Israel-Lebanon latest: UK charters flight to get Brits out as Israel begins ground invasion against Hezbollah

Earlier we reported that the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency was investigating an alleged incident with a cargo vessel northwest of Yemen’s Houthi-controlled Hodeidah port.

They have since revealed that the vessel reportedly saw four splashes close by but that all crew were safe and it was proceeding to its next port of call.

The Israeli military has said that intense fighting with Hezbollah is taking place in southern Lebanon as he warned residents not to move vehicles in the region.

Spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote in Arabic on X, formerly Twitter: “Urgent warning to the residents of South Lebanon ...

“Heavy fighting is taking place in southern Lebanon, with Hezbollah elements using the civilian environment and the population as human shields to launch attacks.

“For your personal safety, we ask you not to move vehicles from the northern region to the southern region of the Litani River. This warning is in effect until further notice.”

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency says it has received a report of an incident 97 nautical miles northwest of Yemen’s Hodeidah, adding that the authorities are investigating.

Lebanon’s armed group Hezbollah said in a statement on Tuesday that it had targeted Israeli troops across the border in Metula with artillery fire but made no mention of Israel’s announcement that it had begun a ground incursion into Lebanon.

Israel announced overnight that it had begun “limited” raids in the border area of southern Lebanon.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Iranians on Monday that there was nowhere in the Middle East beyond Israel’s reach, three days after Israel’s military killed the leader of Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Mr Netanyahu, speaking in English in a three-minute-long video released by his office in which he said he was addressing the Iranian people, blamed the Iranian government for plunging the Middle East “deeper into war” at the cost of its own people.

“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,” Mr Netanyahu said.

He said the Iranian government was bringing Iranians “closer to the abyss”. Iran and Israel would be at peace when Iran is “finally free”, which he said would “come a lot sooner than people think”.

Referring to Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah, killed on Friday in Israeli airstrikes on Beirut, Mr Netanyahu said that “puppets” of the Iranian “regime” were eliminated every day.

Israel has ramped up attacks on militant targets in Lebanon against Hezbollah, the best armed of militant groups across the Middle East aligned with Iran.

A suspected attack Tuesday by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeted a ship in the Red Sea, likely marking their first assault on commercial shipping in weeks as the Israel-Hamas war threatens to become a regional conflict.

The attack comes as Israeli ground forces entered Lebanon after days of Israeli airstrikes that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and other top leaders and the earlier explosions of sabotaged electronic devices used by the Shiite militia.

The Houthis had threatened “escalating military operations” targeting Israel on Monday after they apparently shot down a US military drone flying over the country.

The attack Tuesday morning took place some 110km off the port city of Hodeida in the Red Sea, which has become a battlefield for shippers since the Houthis began their campaign targeting ships traveling through a waterway that once saw $1 trillion a year of cargo pass through it.

A captain on a ship saw four “splashes” near his vessel, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said in a warning.

That likely would have been missiles or drones launched at the vessel.“All crew are safe and the vessel is proceeding to (its) next port of call,” the UKMTO said.The Houthis did not immediately claim the attack.