Middle East updates: Here’s what happened on Oct. 2

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7:51 p.m. ET

Israel strikes heart of Beirut, killing six

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Israel bombed central Beirut in the early hours of Thursday, killing at least six people, after its forces suffered their deadliest day on the Lebanese front in a year of clashes against Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah.

Israel said it conducted a precise air strike on Beirut. Reuters witnesses reported hearing a massive blast, and a security source said it targeted a building in central Beirut’s Bachoura neighbourhood close to parliament, the nearest Israeli strikes have come to Lebanon’s seat of government.

At least six people were killed and seven wounded, Lebanese health officials said. A photo being circulated on Lebanese WhatsApp groups, which Reuters could not immediately verify, showed a heavily damaged building with its first floor on fire.

Three missiles also hit the southern suburb of Dahiyeh, where Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed last week, and loud explosions were heard, Lebanese security officials said. The southern suburbs came under more than a dozen Israeli strikes on Wednesday. Read more.

- Reuters

7:10 p.m. ET

At least two killed in Israeli strike on central Beirut, health ministry says

At least two were killed and 11 wounded in an Israeli strike on central Beirut’s Bachoura neighbourhood late Wednesday, the Lebanese health ministry said in a statement.

Forty six people were killed and 85 wounded in Israeli strikes on Lebanon in the past 24 hours, the ministry said.

- Reuters

7:03 p.m. ET

U.S. resident killed in Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon, friend says

A U.S. resident from Dearborn, Michigan, has been killed in Lebanon, the American government said on Wednesday, with the man’s friend and neighbors saying he died in an Israeli airstrike.

“We are deeply saddened by the death of Kamel Ahmad Jawad and our hearts go out to his family and friends. His death is a tragedy, as are the deaths of many civilians in Lebanon,” a White House spokesperson said.

Earlier in the day, a State Department spokesperson, when asked about reports of an American’s death in Lebanon, said: “It’s our understanding that it was a legal permanent resident, not an American citizen (who got killed in Lebanon) but we obviously offer our sincerest condolences to the family.”

Jawad was in Lebanon taking care of his elderly mother, according to the Detroit News.

- Reuters

5:43 p.m. ET

Lebanese factions revive bid to fill presidency as Israel attacks

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Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon has prompted a renewed bid by some leading Lebanese politicians to fill a two-year-long presidential vacuum, an effort to revive the paralysed state as it grapples with an escalating conflict.

Lebanon has not had a president or a fully empowered cabinet since October, 2022 due to a power struggle in which Hezbollah has played a big part. Along with its allies, the heavily armedShia Muslim group has insisted the post, reserved for a Maronite Christian, go to their Christian ally Suleiman Frangieh. Read more.

- Reuters

5:15 p.m. ET

Israeli military conducts precise strike in Beirut, statement says

The Israeli military conducted a precise strike in Lebanon’s Beirut, it said in a statement late on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, 46 people were killed and 85 wounded in Israeli strikes on Lebanon in the past 24 hours, the Lebanese health ministry said in a statement early on Thursday.

- Reuters

5:10 p.m. ET

UN calls Israel’s ban on its top leader a political statement in long-running rift

The United Nations on Wednesday called Israel’s ban on Secretary-General Antonio Guterres entering the country a political statement by its foreign minister and stressed that the world body’s contacts with Israel will continue “because they have to.”

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters that Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz deeming the UN chief “persona non grata” is also “one more attack on the United Nations staff that we’ve seen from the government of Israel.”

Israel’s accusations of UN bias and antisemitism date back decades, but the rift has intensified since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks in the country’s south killed about 1,200 people and launched the war in Gaza. Israel’s offensive against the militant group has killed over 41,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters but that a little more than half were women and children.

- The Associated Press

3:44 p.m. ET

Canada prepared to use military aircraft for Lebanon evacuation if situation gets worse, defence minister says

The federal government is prepared to use military aircraft as part of an intensified effort to evacuate Canadians from Lebanon if the situation in the embattled country and region gets worse, says Defence Minister Bill Blair.

Bill Blair, speaking a day after Iran launched a missile attack on Israel, said Wednesday that Canada has been able to effectively manage the number of people who want to leave Lebanon now, using seats purchased on commercial aircraft.

