Israeli military says it has struck more Hezbollah launchers in south LebanonIsrael’s military said it carried out further attacks against Hezbollah rocket launchers in southern Lebanon on Sunday, hours after it announced what it framed as a pre-emptive strike against the Lebanese group.
“In the last hour, the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) struck Hezbollah launchers in several areas in southern Lebanon to remove threats,” the military said.
Israel said earlier that it expected an “extensive” Hezbollah response and declared a 48-hour state of emergency, giving the military special powers.
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In a statement, the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon (Unscol) and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) described the developments on the Lebanese-Israeli border as ‘worrying” and called on all parties to refrain from further escalation.
The joint statement read:
In light of worrying developments across the Blue Line since the early morning, Unscol and Unifil call on all to cease fire and refrain from further escalatory action.
A return to the cessation of hostilities, followed by the implementation of UN security council resolution 1701, is the only sustainable way forward.
We will continue our contacts to strongly urge for de-escalation.
Most analysts agree that neither Israel nor Hezbollah want a full-scale war, which would risk involving both Iran and the US.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said 14,750 children Palestinian children between six months and five years of age have been diagnosed with acute malnutrition after being screened in the Gaza Strip.
The UN agency said:
Since mid-January, close to 240,000 children between six months and five years of age have been screened for malnutrition in Gaza.
Of all children screened, 14,750 were diagnosed with acute malnutrition, Of them 3,288 with diagnosed with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM).
Most children under five in Gaza are spending entire days without eating anything at all. A snapshot survey, looking at food access over three days in May, found that 85% spent at least one day without food, according to the WHO.
The agency said it is supporting the malnutrition treatment centre at Kamal Adwan, one of four such facilities still operational in Gaza after heavy Israeli bombardment.
UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in a Friday update that the amount of food aid entering Gaza in July was one of the lowest since October, when Israel imposed a full siege.
OCHA said that in July the number of children with acute malnutrition in northern Gaza was four times higher than in May, while in the more accessible south, where fighting is less severe, the number more than doubled.
The UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, has said Israeli restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza may amount to the war crime of deliberate starvation. Entry into Gaza is controlled by Israeli authorities, movements require military permission, roads are damaged by rubble, fuel is in short supply and power and communications networks barely function.
A major regional war in the Middle East is ‘a real danger’, UK cabinet minister saysA cabinet minister in the UK has said the government is “very concerned” after Israel carried out airstrikes in Lebanon and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Shia Muslim group, launched a drone and rocket salvo against northern Israel.
The chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, Pat McFadden, has called for restraint from both sides in order to avoid a “major regional war” in the Middle East.
Speaking to Sky News, he said:
Even as this unfolds, the UK government and the international community would urge all parties not to escalate further and to avoid a major regional war. That is the real danger facing the area.
We hope this doesn’t turn out to be that and we hope that afterwards we can de-escalate the situation.
The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, warned Iran’s president in a phone call this month not to attack Israel.
Israeli military says it has struck more Hezbollah launchers in south LebanonIsrael’s military said it carried out further attacks against Hezbollah rocket launchers in southern Lebanon on Sunday, hours after it announced what it framed as a pre-emptive strike against the Lebanese group.
“In the last hour, the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) struck Hezbollah launchers in several areas in southern Lebanon to remove threats,” the military said.
Israel said earlier that it expected an “extensive” Hezbollah response and declared a 48-hour state of emergency, giving the military special powers.
In the US, a spokesperson for the national security council, Sean Savett, said Joe Biden was closely monitoring the situation in Israel and Lebanon.
Savett said:
At his direction, senior US officials have been communicating continuously with their Israeli counterparts.
We will keep supporting Israel’s right to defend itself, and we will keep working for regional stability.
As we reported earlier (see post at 05.05), the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, spoke with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, about Israel’s defences against Hezbollah.
Austin “reaffirmed the United States’ ironclad commitment to Israel’s defense against any attacks by Iran and its regional partners and proxies,” a statement said.
In a post on X, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said Israel’s strikes in Lebanon this morning were a “necessary act of self-defence”.
“The actions of the Israeli air force this morning are a justified and necessary act of self-defense against a terrorist organization which planned to fire indiscriminately at Israeli civilians,” he wrote.
The actions of the Israeli Air Force this morning are a justified and necessary act of self-defense against a terrorist organization which planned to fire indiscriminately at Israeli civilians.
The world should offer its
unequivocal support for Israel’s right to defend itself.
— יאיר לפיד – Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) August 25, 2024 Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, and his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araqchi, discussed Israel war’s on Gaza and developments in the region in a call, a Turkish diplomatic source told Reuters on Sunday.
Fears have risen over the potential for a regional war in the Middle East after Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah and Hamas leaders towards the end of last month. Today’s airstrikes on Lebanon and Israel are a major escalation in tensions.
Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, said earlier that his government was not interested in an “all-out war”.
Lebanese prime minister calls emergency cabinet meeting over Israeli strikesWilliam Christou
Lebanese caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati called for an emergency cabinet meeting at 10:30 am (8:30 GMT) to discuss the series of Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon’s south early Sunday morning.
Israel launched over 40 airstrikes in southern Lebanon early Sunday morning in what it said was an attempt to head off a wide-ranging Hezbollah attack against it. Three people were killed in Lebanon as a result of the strikes, including a fighter in the Hezbollah-allied Amal political party. Four people were also lightly injured.
The series of Israeli strikes was one of the most intense since fighting began between Hezbollah and Israel in the wake of Hamas’s 7 October attack. Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that wildfires broke out as a result of the Israeli strikes.
