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

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Israel launches at least five strikes on Beirut overnight

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.

Smoke rises over Beirut’s southern suburbs after a strike. Photograph: Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters

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.

Key events

Israel will launch a “significant retaliation” to Iran’s missile attack within days, according to Axios reporter Barak Ravid, who was quoting security officials.

According to Ravid’s report, Israel could target oil production facilities inside Iran and other strategic sites. He quotes security officials as saying the response will be much more significant than the limited strike against Iran that followed the Iranian missile attack on Israel in April.

💥🇮🇱🇮🇷Israeli officials say Israel will launch a “significant retaliation” to Tuesday’s massive missile attack within days that could target oil production facilities inside Iran and other strategic sites. My story on @axios https://t.co/lPDFNPenfm

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) October 2, 2024

IDF issues new warning to residents of southern Lebanon

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.

#عاجل ‼️ تحذير عاجل لسكان جنوب لبنان
⭕️يدور قتال عنيف في جنوب لبنان حيث يستغل عناصر حزب الله البيئة المدنية والمدنيين دروعًا بشرية لشن هجوماته .
⭕️من أجل سلامتكم الشخصية نطلب منكم عدم الانتقال بالمركبات من منطقة شمال نهر الليطاني إلى جنوبها.
⭕️سيعمل جيش الدفاع على تعطيل تحركات… pic.twitter.com/THLai2e1yX

— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) October 2, 2024

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.

Many airlines have suspended flights to the region or are avoiding use of affected air space. Lebanon’s airspace will be closed to air traffic for a two-hour period on Tuesday, transport minister Ali Hamie said on X.

Israel’s neighbours closed their airspace and airline crews sought diversions after Iran fired a salvo of ballistic missiles on Tuesday.

A spokesperson for tracking service FlightRadar24 said flights diverted “anywhere they could”, and a snapshot of regional traffic showed flights spreading in wide arcs to the north and south, with many converging on Cairo and Istanbul.

FlightRadar24 data showed about 80 flights – operated by the likes of Emirates, British Airways, Lufthansa and Qatar Airways – bound for major Middle East hubs such as Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi, were diverted to places such as Cairo and European cities.

Iran’s chief of staff has vowed to hit infrastructure across Israel if its territory is attacked, after Tehran fired almost 200 missiles on Tuesday.

The barrage “will be repeated with bigger intensity and all infrastructure of the regime will be targeted”, Maj Gen Mohammad Bagheri said on state TV.

Elsewhere a report on Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said Iran told the United States not to get involved following its missile attack on Israel, the country’s foreign minister reportedly said.

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Hezbollah has said it confronted Israeli forces infiltrating the Lebanese town of Adaisseh early on Wednesday early, and forced them to retreat. The Guardian was unable to immediately verify these claims.

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.

Palestinian media report 9 killed in Israeli strike on Gaza school

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.

US defence secretary tells Israeli counterpart Iran attack an ‘outrageous act of aggression’

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.

I spoke with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant today following today’s outrageous act of aggression by Iran against Israel.  The Minister and I expressed mutual appreciation for the coordinated defense of Israel against nearly 200 ballistic missiles launched by Iran and…

— Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) October 2, 2024

Israel launches at least five strikes on Beirut overnight

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.

Smoke rises over Beirut’s southern suburbs after a strike. Photograph: Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters

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.

Welcome and summary

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.”





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