Israel-Lebanon latest: Netanyahu rejects ceasefire as Israeli strike ‘eliminates’ Hezbollah’s aerial commander

Tensions in the Middle East continue to escalate as Israel ramps up its assault on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

Beginning with a major bombardment on 23 September, Lebanon has now experienced its deadliest attack since the end of the 1975 - 1990 Civil War, with over 90,000 civilians displaced from their homes.

Israel has called the bombardment a “new phase” of its war on Gaza, striking more than 1,000 targets in Lebanon which it says were Hezbollah strongholds or military facilities in homes.

Since the 7 October Hamas attack where over 240 Israeli hostages were taken, Hezbollah has been striking Israel from Lebanon on the country’s northern border in support of Hamas. Israeli forces have continued to respond with strikes on the paramilitary group which regularly fired missiles and rockets to intercept military technology like drones or tanks.

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The Israel Defence Forces said that sirens were sounding across central Israel late on Thursday. In a post on X, the IDF attributed the alarms to “a missile launched from Yemen”.

“The missile launched from Yemen was successfully intercepted by an ‘Arrow’ interceptor,” they said in a post on X.

“The alarms and explosions that were heard are the result of the interception process and the interception fragments.”

Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas said the “entire world is responsible” for events in Gaza and the West Bank.

He opened his speech at the UN general assembly in New York by telling the members: “We will not leave. We will not leave. We will not leave.”

“Palestine is our homeland. It is the land of our fathers, our grandfathers. It will remain ours. And if anyone were to leave, it would be occupying usurpers.”

Abbas added, according to The Guardian: “Stop killing children and women. Stop the genocide. Stop sending weapons to Israel. This madness cannot continue.”

He also called out the US for their failure to vote for a ceasefire in the UN security council and their veto of full Palestinian membership in the UN.

“This is the United States, the very country that was the only member in the security council that voted against granting the state of Palestine for membership in the UN,” Abbas said.

“We don’t deserve membership in the eyes of America, so they use a veto against it.”

Norwegian police have issued an international search warrant for Rinson Jose, a 39-year-old Norwegian-Indian man, in connection with the sale of pagers to Hezbollah.

These pagers exploded recently, killing dozens of people in Lebanon. Jose, who founded the Bulgarian company Norta Global Ltd., allegedly part of the pager supply chain, went missing during a work trip to the US.

Oslo police said: “Yesterday, the Oslo police district received a missing person report in connection with the pager case. A missing persons case has been opened and we have sent out an international warrant for the person.”

Jose’s employer also reportedly lost contact with him after he left for a Boston conference on 17 September.

Scotland’s First Minister has said the situation in the Middle East is cause for the “deepest concern” as he called for a binding ceasefire in the region.

UK citizens are being urged to leave Lebanon after Israel launched an intense series of air strikes earlier this week.

The UK has joined the US, France and other allies in calling for an immediate temporary ceasefire in Lebanon, warning the escalating violence between Israel and Hezbollah is “intolerable”.

Writing on X, John Swinney said: “The worsening situation in the Middle East is a cause of the deepest concern.

“It is essential that there is a binding ceasefire now to end the suffering in Gaza and to act to avoid escalating conflict in Lebanon.”

Protesters in New York gathered ahead of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s UN General Assembly address, voicing opposition to the ongoing war in Gaza.

The protests were led by Jewish and Israeli groups calling for a ceasefire and a diplomatic solution, with participants criticising Netanyahu’s leadership and demanding the release of hostages taken by Hamas.

A New York-based rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum told The Guardian: “It’s outrageous that Netanyahu is here on this world stage. He has been an obstacle to ending this war, bringing the hostages home.”

“This isn’t a sports game,” Mr Kleinbaum added. “There isn’t a winner and a loser, and people who imagine there’s going to be one side wins if the other side loses … that’s not where I stand at all. I believe in a shared future, and I want to protest the dehumanisation of either side, and both peoples have terrible leaders.”

US secretary of state Antony Blinken warned Israel that further escalation of the conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon would make it harder for civilians on both sides of the border to return home.

“The Secretary discussed the importance of reaching an agreement on the 21-day ceasefire across the Israel-Lebanon border,” the state department said in a statement referring to talks between Blinken and Israeli minister for strategic affairs Ron Dermer.

“He underscored that further escalation of the conflict will only make that objective (of civilian return) more difficult.”

Despite global calls for a ceasefire, including from the US and France, Israel has continued its military strikes in Lebanon, heightening fears of a wider regional war.

The Independent’s Assisstant Editor Caroline Gammell witnessed the evacuations 18 years ago in Beirut, and says the government should take heed of a blueprint that worked:

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected international calls for a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, despite pressure from allies like the US and France.

“We are continuing to strike Hezbollah with full force, and we will not stop until we reach all our goals – chief among them the return of the residents of the north securely to their homes,” Mr Netanyahu said.

The prime minister’s office said that Mr Netanyahu had “directed the Israel Defense Forces to continue fighting with full force, according to the plan that was presented to him. The fighting in Gaza will also continue until all the objectives of the war have been achieved”.

Israel’s top general on Wednesday indicated that the country is preparing for a possible ground invasion of Lebanon, as airstrikes targeting Hezbollah continue into a fourth day.

Israel’s chief of staff, Maj Gen Herzi Halevi told Israeli troops during a visit to the country’s north: “We are preparing the process of a manoeuvre, which means your military boots, your manoeuvring boots, will enter enemy territory, enter villages that Hezbollah has prepared as large military outposts, with underground infrastructure, staging points and launchpads into our territory [from which to] carry out attacks on Israeli civilians.”

Mr Halevi’s remarks come as the US increased pressure for a pause in the fighting, with Joe Biden warning of the urgent need to prevent an “all-out war” in the region.

“An all-out war is possible,” the US president told ABC, adding that he believed an opportunity also existed “to have a settlement that can fundamentally change the whole region”.