Live: Israel ramps up strikes on Gaza after Iran attack
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The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, has denied reports it asked the Lebanese army to leave border posts ahead of an expected Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
Unifil spokesperson Andrea Tenenti denied the report in a statement shared with MEE.
The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon has asked the Lebanese Armed Forces to evacuate some border posts in southern Lebanon, according to Arabic media reports.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, asked the LAF to leave ahead of an expected Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
The evacuation has been underway since the early evening hours.
The Israeli military has declared the areas around Metula, Misgav Am, and Kfar Giladi in northern Israel a “closed military zone” as it girds for what US officials say is a imminent invasion of Lebanon.
Israel and said entry to the areas was prohibited.
The Houthis have said they will escalate their military campaign in response to deadly Israeli attacks, a day after Israeli fighter jets bombed Hodeidah.
The military operations will commence “in the coming period”, Yahya Saree, the group’s spokesman said, in a video statement posted on X.
He added that the Houthis have downed another MQ-9 Reaper drone.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on the UN to recommend the use of force to stop Israeli strikes on Lebanon and Gaza.
Erdogan invoked a six-decade-old Security Council resolution.
“The UN General Assembly should rapidly implement the authority to recommend the use of force, as it did with the 1950 Uniting for Peace resolution, if the Security Council can’t show the necessary will,” Erdogan says after a cabinet meeting in Ankara.
Air France has suspended flights to Beirut and Tel Aviv, joining other airlines avoiding the region amid rising tensions.
The announcement leaves just a few, mainly regional airlines still making the journey.
Air France's suspensions will be through 8 October.
An Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon appears imminent based on Israeli troops' positions, a US official told Reuters.
The US official said it has observed the positioning of Israeli troops that suggests a ground incursion is on the horizon.
The US is sending “a few thousand” more troops to the Middle East amid a looming Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
The Pentagon said the troops will bolster security and potentially be used to defend Israel.
Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said the US forces would come from multiple fighter jet squadrons.
The United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees confirmed that Hamas’s assassinated leader in Lebanon, Fateh al Sharif was an employee of the agency.
Unrwa said on Monday that Sharif was employee, but was put on administrative leave without pay in March. The organisation said it was investigating him following accusations “about his political activities”.
Sharif was killed along with his wife, son, and daughter, in an Israeli airstrike against on their home in the al-Buss refugee camp in South Lebanon near Tyre.
Hamas acknowledged Sharif was its leader. In a statement, Israel’s military said he oversaw political and military Hamas activities in Lebanon.
Hezbollah said it targeted a coastal town in Israel’s north on Monday.
The group said it fired a “salvo of rockets” at Gesher Haziv in northern Israel.
The attack came after Hezbollah said it had also fired rockets at the northern Israeli town of Safed.
A US diplomat in the region briefed by Israeli officials told Middle East Eye that Israel was "on the verge of launching a ground invasion of Lebanon".
"They are saying that a ground invasion is necessary not just to return Israelis to the north, but to stop Tel Aviv from being struck," the diplomat said.
The Washington Post on Monday confirmed MEE's report. The Washington Post added that Israeli officials are telling their US counterparts that the invasion will be smaller than the one during the 2006 Lebanon war.
Israeli forces have carried out cross-border raids in Lebanon ahead of a possible ground invasion that could come as soon as this week, several US newspapers have reported.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that Israeli forces were focused on gathering intelligence and had entered tunnels operated by Hezbollah along the border between Israel and Lebanon.
The Journal reported that the raids had taken place “recently, as well as over the past months”, and could serve as a precursor to a full-fledged ground invasion.
Citing six unnamed Israeli officials, the New York Times also reported the raids, saying were focused on identifying the locations of Hezbollah’s tunnels and military infrastructure to help prepare either for a ground or aerial attack.
An Israeli air strike killed a Palestinian journalist and her family in a direct attack on her home in the central Gaza Strip, local authorities said on Monday.
Wafa Aludaini, a prominent English-speaking reporter who worked with international news outlets, died alongside her husband, Mueir Aludaini, and their two children in the overnight attack.
She was mourned by many fellow journalists who praised her dedication to bringing the stories of Palestinians to the world.
“Aludaini was well-known among European media outlets and conveyed the suffering of our people in English, which she was a master of,” Ahmed Abu Artema, a Palestinian journalist and friend of Aludaini, told Middle East Eye.
“The justification for her targeting are her words and work as a journalist,” he added.
Read more: Israel kills journalist and her family in strike on their home
Thirty-two years ago, an Israeli raid killed Abbas al-Musawi, then-secretary general of Hezbollah.
At the time, Israeli newspaper front pages celebrated the event as the ultimate defeat of the Lebanese movement. The last three decades have shown that such optimism was plain wrong. Hezbollah reacted bloodily elsewhere and, in due course, it has become far stronger than it was in the early 1990s.
So far, there is no indication that Hassan Nasrallah’s killing in Beirut on 27 September might precipitate, once again, the demise of Hezbollah.
What Israel and, more generally, western democracies miss in their analysis is that their general concepts of victory or defeat cannot be easily applied to an organisation devoted to martyrdom, as Hezbollah is.
In other words, if Hezbollah wins, this event is celebrated. If it loses, it is celebrated as a martyrdom in a larger conflict against oppression (Israeli occupation of Arab lands) and injustice (western hegemony and double standards in international relations). In one word, this is called resistance.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said in a video address to Iranians that the "vast majority of Iranians know their regime doesn't care a whit about them."
In a video posted on X, he pledged that when Iran is "finally free," Israel and Iran will be at "peace".
“With every passing moment, the regime is bringing you – the noble Persian people – closer to the abyss," he said in a video posted on X.
"There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach. There is nowhere we will not go to protect our people and protect our country."
The people of Iran should know - Israel stands with you pic.twitter.com/MfwfNqnTgE
— Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) September 30, 2024
