William Christou is in Beirut for the Guardian, and has this latest report on the situation this morning:
Following Israel’s announcement that it was starting a “limited” incursion into south Lebanon, Israel’s military spokesperson Avichay Adraee issued a statement on Tuesday morning, telling Lebanese not to travel in vehicles from the north to the region south of the Litani river “for their personal safety”.
“Heavy fighting is taking place in southern Lebanon, with Hezbollah elements using the civilian environment and the population as human shields to launch attacks,” Adraee said in an announcement on X.
The Litani river, about 20 miles north of the Lebanon-Israel border, separates the border region from the rest of Lebanon. Israel has demanded that Hezbollah withdraw its fighters north of the Litani river since fighting began on 8 October. Hezbollah has refused to negotiate on its presence south of the Litani until a ceasefire in Gaza was achieved.
Israeli jets carried out strikes on over a dozen targets in south Lebanon overnight, while shelling targeted areas facing the closed military zone established by Israel on Monday night. Israel also struck what it said were “Hezbollah installations” in Dahieh, the southern suburbs of Beirut, in successive waves of airstrikes.
Hezbollah announced that it was targeting Israeli soldiers who were approaching the UN-drawn blue line that separates Israel and Lebanon with rockets and shelling. The group said that it had fired on Israeli troops in Metula, a town on the Israeli side of the line, on Monday morning.
Lebanese authorities had yet to report casualties for the overnight fighting, but a medical source in Marjayoun public hospital in south Lebanon said they received wounded overnight.
Residents of south Lebanon found themselves unable to flee during the intense bombing overnight, with at least two major roads reported impassable due to airstrikes.
Here are some of the latest pictures sent to us over the news wires from Lebanon.
Israel’s military spokesperson Daniel Hagari has issued a video message in English, in which he has claimed Israel is attacking villages inside Lebanon which Hezbollah has converted to military bases as part of a plan to launch an attack on Israel, and said his nation will “continue doing whatever necessary” to avoid a 7 October style attack happening again on “any one of our borders”.
In the statement, Hagari says:
The Israel Defense Forces is conducting limited and targeted raids along Israel’s northern border against the threat Hezbollah poses to civilians in northern Israel. These localized ground raids will target Hezbollah strongholds that threaten Israeli towns, kibbutzim and communities along our border.
Hezbollah turned Lebanese villages next to Israeli villages into military bases all ready for an attack on Israel. Hezbollah had prepared to use those villages as staging grounds for an 7 October style invasion into Israeli homes. Hezbollah planned to invade Israel, attack Israeli communities and massacre innocent men, women and children. They called this plan “Conquer the Galilee”.
For decades, UN security council resolutions have called on Lebanon to make sure that its territory is free of non-governmental armed groups. UN security council resolution 1701 from 2006, agreed upon by Israel and Lebanon, requires that there be no armed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the government of Lebanon and Unifil in southern Lebanon.
18 years after [resolution] 1701, Hezbollah is the world’s largest non-state army, and southern Lebanon is swarming with Hezbollah terrorists and weapons. If the state of Lebanon and the world can’t push Hezbollah away from our border, we have no choice but to do it ourselves.
I want to make it clear our war is with Hezbollah, not with the people of Lebanon. We do not want to harm Lebanese civilians, and we are taking measures to prevent that. We will not let [a] 7 October happen again on any one of our borders. We will continue doing whatever necessary so that Israeli families can return to their homes in safety and security.
The Lebanese government has said that since Israel stepped up its airstrikes on the country, about 1,000 people including women and children have been killed, about 6,000 injured, and an estimated one million people displaced from their homes.
About 60,000 people in northern Israel have been displaced from their homes by rocket fire from Hezbollah and other anti-Israeli forces operating inside Lebanon. Dozens were killed in Lebanon and thousands more wounded when pagers and walkie-talkies were detonated last month. Although it has not directly claimed responsibility, the attack is widely attributed to an Israeli operation targeting Hezbollah operatives.
One of the UN’s social media accounts this morning posted to remind members that article 2.4 of the UN Charter states that “All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.”
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, recently described a non-binding vote by the UN general assembly that Israel end its nearly six decades of occupying the Palestinian West Bank territory as “shameful.”
William Christou is in Beirut for the Guardian, and has this latest report on the situation this morning:
Following Israel’s announcement that it was starting a “limited” incursion into south Lebanon, Israel’s military spokesperson Avichay Adraee issued a statement on Tuesday morning, telling Lebanese not to travel in vehicles from the north to the region south of the Litani river “for their personal safety”.
