Israel Lebanon live updates: Israeli strikes on Hezbollah kill 492 as civilians urged to evacuate

Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, accused Israel of provoking war in the Middle East during his first official visit to the US.

“We know more than anyone else that if a larger war were to erupt in the Middle East, it will not benefit anyone throughout the world. It is Israel that seeks to create this wider conflict,” he said.

He expressed frustration over Israel’s actions, especially the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

“There is no winner in warfare, everyone loses in war and conflict. We are only deluding ourselves if we think someone will be victorious in a regional war.”

He added: “Every day Israel is committing more atrocities and killing more and more people – old, young, men, women, children, hospitals, other facilities.”

Mr Pezeshkian also criticised the West for its double standards on human rights and reaffirmed Iran’s commitment to nuclear talks, denying any missile supplies to Russia during his presidency.

“We are prepared, and if the other parties are also prepared, we can have another beginning of the talks during this trip,” he said.

He also dismissed claims that Iran funds anti-Israel protests.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sent a video message to the people of Lebanon urging them to heed IDF warnings and evacuate their homes after airstrikes killed 274. He said: “I have a message for the people of Lebanon: Israel’s war is not with you. It’s with Hezbollah. For too long, Hezbollah has been using you as human shields.

“It placed rockets in your living rooms and missiles in your garage. Those rockets and missiles are aimed directly at our cities, directly at our citizens.

“To defend our people against Hezbollah strikes, we must take out those weapons.

“Starting this morning, the IDF has warned you to get out of harm’s way.

“I urge you – take this warning seriously. Don’t let Hezbollah endanger your lives and the lives of your loved ones. Don’t let Hezbollah endanger Lebanon.

“Please, get out of harm’s way now.

“Once our operation is finished, you can come back safely to your homes.”

Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon resulted in 492 deaths on Monday, including 90 women and children, in the deadliest attack since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.

Israel says its strikes are targeting Hezbollah, which has launched thousands of rockets into Israel.

Israel warned Lebanese civilians to evacuate, with prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu urging them to “get out of harm’s way”.

He asked residents to “take this warning seriously”.“Please get out of harm’s way now,” Mr Netanyahu said. “Once our operation is finished, you can come back safely to your homes.”

Israel’s military spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said the army will do “whatever is necessary” to push Hezbollah from Lebanon’s border with Israel.

Rear Admiral Hagari claimed Monday’s widespread airstrikes had inflicted heavy damage on Hezbollah.

But he would not give a timeline for the ongoing operation and said Israel was prepared to launch a ground invasion of Lebanon if needed.

“We are not looking for wars. We are looking to take down the threats,” he said. “We will do whatever is necessary to do to achieve this mission. We hope to do it as shortly as we can.”

Rear Admiral Hagari said Hezbollah has launched some 9,000 rockets and drones into Israel since last October, including 250 on Monday alone.

Hamas’ armed wing, al-Qassam Brigades, said that its field commander in southern Lebanon, Mahmoud al Nader, was killed in an Israeli strike on Lebanon on Monday.

Israel is bombing targets across many parts of Lebanon, striking senior militants in Beirut and apparently hiding bombs in pagers and walkie-talkies. Hezbollah is firing rockets and drones deep into northern Israel, setting buildings and cars alight.

But no one is calling it a war — not yet.

Israeli officials say they are not seeking war with Hezbollah and that it can be avoided if the militant group halts its attacks and backs away from the border. Hezbollah also says it doesn’t want a war but is prepared for one — and that it will keep up the strikes on Israel that it began in the wake of ally Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack until there is a cease-fire in Gaza.

Israel and Hezbollah have repeatedly traded fire since then — but the intensity rose to another level Monday, when Israeli airstrikes killed more than 350 people, according to Lebanese officials. That would make it the deadliest day in Lebanon since Israel and Hezbollah last went to war in 2006.

“If someone had told me or most analysts in summer 2023 that Hezbollah is striking Israeli bases in Israel, and Israel is striking southern Lebanon and parts of southern Beirut, I would have said, OK, that’s an all-out war,” said Andreas Krieg, a military analyst at King’s College London.

The term hasn’t yet been applied to the current conflict because “there haven’t been any boots on the ground,” but that might be “the wrong metric,” he added.

Israeli strikes on Lebanon have killed more than 490 people including more than 90 women and children, Lebanese authorities have said.

The Israeli military warned residents in southern and eastern Lebanon to evacuate ahead of its widening air campaign against Hezbollah.

Thousands of Lebanese fled the south, and the main highway out of the southern port city of Sidon was jammed with cars heading toward Beirut in the biggest exodus since 2006.

Lebanon’s health ministry said the strikes killed 492 people, including 35 children and 58 women, and wounded 1,645 people – a staggering one-day toll for a country still reeling from a deadly attack on communication devices last week.

Israel’s airstrikes on Lebanon which killed 492 came after a day after Hezbollah fired over 100 rockets into northern Israel, with some landing near the city of Haifa.

Hezbollah’s rockets were in response to an Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb on Friday that killed a top Hezbollah military commander and more than a dozen members, along with civilians including women and children.

Last week, thousands of communications devices, used mainly by Hezbollah members, exploded in different parts of Lebanon, killing 39 people and wounding nearly 3,000. Lebanon blamed the attacks on Israel, but Israel did not confirm or deny its responsibility.

This is the damaged vehicle and buildings seen in the southern suburb of Beirut after an Israeli military strike, in Beirut, Lebanon, 23 September 2024.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said they conducted a ‘targeted strike’ in Beirut on 23 September after the Israeli military announced that it launched ‘extensive’ airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

Lebanese residents of villages in the Beqaa Valley ‘who are inside or near houses where rockets and weapons are stored’ have been warned to ‘move away immediately! For your safety and protection’, the statement added.

ActionAid’s partner, The Lebanese Women Democratic Gathering (RDFL), which works in the Bekaa Valley, has had to suspend its activities due to the escalating violence.

RDFL runs two centres providing essential protection services for Palestinian and Syrian refugees, as well as host communities in Lebanon.

Malak, Safe Space Officer from The Lebanese Women Democratic Gathering (RDFL), ActionAid Partner in West Bekaa Valley said people in desperate need of assistance are too afraid to leave their homes amidst the ongoing conflict.

She said:   “A significant displacement is underway, with many families fleeing to Jeb Jennine, which is seen as safer than the surrounding villages.

“Schools are being converted into shelters for the displaced, and the air is filled with the constant sound of ambulances. There’s a growing concern that the situation may worsen in the coming hours.

“People are arriving with nothing after being forced to abandon their homes. Their immediate needs must be addressed urgently.”