“But as the situation deteriorates, we are prepared with a scalable response that has – that includes many options, including the possibility of using military aircraft,” Mr. Blair told journalists ahead of the weekly Liberal caucus meeting on Parliament Hill.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, following a Wednesday morning call with other G7 leaders, condemned Iran’s attack and declared his support for Israel’s right to defend itself against such aggression.

“It is a further destabilizing action by this terrorist regime in — in the region, putting civilians at risk and running the risk of a wider war.”

Iran attacked hours after Israel began what it says is a limited military operation in southern Lebanon, aimed at uprooting the Iranian-backed Hezbollah.

“Obviously, Israel has the right to defend itself against these attacks,” Mr. Trudeau said, speaking before the federal Liberal caucus meeting.

“At the same time, we have to try and do everything we can to avoid a wider war, to protect civilians and to get humanitarian aid into affected regions.”

Read more from Globe reporter Ian Bailey in Ottawa

3:15 p.m. ET

Israelis from border town more optimistic about the possibility of returning home

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the goal of the Israeli military operation in south Lebanon is to allow residents of northern Israel – currently a closed military zone – to feel safe returning to their homes.

“It makes us feel that something’s happening,” said Katia Cohen, a 66-year-old retired recreational therapist who fled her home in the border town of Kiryat Shmona the same day that Hezbollah began firing into Israel. She and her husband Alan have spent the past year living at a friend’s holiday home in central Israel.

“Once Nasrallah was killed, once things started to move, all our friends – and Alan and I – started to feel a lot more optimistic.” Read more.

– Eric Reguly and Mark MacKinnon

2:17 p.m. ET

Biden says U.S. would not support Israeli strike on Iran nuclear sites

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that he would not support any Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear sites in response to its missile attack and urged Israel to act “proportionally.”

Biden spoke a day after Iran fired more than 180 ballistic missiles at Israel in a move that he previously described as “ineffective.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Iran would pay for the attack.

“We’ll be discussing with the Israelis what they’re going to do, but all seven of us (G7 nations) agree that they have a right to respond but they should respond proportionally,” Biden told reporters before boarding Air Force One.

Some analysts said Israel’s response would likely be sharper than when Iran fired missiles and drones at Israel in April, suggesting this time it could target Tehran’s nuclear or oil facilities.

Asked whether the U.S. would back any Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear sites, Biden told reporters: “The answer is no.”

Biden said more sanctions would be imposed on Iran and that he would speak soon with Netanyahu.

“Obviously, Iran is way off course,” he said.

Read more.

- Reuters

1:51 p.m. ET

Iran’s Khamenei warned Hezbollah leader of Israeli plot to kill him days before strike, sources say

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Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Hezbollah leader Syyed Hassan Nasrallah to flee Lebanon days before he was killed in an Israeli strike and is now deeply worried about Israeli infiltration of senior government ranks in Tehran, three Iranian sources said.

In the immediate aftermath of the attack on Hezbollah’s booby-trapped pagers on Sept. 17, Khamenei sent a message with an envoy to beseech the Hezbollah secretary general to leave for Iran, citing intelligence reports that suggested Israel had operatives within Hezbollah and was planning to kill him, one of the sources, a senior Iranian official, told Reuters. Read more.

- Reuters

1:42 p.m. ET

U.S. organizes flight out of Beirut for Americans leaving Lebanon, says State Dept.

The United States organized a flight from Beirut to Istanbul on Wednesday to allow Americans to leave Lebanon amid the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

Miller told a press briefing that around 7,000 U.S. citizens in Lebanon had registered with the U.S. government to receive information about leaving the country, although not all of those are looking for assistance to leave.

The flight on Wednesday had a capacity of about 300 and carried around 100 Americans and their family members, Miller said, adding Washington had been working with airlines since Saturday to make seats available to Americans on commercial flights.

– Reuters

1:33 p.m. ET

Displaced by war, Lebanese families file into a Beirut hotel with no water, electricity or beds

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About eight days ago, a member of Lebanon’s Amal Movement, the Shia party that is aligned with Hezbollah’s political arm, banged on the door of the Hotel Rodin in central Beirut. He had an offer the owner could not refuse.

Amal was, in effect, commandeering the six-storey hotel for IDPs, the United Nations term for internally displaced people. The same day, the Rodin, which was under renovation, opened its doors to Shia IDPs, most of them from the war zone along the border with Israel in southern Lebanon. Today the small hotel is bursting with almost 500 Shia – 10 to a room, on average – their daily lives ranging from the unpleasant to the unbearable.