“Heavy fighting is taking place in southern Lebanon, with Hezbollah elements using the civilian environment and the population as human shields to launch attacks,” Adraee said in an announcement on X.
The Litani river, about 20 miles north of the Lebanon-Israel border, separates the border region from the rest of Lebanon. Israel has demanded that Hezbollah withdraw its fighters north of the Litani river since fighting began on 8 October. Hezbollah has refused to negotiate on its presence south of the Litani until a ceasefire in Gaza was achieved.
Israeli jets carried out strikes on over a dozen targets in south Lebanon overnight, while shelling targeted areas facing the closed military zone established by Israel on Monday night. Israel also struck what it said were “Hezbollah installations” in Dahieh, the southern suburbs of Beirut, in successive waves of airstrikes.
Hezbollah announced that it was targeting Israeli soldiers who were approaching the UN-drawn blue line that separates Israel and Lebanon with rockets and shelling. The group said that it had fired on Israeli troops in Metula, a town on the Israeli side of the line, on Monday morning.
Lebanese authorities had yet to report casualties for the overnight fighting, but a medical source in Marjayoun public hospital in south Lebanon said they received wounded overnight.
Residents of south Lebanon found themselves unable to flee during the intense bombing overnight, with at least two major roads reported impassable due to airstrikes.
The Palestinian Wafa news agency has reported 19 civilians have been killed by Israeli airstrikes this morning, including on the Shuja’iyya school, which was housing displaced people near Gaza City. It claims that women and children were among the victims.
The IDF earlier issued a statement claiming it was targeting a Hamas command and control centre at the school, which has Israel has previously bombed.
The claims have not been independently verified. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Yemen’s Houthi movement targeted Israeli military posts in Tel Aviv and Eilat with drones on Tuesday, the group’s military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a televised speech, Reuters reports.
A couple of images have appeared on the news wires which show the Israeli military operation in which IDF troops have entered Lebanon.
Itamer Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right interior security minister, who has previously threatened to collapse Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government if it agreed a ceasefire with Hezbollah, has posted to social media saying he prays for the success of Israel’s ground invasion inside Lebanon. He said:
The decisions we made in the last few days are important, correct and necessary decisions. At the same time, this is the time not to stop, [but] to continue doing everything, with all our might, and crush the terrorist organisation Hezbollah, in order to return the residents of the north to their homes safely. I pray for the success of the IDF soldiers who are currently fighting in difficult conditions in southern Lebanon, the people of Israel stand behind them.
In the warning issued by Israel’s Arabic language military spokesperson, Lebanese residents have been cautioned against moving their vehicles while what Avichay Adraee described as “heavy fighting” was taking place.
It says:
Heavy fighting is taking place in southern Lebanon, with Hezbollah elements using the civilian environment and the population as human shields to launch attacks. For your personal safety, we ask you not to move vehicles from the northern region to the southern region of the Litani River. This warning is in effect until further notice.
Israel claims to be targeting Hezbollah inside Lebanon, where more than 1,000 people have been killed in the past two weeks, 6,000 wounded and, according to the Lebanese government, one million displaced. About 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from their homes in northern Israel by near constant rocket fire from Hezbollah from the direction of Lebanon into Israel since 8 October 2023.
Hebrew media outlet Ynet has published what it claims are recordings of the address to Israeli troops as they entered Lebanon. It quotes Brig Gen Guy Levy of the IDF 98th division telling service personnel:
You fight with courage, aggression, lethality and determination. At the beginning of the new year we are on the battlefield, the first to attack for a new reality for the residents of the north. Our mission is to attack the terrorist organisation Hezbollah, to destroy its infrastructure, weapons and terrorists, in order to remove the threat to the residents of the state of Israel and to create the conditions for the return of the residents of the north to their homes in safety.
There is some breaking news via Reuters that a vessel in the Red Sea has reported being struck by an “uncrewed surface vessel”.
More details soon …
As reported earlier, the UK Government has chartered a flight out of Lebanon for Britons wanting to leave the country.
David Lammy, the foreign secretary, described the situation in Lebanon as “volatile” and with the “potential to deteriorate quickly”.
British nationals and their spouses, partners and children under 18 are eligible for the flight, and those who are vulnerable will be prioritised. There are 5,000 British single and dual nationals in Lebanon, including members of their immediate families, and the government said it was working on “all contingency options”.
Nadeem Badshah and Helen Sullivan have more details here: UK charters flight from Lebanon as governments prepare evacuation plans
Israel’s military has published more detail of rocket fire aimed into Israeli territory, saying that in the last hour or so Metula has been targeted twice, and several projectiles were also fired at Avivim. Both Israeli communities are very close to the UN-drawn blue line that separates Israel and Lebanon.
