Israel rejected global calls on Thursday for a ceasefire with Hezbollah, defying its biggest ally, the US, and pressing ahead with strikes that have killed hundreds in Lebanon and heightened fears of an all-out regional war.
The US, France and several allies called for an immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Israel-Lebanon border while also expressing support for a ceasefire in Gaza following intense discussions at the United Nations on Wednesday.
Western nations were weighing their options on Thursday on how to safely get nationals out of Lebanon if a full-scale war broke out, said diplomats, with Cyprus and possibly Turkey seen as offering sanctuary to tens of thousands of people.
Israel rejects Lebanon ceasefire plan, hits Beirut again
Israel rejected global calls on Thursday for a ceasefire with Hezbollah, defying its biggest ally the US and pressing ahead with strikes that have killed hundreds in Lebanon and heightened fears of an all-out regional war.
An Israeli warplane struck the edges of the capital, Beirut, killing two people and wounding 15, including a woman in critical condition, said Lebanon’s health ministry. That took deaths from strikes overnight and on Thursday to 28.
The strike killed the head of one of Hezbollah’s air force units, Mohammad Surur, said two security sources, the latest senior Hezbollah commander to be targeted in days of assassinations hitting the group’s top ranks.
Smoke was seen rising after the hit near an area where several Hezbollah facilities are located and many civilians also live and work. Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV broadcast images of a damaged upper floor of a building.
On the Israeli side of the border with Lebanon, the army staged an exercise simulating a ground invasion — a potential next stage after relentless airstrikes and explosions of communications devices.
Israel’s air force was planning to assist troops in the event of a ground operation and would stop any arms transfers from Iran, Air Force Commander Major General Tomer Bar said late on Thursday.
“We are preparing shoulder to shoulder with Northern Command for a ground manoeuvre. Prepared, if activated. This is a decision to be made above us,” he told soldiers, in a video distributed by the Israeli military.
Israel has vowed to secure its north and return thousands of citizens to communities there who have evacuated since Hezbollah launched a campaign of cross-border strikes last year in solidarity with Palestinians fighting in Gaza.
Landing in the US to address the UN General Assembly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters the military would keep hitting Hezbollah with “full force and we will not stop until we achieve all our goals, first and foremost returning the residents of the north safely to their homes”.
Israel’s stance has dashed hopes for a swift settlement after Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, whose government includes Hezbollah elements, had expressed hope for a ceasefire.
Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes during the heaviest Israeli bombardment of Lebanon since a major war in 2006.
Hezbollah has faced off against the Israeli military since the Shi’ite Muslim movement was created by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in 1982 to counter an Israeli invasion of Lebanon. It has since evolved into Tehran’s most powerful Middle East proxy.
More than 600 people have been killed since Monday in Israel’s strikes on Lebanon. Hezbollah has fired hundreds of missiles at targets in Israel including its commercial hub, Tel Aviv, although Israel’s aerial defence system has ensured that the damage has been limited.
Israeli fighter jets on Thursday also hit infrastructure on the Lebanese-Syrian border to stop the transfer of weapons from Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon, said Israel’s military.
The Lebanese health ministry said most victims on Thursday were Syrians killed in the town of Younine in the Bekaa Valley. Lebanon is home to around 1.5 million Syrians who fled the civil war there.
Hezbollah said in a statement it had struck the town of Kiryat Shmona in north Israel and an Israeli military northern command base, as well as using air defence weapons to force two Israeli warplanes back.
In Beirut, thousands of Lebanese have sought shelter in schools.
Aid organisations were distributing clothes and food, and checking on medications needed by elderly people who had fled too quickly to bring prescriptions with them.
US, allies call for 21-day ceasefire along Israel-Lebanon border
The US, France and several allies called for an immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Israel-Lebanon border while also expressing support for a ceasefire in Gaza following intense discussions at the United Nations on Wednesday.
The ceasefire would apply to the Israel-Lebanon “Blue Line”, the demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel, and would allow the parties to negotiate towards a potential diplomatic resolution of the conflict, said a senior Biden administration official.
