Israel-Lebanon latest: Netanyahu warns attacks will continue as Israel unleashes fresh wave of strikes

Multiple interceptions of rockets fired from Lebanon were seen over Israel’s northern city of Haifa on Monday (23 September).

Hezbollah said it fired dozens of rockets toward Israel, including at military bases.

Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli strikes on Monday killed 492 people, including more than 58 women and 35 children.

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 2006.

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Israel’s military has claimed it struck dozens of Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon overnight, a day after it launched a wave of airstrikes against the Iran-backed group’s sites in Lebanon’s deadliest day in decades.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah said this morning it had attacked several Israeli military targets, including an explosives factory 37 miles into Israel, with the Fadi series of rockets.

It said it attacked the explosives factory around 4 a.m. (0100 GMT) and the Megiddo airfield three separate times overnight.

Turkey slammed Israel’s recent attacks on Lebanon as “efforts to drag the region into chaos” on Monday, calling for international measures against them and a halt to support for Israel.

In some of the heaviest cross-border fire exchange since its nearly year-long war against Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza began, Israel has started shifting its focus north to Iran-backed Hezbollah, which has been firing rockets into Israel in support of Hamas, also backed by Iran.

Lebanese authorities have said Israeli airstrikes against Hezbollah sites in the country had killed 492 people on Monday and sent tens of thousands fleeing for safety in the country’s deadliest day in decades.

In a statement late on Monday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said countries that “unconditionally support Israel” were helping Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “shed blood for his political interests”.

“It is imperative that all institutions responsible for maintaining international peace and security, especially the United Nations Security Council, as well as the international community, take the necessary measures without delay,” it said.

Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, that the Biden administration is concerned about what’s happening between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon but insisted that getting a cease-fire deal between Israel and Gaza is key to help ease tensions in the region.

Jean-Pierre said the latest conflict has “gone on for too long.”

“It’s in everyone’s interest to resolve it quickly and diplomatically. And that’s where we’ve been. That’s where we continue to say we need to see a diplomatic resolution,” Jean-Pierre told reporters travelling with President Joe Biden to New York, where Biden is set to deliver his final address as president to the UN General Assembly session on Tuesday.

Jean-Pierre said securing freedom for Israelis and Americans who continue to be held by Hamas, increasing humanitarian aid into Gaza and ending the war will help ease tensions.“That’s what we’re going to continue to work towards,” she said.

Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, accused Israel of provoking war in the Middle East during his first official visit to the US.

“We know more than anyone else that if a larger war were to erupt in the Middle East, it will not benefit anyone throughout the world. It is Israel that seeks to create this wider conflict,” he said.

He expressed frustration over Israel’s actions, especially the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

“There is no winner in warfare, everyone loses in war and conflict. We are only deluding ourselves if we think someone will be victorious in a regional war.”

He added: “Every day Israel is committing more atrocities and killing more and more people – old, young, men, women, children, hospitals, other facilities.”

Mr Pezeshkian also criticised the West for its double standards on human rights and reaffirmed Iran’s commitment to nuclear talks, denying any missile supplies to Russia during his presidency.

“We are prepared, and if the other parties are also prepared, we can have another beginning of the talks during this trip,” he said.

He also dismissed claims that Iran funds anti-Israel protests.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sent a video message to the people of Lebanon urging them to heed IDF warnings and evacuate their homes after airstrikes killed 274. He said: “I have a message for the people of Lebanon: Israel’s war is not with you. It’s with Hezbollah. For too long, Hezbollah has been using you as human shields.

“It placed rockets in your living rooms and missiles in your garage. Those rockets and missiles are aimed directly at our cities, directly at our citizens.

“To defend our people against Hezbollah strikes, we must take out those weapons.

“Starting this morning, the IDF has warned you to get out of harm’s way.

“I urge you – take this warning seriously. Don’t let Hezbollah endanger your lives and the lives of your loved ones. Don’t let Hezbollah endanger Lebanon.

“Please, get out of harm’s way now.

“Once our operation is finished, you can come back safely to your homes.”

Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon resulted in 492 deaths on Monday, including 90 women and children, in the deadliest attack since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.

Israel says its strikes are targeting Hezbollah, which has launched thousands of rockets into Israel.

Israel warned Lebanese civilians to evacuate, with prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu urging them to “get out of harm’s way”.

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

Israel’s military spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said the army will do “whatever is necessary” to push Hezbollah from Lebanon’s border with Israel.

Rear Admiral Hagari claimed Monday’s widespread airstrikes had inflicted heavy damage on Hezbollah.

But he would not give a timeline for the ongoing operation and said Israel was prepared to launch a ground invasion of Lebanon if needed.

“We are not looking for wars. We are looking to take down the threats,” he said. “We will do whatever is necessary to do to achieve this mission. We hope to do it as shortly as we can.”

Rear Admiral Hagari said Hezbollah has launched some 9,000 rockets and drones into Israel since last October, including 250 on Monday alone.

Hamas’ armed wing, al-Qassam Brigades, said that its field commander in southern Lebanon, Mahmoud al Nader, was killed in an Israeli strike on Lebanon on Monday.

Israel is bombing targets across many parts of Lebanon, striking senior militants in Beirut and apparently hiding bombs in pagers and walkie-talkies. Hezbollah is firing rockets and drones deep into northern Israel, setting buildings and cars alight.

But no one is calling it a war — not yet.

Israeli officials say they are not seeking war with Hezbollah and that it can be avoided if the militant group halts its attacks and backs away from the border. Hezbollah also says it doesn’t want a war but is prepared for one — and that it will keep up the strikes on Israel that it began in the wake of ally Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack until there is a cease-fire in Gaza.

Israel and Hezbollah have repeatedly traded fire since then — but the intensity rose to another level Monday, when Israeli airstrikes killed more than 350 people, according to Lebanese officials. That would make it the deadliest day in Lebanon since Israel and Hezbollah last went to war in 2006.

“If someone had told me or most analysts in summer 2023 that Hezbollah is striking Israeli bases in Israel, and Israel is striking southern Lebanon and parts of southern Beirut, I would have said, OK, that’s an all-out war,” said Andreas Krieg, a military analyst at King’s College London.

The term hasn’t yet been applied to the current conflict because “there haven’t been any boots on the ground,” but that might be “the wrong metric,” he added.