The IDF, in its message on Telegram, said that “some of the projectiles were intercepted and fallen projectiles were identified” and that some fell into open areas. There were no immediate reports of any casualties.
In today’s First Edition newsletter, my colleague Nimo Omer spoke to the Guardian’s international security correspondent, Jason Burke, about the latest developments in the region:
More than 1,000 people in Lebanon have been killed in the past two weeks, 6,000 wounded and, according to the Lebanese government, one million displaced. Meanwhile in Gaza, the humanitarian situation has eroded further. With little to no infrastructure available to support the displaced population, disease is rampant and civilians are living in the most catastrophic conditions. There is little political incentive for Benjamin Netanyahu to let up, as the assassination of the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has given the embattled Israeli prime minister a political boost. Israel has shown no intention of relenting.
At this point, there is too much uncertainty to predict the long term impact of the assassination of Nasrallah on Hezbollah but in the short term “it’s a really devastating blow”, Jason says. “Not only have they lost a charismatic and popular leader – among his supporters at least – [but] Nasrallah was also competent and effective. You don’t get to stay at the top of a group like that for 32 years without being good at what you do.”
As expected, the Shia militia group has sworn to enact revenge attacks but, as of yet, it appears to have been unable to retaliate in any serious way. “Even though Israeli air defences are very effective, it’s been said for a long time that Hezbollah, which has massive stocks of rockets and missiles, would be able to overwhelm those defences and cause significant casualties and destruction in much of northern and central Israel but so far, they’ve not been able to do anything much,” Jason says.
This hesitation perhaps is borne of an awareness that Israel’s response to such an attack is likely to be equally if not more devastating. “Hezbollah is a state within a state and primarily acts in its own interests, or those of its sponsor, Iran. But whatever happens the consequences for Lebanon are going to be very tough indeed.
You can read more of Jason Burke’s analysis in the First Edition newsletter: Tuesday briefing – What we know so far about Israel’s overnight ‘ground operation’ in Lebanon
A suspected attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeted a ship in the Red Sea, likely marking their first assault on commercial shipping in weeks, the Associated Press reported.
The attack Tuesday morning took place off the port city of Hodeida in the Red Sea, which has become a battlefield for shippers since the Houthis began their campaign targeting ships travelling through the waterway.
A captain on a ship saw four “splashes” near his vessel, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said in a warning. That likely would have been missiles or drones launched at the vessel.
“All crew are safe and the vessel is proceeding to (its) next port of call,” the UKMTO said.
The Houthis did not immediately claim the attack. However, they sometimes take hours or days to acknowledge one of their assaults.
The Houthis had threatened “escalating military operations” targeting Israel on Monday.
Hezbollah has said it targeted Israeli troops in a town in the country’s north early on Tuesday.
According to a statement from the militant group published in some Arabic media, Hezbollah targeted “Israeli soldiers at the Metula site with artillery shells and achieved casualties.”
The Israeli military has made no comment on reported casualties, but said that after an air raid alert in Metula, five rocket launches were detected.
“Some of them were intercepted”, the IDF said, adding that crashes were detected in the area.
First details are now beginning to emerge over the scope of Israel’s ground incursion into southern Lebanon. So far the focus of the Israeli operation appears to a series of villages in the area of the border north of the Israeli border communities of Metula, Kfar Giladi and Misgav Am.
The border at this point, north of the town of Kiryat Shimona, pokes up into Lebanon like a finger, exposed on three sides and overlooked at points by high wooded ridges. Beyond is a small plain leading towards the town of Marjayoun (once the headquarters of the Israeli allied South Lebanon Army).
According to Lebanese correspondents in the area the villages on the northern side of the border were targeted heavily during the night by Israeli artillery fire and machine gun fire from the area of Metula.
More, albeit vague details, were provided by the Jerusalem Post which said that the IDF had “manoeuvreed into several villages in the eastern sector of Lebanon on Tuesday, where, according to intelligence, Hezbollah has terrorist infrastructure.
IDF artillery also fired at the area, aiming to destroy terrorist infrastructure, kill Hezbollah terrorists, and disrupt terrorist activity.”
The objectives of the “limited operation” as described by Israel remained largely unclear. In previous wars and operations – including Operation Litani in 1978, the Israeli invasion and occupation of Lebanon in the 1980s through to 2000, and the Second Lebanese war in 2006, Israel has struggled to secure any lasting gains from its military operations.
Airstrikes also continued over night in other parts of Lebanon, including heavy explosions that occurred in the south Beirut suburbs and a strike targeting the Ain el-Hilweh refugee camp in Sidon where at least six people were reported killed including three children in a strike on a member of the Palestinian Fatah movement.
