction of the capital Beirut.

Following a Cabinet meeting in Beirut Monday, Minister of Environment Nasser Yassin told reporters that some schools are being prepared in Mount Lebanon to receive those fleeing.

It was the biggest wave of displacement since the summer 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, when hundreds of thousands fled their homes in the south.

- AP

The Israeli Military says it is widening an aerial offensive against what it says are Hezbollah weapons sites in southern and eastern Lebanon.

The Military said Monday that it was expanding its airstrikes to include areas of the Bekaa Valley, along Lebanon’s eastern border, after targeting more than 300 sites in southern Lebanon.

Israeli Military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said residents of the Bekaa Valley must immediately evacuate areas where Hezbollah is storing weapons.

- AP

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Israeli strikes on the south killed 100 people and wounded more than 400 others on Monday (September 23, 2024), the worst toll in nearly a year of cross-border clashes.

“Enemy raids on southern towns and villages since this morning... killed 100 and injured more than 400,” the Health Ministry said in a statement updating earlier figures, adding that “children, women, and paramedics” were among the casualties.

- AFP

Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister on Monday called Israel’s wave of airstrikes “a genocide in every sense of the word.” 

PM Najib Mikati made the comments at the start of a Cabinet meeting in Beirut in which he said that Israel’s airstrikes aim to destroy Lebanon’s towns and villages. 

Mr. Mikati said that the Lebanese Government is calling on the United Nations, the U.N. Security Council and world nations to “deter the aggression.”

- AP

The Israeli military said it struck 300 targets Monday (September 23, 2024) in Lebanon in one of the most intense barrages of airstrikes in nearly a year of fighting against ​the Hezbollah militant group​.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said 100 people were killed and more than 400 wounded in what would be the deadliest day in Lebanon since the conflict started in October.

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Israeli airstrikes kill 100 people, wound more than 400 across southern Lebanon

Lebanon hit by Israeli airstrikes, 100 dead, 400 wounded, as Israel targets Hezbollah, escalating conflict.

China is urging its citizens in Lebanon and Israel to evacuate or move to safe areas as the conflict between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah is escalating.

“Chinese citizens in Lebanon should take commercial flights to return to China or otherwise leave Lebanon as soon as possible for their own safety,” the Consular Department of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement posted on social media platform WeChat on Monday (September 23, 2024).

“Those who need to continue to stay in Lebanon should remain highly vigilant, effectively strengthen their security precautions and emergency preparedness, and avoid going to high-risk areas and sensitive areas in the south,” the statement read.

- AP