“We call on all parties, including the governments of Israel and Lebanon, to endorse the temporary ceasefire immediately,” according to a joint statement of the countries released by the White House.
The allies that signed the joint statement included Australia, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the European Union.
Over the last several months, Washington had been engaging with officials in Israel and Lebanon to reduce hostilities, said the senior White House official.
The official said Biden had been focused on the possibility of a ceasefire “in almost every conversation he had with world leaders” at the United Nations General Assembly this week.
Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, told reporters before a UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday that Israel would welcome a ceasefire and preferred a diplomatic solution. He then told the Security Council that Iran was the nexus of violence in the region and that peace required dismantling the threat.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told reporters before the council meeting that his country supported Hezbollah and would not remain indifferent if the conflict in Lebanon spiralled.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati welcomed the call for a ceasefire, saying the key to its implementation was whether Israel was committed to enforcing international resolutions.
Western states weigh up Lebanon evacuation options
Western nations were weighing their options on Thursday on how to safely get nationals out of Lebanon if a full-scale war broke out, said diplomats, with Cyprus and possibly Turkey seen as offering sanctuary to tens of thousands of people.
Cyprus is the closest European Union member state, some 264km from Lebanon. It has been at the forefront of maritime aid efforts for Gaza and in the past was used to coordinate evacuations from Lebanon.
Cyprus processed around 60,000 people fleeing the Hezbollah-Israel war in 2006, and a potential Israel ground invasion into southern Lebanon with a response from Iran-backed Hezbollah of ballistic missiles and drones could mean mass evacuations from both Lebanon and Israel.
“We have requests from a number of countries, not only from the European Union but also from other third countries. We are ready to play this role in case of a need,” said Cyprus’s President Nikos Christodoulides on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
“We did it back in 2006 and we are ready to do it again,” said Christodoulides. “It is difficult but also it is our moral responsibility.”
Several countries, including the US, France, Britain and Germany, have thousands of nationals living or travelling through Lebanon. All have worked in recent months to prepare plans with Cyprus in case of a full-scale war.
Diplomats said other nations without the needed military infrastructure in the region would also need help evacuating their citizens.
It takes about 10 hours from Beirut to Cyprus by sea and 40 minutes by plane. Until now, commercial airlines have been flying from Beirut, although some airlines like Air France have suspended operations, reducing options for people to leave.
Key to evacuations will be the use of Britain’s two military bases on the island. Britain, which has about 10,000 citizens in Lebanon, said this week it was moving troops to Cyprus and had naval ships in place to help with evacuations.
Western states were also working with Turkey to make preparations for the possible evacuation, most likely by sea from the port of Tripoli in northern Lebanon to Mersin in southern Turkey, if Lebanon’s airports cannot be used, said Turkish and European sources.
France has about 20,000 citizens in Lebanon and 1,000 troops as part of a UN peacekeeping mission. France’s defence ministry declined to comment on specific planning, but said it had robust plans put in place since October 2023.
European diplomats said France has been liaising with the US, which has about 50,000 citizens in Lebanon, and with Britain and Germany, to coordinate with Cyprus.
Palestinian President Abbas urges UN to stop the war in Gaza
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged the UN General Assembly on Thursday to stop the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Palestinian Hamas forces, saying Israel had almost entirely destroyed Gaza and it was no longer fit for life.
“This madness cannot continue. The entire world is responsible for what is happening to our people,” he told the 193-member General Assembly.
The war began on 7 October, when Hamas gunmen stormed Israeli communities, killing around 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s military has since levelled swathes of the besieged Palestinian enclave, driving nearly all of its 2.3 million people from their homes, giving rise to deadly hunger and disease and killing more than 41,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities.
Abbas called for a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, an end to attacks by Israeli settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the delivery of humanitarian aid throughout Gaza and a full withdrawal of the Israeli military from the enclave.
“We refuse the establishment of buffer zones or taking any part from Gaza,” he said. “We will not allow a single centimetre of Gaza to be taken.”
“The State of Palestine must shoulder its responsibilities in the Gaza Strip and impose its full mandate on it and jurisdiction on it, including the border checkpoints, especially the Rafah international border,” said Abbas.