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the conflict in the Middle East.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed in the early hours of Tuesday that it had launched what it called a “limited” ground operation in southern Lebanon targeting Hezbollah, while it continued to bombard the rest of the country and also reportedly carried out deadly strikes on Syria.
There were reports of casualties from an Israeli strike on the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near the Lebanese city of Sidon, while towns near the border with Israel, including Aita al-Shaab, Marjayoun, Wazzani and Khiam were shelled on Monday night. The IDF has not commented on the claims.
US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said he had spoken to his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant and that the pair had “agreed on the necessity of dismantling attack infrastructure along the border” with Lebanon.
He also said he had “made clear that the United States is well-postured to defend US personnel, partners, and allies in the face of threats from Iran and Iran-backed terrorist organizations”.
Israel carried out more airstrikes in Dahieh in Beirut’s southern suburbs. The neighbourhood is where Israel levelled several apartment blocks on Friday when it is believed to have used a so-called bunker buster bomb to kill Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Syrian state media reported that three civilians were killed in Israeli airstrikes, while state television reported that one of its anchors was killed; it was not clear if they were among the three civilians.
In other developments:
Heavy shelling into Lebanon was taking place along the border in the area north of Kiryat Shimona. The towns of Marjayoun, Wazzani and Khiam were being shelled on Monday night. There were also reports of a heavy presence of Israeli aircraft over southern Lebanon.
Israel launched a strike on a building in the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian camp near southern Lebanon’s city of Sidon, a Palestinian source told the Reuters news agency. Israeli media is reporting that Mounir Maqdah, who is reportedly a commander in the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and the purported target of the strike, was injured in the attack. Al Jazeera has reported multiple casualties in the strike. Ain al-Hilweh is Lebanon’s largest camp for Palestinian refugees. If confirmed it would be the first strike on the overcrowded camp since cross-border hostilities broke out nearly a year ago.
Syrian state media reported early on Tuesday that three civilians had been killed in Israeli strikes on the capital Damascus. State television had earlier said one of its presenters had been killed; it was not immediately clear whether they were among the three mentioned by state media. The reports could not be verified independently.
Israel carried out more airstrikes in Dahieh, the southern suburbs of Beirut, after the Israeli military issued new instructions ordering residents of three buildings in the neighbourhood to evacuate immediately. Huge explosions were heard in the Lebanese capital late on Monday night. Israel’s military spokesperson Avichay Adraee issued maps of three locations in Dahieh, instructing residents to evacuate more than 500 metres away, marking the second time Israel instructed residents of Dahieh to evacuate prior to strikes.
At least 95 people were killed in Israeli strikes across Lebanon on Monday, according to the country’s health ministry. An airstrike early on Monday hit an apartment building in central Beirut – the first to hit in the heart of the Lebanese capital since 2006.
The Lebanese army said it was “repositioning and regrouping forces” amid reports it had withdrawn three miles from the country’s southern border. The Lebanese army has evacuated observation posts at Lebanon’s southern border with Israel and moved to barracks in the border villages, according to reports.
UN peacekeepers in Lebanon can no longer patrol border areas in the south due to heavy artillery fire from Israeli forces and Hezbollah, a UN spokesperson said. The peacekeeping force of more than 10,000 personnel “remain in position” but cannot carry out road patrols due to “the intensity of the rockets going back and forth”, a spokesperson for the UN secretary general said on Monday.
A US state department spokesperson said Israel had informed the US that it was conducting “limited ground operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure near the border”. The US president, Joe Biden,said he was aware of Israel’s plans to launch an operation into Lebanon as he urged against such a move. “I’m more aware than you might know and I’m comfortable with them stopping,” he told reporters at the White House. “We should have a ceasefire now.”
The US is sending a “few thousand” troops to the Middle East to bolster security and to defend Israel if necessary,the Pentagon said on Monday. The increased presence will involve multiple fighter jet and attack aircraft squadrons, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters. The additional forces would raise the total number of troops in the region to as many as 43,000.
The UK government announced it has chartered a commercial flight out of Lebanon for Britons wanting to leave amid escalating violence. The flight is due to leave Beirut-Rafic Hariri international airport on Wednesday, the Foreign Office said, with priority given to vulnerable British nationals and their spouses, partners and children under 18.
Canada has announced it has reserved 800 seats on commercial flights to evacuate its citizens from Lebanon. “The security situation in Lebanon is becoming increasingly dangerous and volatile,” Canadian foreign affairs minister Melanie Joly wrote on X.