[🇱🇧] Lebanon - Israel Conflict -2024

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How Israeli strikes changed Lebanon's capital​

Nafiseh Kohnavard
Reporting from Beirut

The face of the Beirut has completely changed.

Streets are packed with cars, some parked in the middle of boulevards.

Hundreds fleeing Israeli operations in the south of the country have fled to the capital’s suburbs, sheltering in schools in “safer” neighbourhoods. Many have found themselves sleeping on the streets.

On the motorway towards the airport and the south, billboards show Hassan Nasrallah’s face. Both pro- and anti-Hezbollah people tell me these feel surreal.

In other areas, posters that previously read “Lebanon doesn’t want war” now say “Pray for Lebanon”.

The city’s iconic Martyrs’ Square - usually host to protests and huge Christmas celebrations - has turned into a tent city.

Makeshift homes stretch from the square all the way down to the sea.

Most of the families here are Syrian refugees, who’ve found themselves displaced again and barred from shelters which are limited to Lebanese nationals. Many Lebanese families have found themselves homeless too.

Just over a kilometre away, 26-year-old Nadine is trying to take her mind off everything for a few hours. She’s one of very few customers at Aaliya’s Books, a bookshop-bar in Beirut’s Gemmayze neighbourhood.

“I don’t feel safe any more,” she tells me. “We keep hearing explosions all night.

 

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Lebanon condemns call for removal of peacekeepers
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Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati has condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s call to remove UN peacekeepers from the border.

Netanyahu made the demands earlier on Sunday, adding that it should be done "immediately".

Mikati described the call as a “new chapter in the enemy’s approach of not complying with international norms”.

Clashes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces have intensified in recent days with a number of UN peacekeepers injured. Some 40 countries have strongly condemned the attacks on peacekeepers in Lebanon.

 

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Ex-Israeli spy chief says he expects Israel to strike Iran's nuclear sites​

A former Israeli military intelligence chief has told the BBC that he expects Israel to strike Iranian nuclear sites in one of its "rounds" of attacks against Iran.

"Not only do I expect that, but I expect the international community to support us," Yossi Kuperwasser tells the BBC.

"Look how dangerous Iran is without nuclear weapons," says Kuperwasser, a former director general of the Israel Ministry of Strategic Affairs and Israel Defense Forces intelligence head.

It comes as reports suggest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has assured US President Joe Biden that Israel will only target Iranian military infrastructure in response to the missile attacks earlier this month.

"I believe this is true," Kuperwasser tells the BBC, "because everybody has to understand this is not going to be a one-time attack by Israel."

Given Israel will be launching multiple rounds of attacks against Iran, "we have to make sure the Americans know we are attentive to their concerns about wide-scale regional war".

"The nuclear sites will have to be dealt with in the next round, if it's not going to be dealt with this round," Kuperwasser says.

 

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We will not be defeated, Hezbollah deputy chief says
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Image source,Reuters

People watch Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem delivering a televised address in Beirut
Back to Lebanon, Hezbollah's deputy secretary general Sheikh Naim Qassem warns Israelis that the only solution to the current war is a ceasefire.

He says that since Israel targeted Lebanon, Hezbollah "have the right from a defensive position to target any place".

He adds that Israelis in northern Israel will be under constant threat if Israel keeps attacking Lebanon and Gaza, and says "the solution is a ceasefire... the resistance [Hezbollah] will not be defeated because this is its land".

 

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Israel condemns 'terrorist incitement' after police officer killed in shooting
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We now have more on the police officer who was killed in a shooting in Israel earlier today.

The Israeli police say the officer was killed on Route 4, a main road in Israel, when the gunman, who they called a "terrorist", fired at a police car, then continued shooting at other passing cars, injuring four more people.

An Israeli government spokesperson says there have been "almost daily attacks" relating to "terror" in the recent weeks, adding: "We know that this terrorist incitement seeks to kill Israelis, within Israel - make no mistake. Our security forces are on extremely high alert."

Earlier this month, an Israeli policewoman was also killed in a shooting in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.

"This incessant incitement comes from Hamas and Iran," the spokesperson says, "they will not succeed.

 

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US anti-missile system operational in Israel in near future, Pentagon says
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Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Each Thaad system - like this one seen in an archive photo - costs about $1bn (£766m)
An advance team of US military personnel, along with Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) battery components, have arrived in Israel, the Pentagon says.

More US personnel are expected to arrive in the coming days to operate the system to protect Israel from missile attack.

US President Joe Biden has said it is meant "to defend Israel", which is still expected to retaliate against an Iranian strike involving more than 180 ballistic missiles fired at Israel on 1 October.

Pentagon press secretary Maj Gen Pat Ryder says the deployment of the Thaad battery to Israel "underscores the United States’ commitment to the defence of Israel and to defend Americans in Israel from any ballistic missile attacks by Iran".

Ryder adds the battery will be fully operational "in the near future".

 

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Here's the latest:

"Desperate situation" in Gaza: The UN has delivered food aid to northern Gaza for the first time in two weeks, calling the situation there "desperate". Fighting between Israel and Hamas continues in the area, and there have been many civilian casualties in recent days, according to the UN.

Cameron considered sanctions on Israeli ministers: Former Foreign Secretary David Cameron says he had been planning to sanction two Israeli ministers, describing them "extremist". He also urged the current Labour government to consider doing so. The UK Foreign Office declined to comment.

Peacekeepers to stay in Lebanon: The UN said its peacekeepers in southern Lebanon will hold their positions, despite repeated demands from Israel that they move.

Israel to continue striking Hezbollah: Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said late on Monday that Israel would continue strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon “without mercy”, including targeting Beirut.

Policeman killed in Israel shooting: A policeman has been killed and four people wounded in a shooting in Israel, Israeli police says. The identity or motive of the gunman is not yet clear.

 

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In pictures: Aftermath of strikes in southern Lebanon​

We're seeing images now of the aftermath of Israeli strikes on Qana, near Tyre in south Lebanon, as rescuers search the rubble.

Image source, EPA
Rescue operations are under way amid the damaged buildings

Image source, EPA
One person was killed and 30 others wounded in the town, the Lebanese health ministry says

Image source, EPA
The state run news agency earlier said the death toll could be as high as 10