“We don’t have running water, we don’t have electricity, we don’t have kitchens or refrigerators and we don’t have money,” said Ibrahim (Bob) Hinnawi, 31, who worked as an accountant in a hospital in southern Lebanon until an Israeli bomb exploded about 50 metres from his home, forcing him and his family to pile into their car and flee north. Read the full story.

– Eric Reguly, Beirut

1:11 p.m. ET

Hamas claims responsibility for mass shooting in Tel Aviv

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Hamas’ military wing has claimed responsibility for a mass shooting in Tel Aviv that left seven people dead and many others wounded.

It said the two attackers, who opened fire on a boulevard and train station in Jaffa Tuesday evening, were its militants and hailed from the southern West Bank city of Hebron.

The attackers, Mohammed Mesek and Ahmed Himouni, were later shot dead.

It remains unclear how the two men entered Israel from the West Bank. Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, is active in various cities and refugee camps in the West Bank.

– The Associated Press

12:42 p.m. ET

Hezbollah fires missile at Israeli military helicopter, group says

Hezbollah says it fired surface-to-air missiles at an Israeli military helicopter flying over Beit Hillel in northern Israel, forcing it to retreat.

The Lebanese militant group didn’t say if the helicopter was hit in the attack Wednesday, and there was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. It is the first time the group has said it fired a missile at a helicopter since hostilities between the two sides escalated two weeks ago.

– the Associated Press

12:37 p.m. ET

Qatar to continue mediation efforts to end Gaza war, emir says

Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani said on Wednesday that Doha will continue mediation efforts to end the war in Gaza amid a heightening of regional tensions.

In a joint press conference with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, the Qatari emir said Doha had warned of escalation in Lebanon since the beginning of the war in Gaza.

- Reuters

12:32 p.m. ET

G7 leaders still hopeful for diplomatic solution in Middle East

Group of Seven (G7) leaders expressed “strong concern” on Wednesday over the crisis in the Middle East but said a diplomatic solution was still viable and a region-wide conflict was in no one’s interest, a statement said.

Italy holds the rotating G7 presidency and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni hosted a leaders’ call a day after Israel was attacked by Iran in a missile strike that ramped up fears of a devastating regional war.

An Italian government statement said the leaders condemned Tehran’s attack, its biggest ever assault on Israel and agreed to “work jointly to promote a reduction in regional tensions”.

The statement made reference to the implementation of UN resolutions 2735 - backing a three-phase plan for a Gaza ceasefire and the release of hostages held by Hamas - and 1701, which halted the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war in south Lebanon.

“Expressing strong concern over the escalation in recent hours, it was reiterated that a region-wide conflict is in no one’s interest and that a diplomatic solution is still possible,” it added.

Along with Italy, the G7 includes the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany and Japan.

- Reuters

12:12 p.m. ET

U.S. ambassador to the UN blames Iran in escalating Middle East violence

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is blaming Iran’s support of its proxies in the Middle East for contributing to the crises in Gaza and Lebanon, and is urging the UN Security Council to condemn its “unprovoked” missile attack on Israel.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield reiterated U.S. support for its close ally Israel at an emergency council meeting Wednesday saying: “Let me be clear: the Iranian regime will be held responsible for its actions.”

“And we strongly warn against Iran, or its proxies, taking actions against the United States, or further actions against Israel,” she said.

Thomas-Greenfield accused Iran of complicity in Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attacks in southern Israel that sparked the nearly yearlong war, by funding and training its military wing.

She singled out Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps for “encouraging and enabling” Yemen’s Houthi rebels to disrupt global shipping; supporting militant groups in Syria and Iraq that attack American forces; and arming and encouraging Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

The Security Council is divided on the escalating violence in the Middle East. Many members sharply criticize Israel for killing Palestinian civilians in Gaza and widespread destruction in the territory, as well as civilian casualties in Lebanon. It is unlikely that the 15 council members would condemn Iran without also condemning Israeli actions.

- The Associated Press

12:04 p.m. ET

Germany evacuates 130 more German nationals out of Lebanon

Germany is flying another 130 of its citizens out of Lebanon on a military plane.

The foreign and defence ministries said the Airbus A330 belonging to the Multinational Multi Role Tanker Transport Unit – an international air transport fleet – was sent to Beirut Wednesday to bring back “particularly endangered” Germans.

They said in a statement that the plane delivered 5 tons of aid including medical equipment to the Lebanese capital.