He said that the Palestinian Authority, which he leads, should have control over all Palestinian territories and that it would hold elections once the war was over.
Israel says it has secured $8.7bn US aid package
Israel said on Thursday it had secured an $8.7-billion aid package from the US to support its ongoing military efforts and to maintain a qualitative military edge in the region.
The package includes $3.5-billion for essential wartime procurement, which has already been received and earmarked for critical military purchases, and $5.2-billion designated for air defence systems including the Iron Dome anti-missile system, David’s Sling and an advanced laser system.
The aid announcement came after negotiations at the Pentagon between Eyal Zamir, the director general of Israel’s defence ministry, and US defence officials, said Israel’s defence ministry.
Iran, Hezbollah enabled Houthis’ rise, says UN report
Yemen’s Houthi rebels have grown “from a localised armed group with limited capabilities to a powerful military organisation” with the help of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iraqi specialists, according to a confidential report by UN sanctions monitors.
The independent panel of experts, who report annually to the UN Security Council, said Houthi fighters had been receiving tactical and technical training outside Yemen, travelling on fake passports to Iran, Lebanon and Iraq.
Over the past year, the Houthis have launched repeated drone and missile strikes on ships in the crucial Red Sea shipping channels to show support for Palestinians in the Gaza war with Israel, disrupting global maritime trade by forcing shipping firms to divert cargoes.
“The multiple testimonies gathered by the panel from military experts, Yemeni officials and even individuals close to the Houthis, indicate that they do not have the capacity to develop and produce, without foreign support, complex weapon systems,” the UN experts wrote in their latest report.
“The scale, nature and the extent of transfers of diverse military materiel and technology provided to the Houthis from external sources, including financial support and training of its combatants, is unprecedented,” they said.
“This transformation has been possible due to the transfer of materiel and the assistance and training provided by IRGC-QF, Hezbollah and Iraqi specialists and technicians to the Houthis," the UN experts reported to the 15-member Security Council Yemen sanctions committee. “IRGC-QF” refers to the Quds Force, the overseas branch of the Revolutionary Guards.
Norway issues international warrant for man linked to exploding pagers
Norwegian police have issued an international search request for Rinson Jose, a Norwegian-Indian man linked to the sale of pagers to Hezbollah that exploded last week, they said on Thursday.
Jose (39) disappeared while on a work trip to the US last week. He is a founder of a Bulgarian company that was reportedly part of the pager supply chain.
Asked what they were doing to find Jose, police said in an email to Reuters: “Yesterday, Sept. 25, the Oslo police district received a missing person report in connection with the pager case.
“A missing persons case has been opened, and we have sent out an international warrant for the person.”
Jose declined to comment on the pagers when reached by phone last Wednesday and hung up when asked about the Bulgarian business. He did not return repeated calls and text messages.
Jose’s Norwegian employer, DN Media Group, said he left for a conference in Boston on 17 September and the company has not been able to reach him since 18 September. He works in the group’s sales department.
In 2022, Jose founded Sofia-based company Norta Global Ltd, Bulgaria’s corporate registry shows.
Bulgaria has investigated the company’s role in the supply of booby-trapped pagers, but has found no evidence that they were made or exported from the country.
Norway’s security police also launched a preliminary investigation earlier this week into reports that a Norwegian-owned company was linked to the sale of the pagers.
Over two days last week, thousands of pagers, as well as walkie-talkies, used by Hezbollah operatives, blew up in Lebanon, killing at least 39 people and wounding thousands.
The attacks were widely believed to have been carried out by Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.
US defence chief plays down any red lines on aid to Israel
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Thursday that the US would continue to provide military aid to Israel, playing down the idea of “red lines”, even as he warned that an all-out conflict between Israel and Hezbollah would be devastating.
Asked about “red lines” for US support to Israel, Austin told reporters that the US would not change its commitment to help Israel protect itself. He echoed US calls for a ceasefire and a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
“We’ve been committed from the very beginning to help Israel, provide the things that are necessary for them to be able to protect their sovereign territory and that hasn’t changed and won’t change in the future,” Austin said after a meeting in London with his British and Australian counterparts. DM
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