Huge clouds of smoke towered over Beirut this afternoon following reported airstrikes in the Lebanese capital. Residents said they heard multiple blasts, believed to be from Israeli 'shelling', according to journalist Mounir Rabih, on the ground.
LISTEN: Beirut has been left in ruins after Israel struck Hezbollah's headquarters in Lebanon's capital where a top leader was thought to be hiding.
However, another source said that Hezbollah's senior leadership was unreachable following Israel's strikes. 'As of this time, there is no change in the directives of the Home Front Command. We will update any changes immediately on the official platforms of the Home Front Command,' it said. In a televised address, Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Israel will not tolerate the civilian airport in Beirut being used for military purposes.
A funeral held for the civilians killed in the Israeli airstrike on the town of Jabil in Beirut, Lebanon on September 27 Lebanon's armed group Hezbollah said this evening that it had retaliated and fired a salvo of rockets on the city of Safed in Israel, its first announced attack since the strikes in Beirut hours earlier.
Nasrallah has rarely been seen in public since his movement fought a devastating 2006 war with Israel. Very few people are believed to know where he lives. Officials and journalists who met Nasrallah in recent years described tight security measures that prevented them from knowing where they were being taken.
It said the media office alone would publish in the group's name. Hezbollah has not otherwise made any statement about the Israeli strikes, which Israel's military said struck the group's central command. Thousands of people were reportedly massed in the area for the funeral of Hezbollah members killed in prior strikes.Ten teams from Lebanon's Red Cross were immediately dispatched to the scene.
In a message he addressed to 'the tyrants of Tehran', he said: 'If you strike us, we will strike you... There is no place in Iran where the long arm of Israel cannot reach. And that is true for the entire Middle East.' Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz previously rejected the push, vowing to keep fighting Hezbollah militants 'until victory'. Netanyahu's office said he had 'not even responded' to the proposal, and that he had ordered the military 'to continue the fighting with full force'.Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S.
The UK's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office told MailOnline: 'The safety of British nationals is our number one priority and the situation in Lebanon is deeply concerning. Our travel advice is to leave Lebanon and we are doing everything we can to work with commercial airlines to maximise capacity.
Read More Iranians burn and trample on Israeli and US flags while calling for the Jewish state's destruction The Iranian foreign ministry condemned the 'brutal terrorist air strike on several residential buildings in Beirut'. The United States had no advance warning of an Israeli strike in Beirut and US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart as it was ongoing, a Pentagon spokesperson said on Friday.
He met with Israel's strategic affairs minister in New York, telling him the ceasefire would 'allow civilians on both sides of the border to return to their homes'. Smoke billows over southern Lebanon following an Israeli strike, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Tyre, Lebanon September 27, 2024
Protesters gathered outside the UN condemning Netanyahu, who has vowed to continue with the battle against Hamas until 'total victory' is achieved. He denounced the UN, as he has repeatedly done in the past, labelling it as 'a house of darkness' and a 'swamp of antisemitic bile' and saying Israel should be treated as fairly as other nations.
'Mr Netanyahu, stop this war now,' Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob said as he closed his remarks, pounding the podium. Hezbollah began attacking Israel almost immediately after October 7, saying near-daily rocket fire into northern Israel over the past 11 months was to show its solidarity with Gaza.
IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari has said Israel intends to keep operations 'as short as possible' and insisted the military makes 'vast efforts not to hit civilians'.But fears mount that strikes could soon lead to a full ground invasion. He said the punishing airstrikes this week were designed to 'prepare the ground for your possible entry and to continue degrading Hezbollah.'
Lebanese people, fleeing southern Lebanon, walk with their belongings along the Damour highway towards Beirut amid a mass exodus of displaced people seeking shelter Military officials said Ibrahim Kobeisi, directing the group's missile and rocket unit, was killed during its bombardment of Beirut on Tuesday.
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