On Monday, a German military plane flew 111 people from Beirut to Berlin, including families of German diplomats, nonessential staff and others.

The ministries said further flights would be prepared as needed.

- The Associated Press

11:29 a.m. ET

Iran’s president visits Qatar, aims to rally opposition to Israeli ‘crimes’

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived in Qatar on Wednesday for bilateral talks and a summit at which he said he hopes to enlist Asian countries’ help in preventing what he called “Israeli crimes” in the Middle East.

Starting his first trip to Qatar as president, Pezeshkian criticised Israel over the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Iran blames Israel for Haniyeh’s assassination on July 31. Israel has neither claimed nor denied responsibility for his death.

– Reuters

11:20 a.m. ET

A map of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah as of Oct. 1

10:50 a.m. ET

Israeli military announces 8 soldiers killed in combat in Lebanon

The Israeli military said Wednesday that eight soldiers were killed in combat in southern Lebanon, a day after its ground incursion began.

Fighting between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants is ongoing in southern Lebanon, both sides said in separate statements. Read more.

– The Associated Press

10:43 a.m. ET

Lebanon’s caretaker PM stresses need for ceasefire

Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati said around 1.2 million across Lebanon had been displaced by Israeli attacks.

“Stop fighting. We don’t need more blood. We don’t need more destruction,” Mikati said in a briefing organized by the American Task Force for Lebanon, a U.S.-based lobby group. “There is an immediate need for a ceasefire,” he added.

– Reuters

10:30 a.m. ET

Guterres condemns Iran missile attack at UN Security Council meeting

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday condemned Iran’s missile attack on Israel, telling the Security Council the “deadly cycle of tit-for-tat violence must stop.”

“Time is running out,” he told the council.

The 15-member council met after Israel killed the leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah and began a ground assault against the Iran-backed militant group and Iran attacked Israel in a strike that raised fears of a wider war in the Middle East.

“I again strongly condemn yesterday’s massive missile attack by Iran on Israel,” Guterres told the council.

Earlier on Wednesday, Israel’s foreign minister said he was barring Guterres from entering the country because he had not “unequivocally” condemned Iran’s missile attack on Israel. Read more.

– Reuters

10:24 a.m. ET

Israel lifts some restrictions on public gatherings in the country’s north

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Israel has eased restrictions on gatherings for its residents living in the country’s north near the Lebanese border.

The Home Front Command said that in northern Galilee and the Israeli-held Golan Heights, up to 50 residents can gather in outside spaces. Gatherings of up to 250 people are allowed in closed spaces.

In the coastal Haifa area, outside gatherings of up to 60 people are allowed, it said Wednesday.

Limits on gatherings had been imposed because of near-daily fire by Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group into northern Israel, where evacuation orders for those living closest to the border remain in place.

– The Associated Press

10:20 a.m. ET

Hezbollah claims its fighters killed Israeli troops

The Lebanese militant Hezbollah group is claiming its fighters killed and wounded an unspecified number of Israeli soldiers in clashes in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah said they detonated an explosive device as Israeli troops tried crossing deeper into Lebanon toward the southern village of Yaroun on Wednesday.

Hezbollah did not provide a breakdown of the alleged Israeli casualties in its claim and there was no immediate reaction from the Israeli military

– The Associated Press

9:56 a.m. ET

Markets open lower as investors brace for more Middle East tensions

Wall Street’s main indexes started lower on Wednesday as investors priced in a possible escalation in geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 31.8 points, or 0.08 per cent, at the open to 42,125.14. The S&P 500 fell 10.6 points, or 0.19 per cent, at the open to 5,698.14, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 43.2 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 17,867.124 at the opening bell.

While Israel is not a major producer of oil, Iran is OPEC’s third largest producer and the potential for a wider, sustained conflict raises the risk of disruptions to supplies by neighboring producers of crude. However, some analysts have been skeptical that the U.S. would experience massive oil shortages, since U.S. oil production is at an all-time high.

Early Wednesday, U.S. crude was up $2.11, or 3%, to $71.94 per barrel. Brent crude climbed $1.96 to $75.52 per barrel.

– Reuters, The Associated Press

9:16 a.m. ET

Crisis-hit Iranians react to the drum beats of war

While war drums beat, crisis-weary Iranians are split between those who wish Israel ill, those who hope a war might remove their own clerical system, and those who are simply resigned to yet another dark chapter in their lives.

