Israel-Lebanon live: Biden orders Pentagon to ‘adjust’ military in region as Israel launches Beirut airstrikes

Lebanese news channel Al-Mayadeen is reporting that the Israeli raids targeted residential neighbuorhoods in Haret Hreik, where six buildings including a residential block were “levelled to the ground”.

The Lebanese Civil Defense confirmed that its teams are working to extinguish the fire that broke out in the scene of destruction and are working to evacuate the injured and retrieve bodies.

Lebanon‘s Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was the target of the latest Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs, multiple news websites are reporting.

AFP and Iranian state news are both reporting that he is safe and survived the assassination attempt, but still no official word from the group.

Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Israel's attacks on Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday show it "does not care" about efforts to bring about a ceasefire.

Mikati's press office sent a statement while he was in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, where the U.S. and other countries had made a call for a 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

The huge strike in Beirut took place only about 700 to 800m from a school where displaced people from the south of Lebanon have taken refuge, the BBC reports.

Nafiseh Kohnavard was reporting from the school, where more than 1000 displaced people are staying, when she suddenly heard huge booms.

She said women and children were screaming and crying and she saw some people faint, falling on the ground.

Israel’s military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a video statement that the Hezbollah HQ was “intentionally built under residential buildings” in the city’s southern Dahieh area “as part of Hezbollah’s strategy of using Lebanese people as human shields”.

He said: “Israel is doing what every sovereign state in the world would do if they had a terror organisation that seeks their destruction on their border, taking the necessary action to protect our people so that Israeli families can live in their homes, safely and securely.”

Israeli military says it carried out a “precise strike” on the central headquarters of Hezbollah in Beirut.

An airstrikes hit one of Beirut’s heavily-populated southern suburbs on Friday as blasts were heard throughout the Lebanese capital sending thick black smoke billowing across the sky.

The strike came an hour after thousands of people attended the funeral of a top Hezbollah commander who was killed the day before.

Israeli Prime Minister has today told the UN that Israel “yearns for peace” and “will make peace again” but added that it must defend itself against “savage” enemies.

Israel will press on with discussions on ceasefire proposals for Lebanon in the days ahead, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday, but after an intense week of fighting the two sides kept up cross-border fire, killing at least 25 in Lebanon.

Israel’s foreign minister on Thursday rejected global calls for a ceasefire with the Iran-backed Hezbollah group and continued airstrikes that have killed hundreds of people in Lebanon and heightened fears of a regional war.

Lebanon’s health minister, Firass Abiad, said the death toll in Israeli strikes on Lebanon since the early hours of Friday was 25. One attack killed nine members of a family, including four children, in the border town of Shebaa, mayor Mohammad Saab told Reuters.

More than 700 people in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli attacks since Monday, according to a tally of official tolls.

Cheers were heard through the duration of Netanyahu’s speech but cameras may not have shown the flurry of diplomats leaving the hall in protest, Sky News has said.

International affairs editor Dominic Waghorn witnessed “lots of diplomats” head for the exit during the Israeli prime minister’s speech and videos on X show similar scenes too.