Smoke billows from an area targeted by an Israeli airstrike on the southerm Lebanese village of Khiam on 25 August, 2024. Photograph: Rabih Daher/AFP/Getty ImagesHezbollah claimed that Israel’s pre-emptive strikes did not affect its attack, and that all of its drones were launched “as planned”.
The Lebanese group struck 11 military bases in north Israel and launched over 320 rockets before announcing the end of its military operation, which it said was in retaliation for Israel’s killing of its top military commander, Fouad Shukr, in Beirut a month prior.
Israeli officials said that its pre-emptive action prevented strikes from reaching central Israel. The secretary-general of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, announced he would make a speech at 6pm today.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) has given some details about the Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon this morning.
Israel reportedly targeted Chqif castle, the outskirts of the towns of Ain Qana, Sajd, Kfar Fila and Sarba, as well as Kfar Fila, Louaizeh, Bsalia, Kfar Melki and the Bir Kalb area.
SummaryHere’s an overview of the key developments in today’s Israel-Hezbollah hostilities.
The Israel Defense Forces said early on Sunday it had launched strikes inside Lebanon after assessing that the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement was preparing to fire rockets and missiles towards Israel. Air raid sirens were reported throughout northern Israel. Israeli military spokesperson Rear Adm Daniel Hagari said 100 warplanes struck more than 40 Hezbollah launch areas, eliminating thousands of rocket launcher barrels aimed for immediate fire towards Israel.
Hezbollah said it fired more than 320 rockets, hit 11 Israeli military sites and sent drones flying into northern Israel on Sunday in response to Israel’s killing of the group’s top commander in a strike in Beirut last month. Hezbollah had vowed a significant response to the killing of Fouad Shukur, raising fears of an escalation into all-out war.
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, declared a 48-hour state of emergency, giving the Israeli military powers to issue restrictions on civilian movement. The Israeli security cabinet was due to meet on Sunday morning. Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would take all measures necessary to defend itself and that “whoever harms us, we harm him”.
A person was killed in an Israeli drone strike on a car in the town of Khiam in south Lebanon, while at least four others were reported as injured in separate strikes, a medical source told the Guardian.
Israel sustained “very little damage” from Hezbollah’s rocket attacks, according to the military. “We’re still in a situation assessment of the aftermath of the attack,” Israeli military spokesperson Lieut-Col Nadav Shoshani said. “But I can tell you there was a little damage … very little damage.”
Gallant spoke to his US counterpart, Lloyd Austin, about the airstrikes on Lebanon, assuring the defence secretary they were defensive in nature. US National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said President Joe Biden was “closely monitoring events in Israel and Lebanon” and that at his direction “senior US officials have been communicating continuously with their Israeli counterparts”.
Hezbollah said it had targeted an identified “special military target” as well as Israel’s Iron Dome platforms and other sites. It later said Sunday’s military operation was “completed” for the day, while denying that Israel’s pre-emptive strikes affected its own operation.
Flights to and from Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv were suspended for about 90 minutes. The airports authority said normal operations were expected to resume by 7am.
The attacks came as Egypt hosts a new round of talks aimed at ending Israel’s war with Hamas, now in its 11th month.
Hezbollah strikes caused ‘little damage’, says IsraelIsrael sustained “very little damage” from Hezbollah’s rocket attacks on Sunday, according to the military.
“We’re still in a situation assessment of the aftermath of the attack … there is still some fire happening,” Israeli military spokesperson Lieut-Col Nadav Shoshani said.
“But I can tell you there was a little damage … very little damage.”
Agence France-Presse also reports that Shoshani said the fire from Hezbollah was “part of a larger attack that was planned and we were able to thwart a big part of it this morning”, while declining to specify what Hezbollah had targeted.
The Israeli military said its fighter jets attacked thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers in south Lebanon on Sunday morning that were aimed at northern and central Israel, and that Hezbollah in turn fired hundreds of rockets and drones towards northern Israel, most of them after Israel launched its attack.
Shoshani said Israel’s partners, including the US, did not take part in Sunday’s attack on Hezbollah.
“This morning was an Israeli operation,” he said.
Netanyahu: ‘Whoever harms us, we harm him’Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will take all measures necessary to defend itself and that it will harm “whoever harms us”.
Reuters quotes the Israeli prime minister as saying in a statement:
We are determined to do everything possible to defend our country, to return the residents of the north safely to their homes and to continue to uphold a simple rule: whoever harms us, we harm him.
Hezbollah announces end of its attackWilliam Christou reports:
Hezbollah said Sunday’s military operation was “completed” for the day, after carrying out a barrage of drone and rocket attacks against military targets in north Israel in the early morning.
The Lebanese group denied that Israel’s pre-emptive strikes, launched just before its own attack, affected its own operation.
“The enemy’s claims about the pre-emptive action it carried out, the targets it struck and its disruption of the resistance’s [Hezbollah] attack, are empty,” Hezbollah’s statement read. It added that all drones were launched as scheduled “towards the desired targets”.
Hezbollah said its attack was in retaliation for the killing of its top military commander, Fouad Shukur, by Israel a month earlier. It struck 11 military sites in north Israel with drones and more than 320 rockets. To counter the attacks, Israel carried out dozens of airstrikes across south Lebanon on Sunday morning, killing at least one and wounding four others.
The Lebanese group further announced that its secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah, would deliver a speech soon, without specifying the date.
A Hezbollah drone crossing from Lebanon is intercepted by an Israeli jet over an area near the Lebanon-Israel border on Sunday. Photograph: Atef Safadi/EPAWe’ve just launched a full report on today’s fighting between Israel and Hezbollah and the increasing risk of a regional war in the Middle East. Read it here: