Middle East crisis live: Region braces for further escalation after Iran missile attack; IDF launches strikes on Beirut | Iran

The IDF has issued a new warning, reporting heavy fighting taking place in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah.

For your personal safety, we ask you not to travel by vehicle from the area north of the Litani River to the south of it. The IDF will disrupt the movements of Hezbollah elements and prevent them from carrying out their attacks. This warning is in effect until further notice.

In the last hour, Hezbollah said it had confronted Israeli forces infiltrating the Lebanese town of Adaisseh early on Wednesday early, and forced them to retreat. Adaisseh sits on the Lebanese side of the border with Israel, just 200 metres from the Israeli town of Misgav Am, where air alert sirens were active in the last hour.

At least nine Palestinians were killed and 20 injured in an Israeli air strike on a school and institute housing displaced people in Gaza, according to a report from Palestinian news agency WFA.

In a statement earlier, the IDF said the Israeli air force launched strikes on Hamas targets who were “operating in a command and control complex established in the area that was previously used as the Brig High School in the center of the Gaza Strip”.

The IDF claimed that “steps were taken to reduce the chance of harming civilians”.

It is unclear whether the IDF statement refers to the same strike on Gaza that WFA reported as killing 9 people.

The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, has said he spoke with the Israeli minister of defence, Yoav Gallant, telling him that the attack from Iran was an “outrageous act of aggression”.

The Minister and I expressed mutual appreciation for the coordinated defense of Israel against nearly 200 ballistic missiles launched by Iran and committed to remain in close contact.

At least five Israeli strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs in the early hours of Wednesday, a Lebanese security source told the AFP news agency.

The Israeli military issued multiple evacuation orders for buildings in the city, saying it is targeting Hezbollah sites.

Reuters and AFP correspondents reported multiple explosions and smoke rising in at least one area while a fire appeared to burn.

Israel has repeatedly bombarded Beirut’s southern suburbs since last week.

Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.

Israel launched strikes across Beirut’s southern suburbs in the early hours of Wednesday, with the Israeli military issuing multiple evacuation orders for buildings in Beirut, saying it was targeting Hezbollah sites.

The strikes came hours after Iran launched a barrage of ballistic missiles at targets across Israel, in a dramatic intensification of a conflict that some fear could escalate into a regional war.

Meanwhile Benjamin Netanyahu told a meeting of his security cabinet that “Iran made a big mistake tonight – and it will pay for it.”

The regime in Iran does not understand our determination to defend ourselves and our determination to retaliate against our enemies.”

More on that in a moment, first here’s a summary of the day’s other main events.

• The Israeli military spokesperson, Daniel Hagari, spoke on television reacting to what the country called a “serious attack” on Israel by Iran today. Hagari, the spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), pledged that the attack “will have consequences”. He added that the country remained on high alert.

• There continues to be very little information about how much damage Iran’s missile attack on Israel caused. In its attack on Tuesday, Iran fired more than 180 ballistic missiles, Israel’s government said. No injuries were reported in Israel, but one man was killed in the occupied West Bank, authorities there said. Images show missiles fallen in Ramallah, in the West Bank.

• Late on Tuesday, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said Iran’s action was “concluded unless Israeli regime decides to invite further retaliation”. In a statement on X, he said: “Israel’s enablers now have a heightened responsibility to rein in the warmongers in Tel Aviv instead of getting involved in their folly.”

• Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, gave the order to launch the missiles at Israel, a senior Iranian official told Reuters, adding that Tehran “is fully ready for any retaliation”. Meanwhile, the Iranian mission to the United Nations has defended the country’s missile launches against Israel today, calling it a response to “terrorist acts” by Israel.

• US destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean Sea took down multiple missiles launched by Iran, US defence officials said. The UK defence secretary, John Healey, said that British forces “played their part in attempts to prevent further escalation in the Middle East”.

• Six people were killed and 10 wounded in a shooting and knife attack on the Israeli seaside city of Jaffa that occurred minutes before Iran launched its attack. Five of the wounded were described as being in a serious condition, including an IDF soldier. CCTV footage showed two men, reportedly armed with an assault rifle and a knife, dressed in black emerging from a train near the light-rail stop along Jerusalem Boulevard where they opened fire on passersby as well as on a second nearby street.

• Emmanuel Macron has condemned Iran’s attack on Israel and said France mobilised its “military resources in the Middle East to counter the Iranian threat.” France’s president also called on Israel to end its military operations in Lebanon “as soon as possible.”