“Like it or not, the West supports Israel, and if Israel retaliates, it will be the Iranian people who suffer,” said Saeed, a 43-year-old English teacher from the central city of Isfahan, speaking to Reuters by phone.

“The regime lacks the financial resources and public support to endure the pressure or a potential strike” by Israel, he said.

Some Iranians believe their government had no choice but to send scores of missiles to Israel on Tuesday – an attack which caused relatively little damage – but fear what comes next.

“If there is a war, I’m just worried for my children,” an Iranian mother walking to work past the display of official defiance at Valiasr Square said. “If we hadn’t responded to Israel, they might have continued with their acts of destruction. I just fear for my children.” Read the full story.

– Reuters

9:05 a.m. ET

Gazan buried as only known victim of Iranian attack against Israel

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A 38-year-old Gazan, the only known fatality in Iran’s missile attack against Israel, was buried on Wednesday.

Sameh Khadr Hassan Al-Asali had been staying in a Palestinian security forces compound in the occupied West Bank when he was killed by falling missile debris during Tuesday’s attack, which Israel said was largely thwarted by its air defence systems.

Security forces personnel carried the body draped in the red, green, white and black Palestinian flag. The crowd of about 200 mourners was made up of fellow Gazans staying in Jericho and local people.

A large section of the rocket lay on the ground where it fell outside the compound.

– Reuters

8:25 a.m. ET

Lebanese army acknowledges Israeli incursion

The Lebanese army says Israeli forces breached approximately 400 metres into Lebanese territory on Wednesday and then withdrew “after a short period.” The statement was the first official acknowledgement from Beirut that Israeli forces have carried out a ground incursion into Lebanon.

The Israeli military said Wednesday that ground forces backed by air power had killed militants in “close-range engagements” without saying where.

Earlier in the day, Hezbollah’s chief spokesman, Mohammed Afif, told reporters touring sites of Israeli air strikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs that Hezbollah had “fought a heroic battle this morning” in the southern villages of Odaisseh and Maroun al-Ras against Israeli soldiers who launched a ground incursion into Lebanon.

Afif promised the destroyed areas would be rebuild “better and more beautiful than they were before” –echoing what former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike last week, had said in 2006, when the militant group fought a monthlong war with Israel.

– The Associated Press

8:06 a.m. ET

Ground clashes reported in Lebanon for first time since Israel began incursion

Hezbollah said its fighters were engaging Israeli forces inside Lebanon on Wednesday, reporting ground clashes for the first time since Israel began pushing into its northern neighbour in a campaign to hammer the Iran-backed armed group.

The Israeli military has announced its first combat death since launching its ground operations.

The military said Wednesday that Captain Eitan Itzhak Oster, a 22-year-old in a commando brigade, was killed in combat in Lebanon.

– Reuters, the Associated Press

8:02 a.m. ET

Food supplies to Gaza fall because of new Israeli customs rule

Food supplies to Gaza have fallen sharply in recent weeks because Israeli authorities have introduced a new customs rule on some humanitarian aid and are separately scaling down deliveries organized by businesses, people involved in getting goods to Gaza told Reuters.

The new customs rule applies to truck convoys chartered by the United Nations to take aid from Jordan to Gaza via Israel, seven people familiar with the matter said. Under the rule, individuals from relief organizations sending aid must complete a form providing passport details, and accept liability for any false information on a shipment, the people said.

They said relief agencies are disputing that requirement, which was announced mid-August, because they fear signing the form could expose staff to legal problems if aid fell into the hands of Hamas or other enemies of Israel. As a result, shipments have not been getting through the Jordan route for two weeks. The dispute has not affected shipments via Cyprus and Egypt, the sources said.

In a parallel move, Israeli authorities have restricted commercial food shipments to Gaza amid concerns that Hamas was benefiting from that trade, the people familiar with the matter and industry sources said.

U.N. and Israeli government data show that in September, deliveries of food and aid sank to their lowest for 11 months.

Israeli’s military humanitarian unit, Cogat, which oversees aid and commercial shipments to Gaza, confirmed that no U.N.-chartered convoy has moved from Jordan to Gaza since Sept. 19, but a spokesperson said Israel was not blocking goods.

– Reuters

7:37 a.m. ET

Two explosions rock area around Israeli Embassy in Copenhagen; No injuries reported

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Police in the Danish capital said two predawn explosions took place Wednesday in the vicinity of the Israeli Embassy in Copenhagen, prompting the nearby Jewish school to close for the day.

Police said no one had been injured and they were investigating whether there was a link between the blasts and the Israeli diplomatic mission, which is close by several other embassies.

Heavily armed officers, search dogs and forensic teams were inspecting the area which had been cordoned off.

Copenhagen’s Jewish school, Carolineskolen, which is just down the street from the embassy, was already due to remain closed on Thursday and Friday for the Jewish New Year holidays, Michael Rachlin, a spokesperson for Denmark’s Jewish community told The Associated Press.

Two were apprehended on a train at Copenhagen’s main railway station while the third person was detained elsewhere in the Danish capital, police said on social media platform X.

– The Associated Press, Reuters

7:23 a.m. ET

Israeli strikes across Gaza Strip hit school sheltering displaced, killing at least 60 overnight

Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 60 Palestinians overnight, including in a school sheltering displaced families, medics said, as Israeli tanks advanced in areas of Khan Younis in the south of the enclave.

Israeli tanks carried out a raid on several areas in eastern and central Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, before partially retreating, leaving at least 40 people killed and dozens wounded, according to the official Voice of Palestine radio and Hamas media.

In Gaza City, at least 22 Palestinians were killed, the medics said. One Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced families in Gaza City killed 17 people, while another hit the Al-Amal Orphan Society, which also houses displaced persons, killing at least five others, the medics said.

– Reuters

7:10 a.m. ET

Hezbollah reports border clashes with Israeli troops

Hezbollah said on Wednesday it was clashing with Israeli troops in the border town of Maroun el-Ras after it had pushed back forces near another border town. The group said it had also fired rockets at military posts inside Israel.

The group’s media chief Mohammad Afif said those battles were only “the first round” and that the group had enough fighters, weapons and ammunition to push back Israel.

There was no immediate comment from Israel.

– Reuters

6:52 a.m. ET

Israel bars U.N. secretary-general from entering country

Israel’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that he was barring U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from entering the country because he had not “unequivocally” condemned Iran’s missile attack on Israel.

Iran fired more than 180 ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday amid an escalation in fighting between its proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Israel. Many were intercepted mid-air but some penetrated missile defences. No casualties were reported.

Guterres on Tuesday issued a brief statement referencing only the “latest attacks in the Middle East” and condemning the conflict “with escalation after escalation.” Earlier on Tuesday, Israel had sent troops into south Lebanon.

Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz, said Guterres’ failure to call out Iran made him persona non grata in Israel.

– Reuters

6:41 a.m. ET

Israel beefs up ground forces in Lebanon as it prepares to respond to Iran’s attack

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The Israeli military said on Wednesday that regular infantry and armoured units were joining ground operations in southern Lebanon, stepping up pressure on Hezbollah, as Israel prepared to retaliate against a barrage of Iranian missile strikes.

Already battling Hamas in Gaza, Israel is beefing up its presence in south Lebanon in its conflict with Hezbollah a day after it was attacked by Iran, raising fears the oil-producing Middle East could be engulfed in a wider conflict.

The addition of Israeli infantry and armoured troops suggests that the operation has moved beyond limited commando raids.

The military has said the ground operation is largely aimed at destroying tunnels and other infrastructure on the border and there were no plans for a wider operation targeting Beirut or major cities in southern Lebanon.

Iran said on Wednesday its missile attack on Israel, its biggest military assault on the country, was over, barring further provocation, while Israel and the United States promised to hit back. Israel will launch a “significant retaliation” within days that could target oil production facilities inside Iran and other strategic sites, U.S. news website Axios reported on Wednesday citing Israeli officials.

Despite calls for a ceasefire from the United Nations, the United States and the European Union, fighting between Israel and Hezbollah continued on Wednesday.

Israel renewed its bombardment of Beirut’s southern suburbs, a stronghold of the Iran-backed group, with at least a dozen air strikes against what it said were targets belonging to the group.

– Reuters

6:30 a.m. ET

A map of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, as of Oct. 1

8:26 p.m. ET, Oct. 1

Top Iranian commander warns Israel not to retaliate or risk attacks on infrastructure

A top Iranian military commander has warned that his country will hit Israel’s entire infrastructure if it takes any action against its territory.

Iran’s armed forces joint chief of staff Gen. Mohammad Bagheri said Wednesday that the Revolutionary Guard was prepared both defensively and offensively to repeat its missile attack with “multiplied intensity.”

- The Associated Press