Deadly strike on central Beirut after Israel, Iran trade threats
The Iran-backed group said it set off two explosives against advancing Israeli forces
Beirut, Lebanon: Israel carried out a deadly air raid Thursday in central Beirut after eight ground troops were killed near the Lebanese border, as it traded threats with its arch foe Iran over possible future attacks.
The Israeli military kept up its bombardment of the Lebanese capital after Iran launched its largest missile attack yet on Israel, which prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to warn Tehran would pay for its "big mistake".
As Israel weighs retaliation, President Joe Biden said the US was "fully supportive" of its ally but ruled out supporting a strike on Iran's nuclear sites.
Iran, which backs Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, said it would step up its response if Israel counterattacked, defying calls for de-escalation in a war that has cost more than 1,000 lives in Lebanon.
In Beirut, AFP journalists heard multiple explosions overnight and reported some buildings shaking.
One of the Israeli strikes hit a Hezbollah rescue facility, a source close to the group told AFP, killing at least six people, according to a Lebanese health ministry toll.
A total of 17 overnight air raids had hit Beirut by dawn on Thursday, Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) reported.
Israel, shifting its focus from the Gaza war sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack, says it is trying to secure its border with Lebanon so tens of thousands of Israelis displaced by nearly a year of hostilities with Hezbollah can return home.
Israeli bombing of Lebanon has displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
Lebanon army says Israeli strike kills soldier
The Lebanese army said an Israeli strike killed one of its soldiers during a rescue operation with the Red Cross in southern Lebanon on Thursday.
"A soldier was killed and another was wounded as a result of an aggression by the Israeli enemy during an evacuation and rescue operation with the Lebanese Red Cross in Taybeh village," the army said.
The Lebanese Red Cross said four of its volunteers were wounded.
Israeli troops targeted with explosives
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it set off two explosives against advancing Israeli forces on the southern border on Thursday.
The Iran-backed group at dawn detonated the "explosive devices" as "an enemy Israeli infantry force carried out an infiltration attempt towards the town of Maroun al-Ras" in Lebanon near the border, it said.
25 Lebanon southern villages told to evacuate
The Israeli military on Thursday told residents of 25 villages across southern Lebanon to evacuate, the latest in a series of calls to relocate issued by the army as it targets Hezbollah positions.
"The IDF (Israeli army) does not intend to harm you, and for your own safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately and head north of the Awali River. Save your lives," said army spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X.
Strike killed 3 senior Hamas leaders 3 months ago
The Israeli military on Thursday said a strike three months ago killed three senior Hamas leaders in Gaza, where the army has been battling the Palestinian militants for nearly a year.
The military said the strike killed Rawhi Mushtaha, the head of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, and Sameh al-Siraj, who held the security portfolio for Hamas's political bureau, and Sami Oudeh, a commander.
"Mushtaha was one of Hamas' most senior operatives and had a direct impact on decisions relating to Hamas' force deployment," said the military in a statement.
Hezbollah says thwarts Israel bid to advance
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it fought off a bid by the Israeli army to advance at a border point in southern Lebanon on Thursday.
Hezbollah "repelled with artillery fire an attempt by enemy Israeli forces to advance at Fatima's Gate", it said, a day after Israel said eight of its soldiers had been killed in south Lebanon fighting the Iran-backed group.
Israeli soldiers killed
The military has bombarded Hezbollah's south Beirut stronghold, having dealt a significant blow to the group last week by killing its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in a massive strike.
A day after its military said it was conducting "targeted ground raids" in south Lebanon, Israel reported the first death of a soldier in the Israel-Hezbollah war, a toll that later rose to eight dead.
Hezbollah said it had forced Israeli soldiers to retreat, targeted an Israeli unit with explosives, and destroyed three Merkava tanks with rockets as they advanced on Maroun al-Ras village.
The Israeli military said it staged two brief incursions into Lebanon, ordering residents to flee more than 20 areas.
The military released footage that it said showed soldiers inside Lebanon, moving through villages and mountainous areas on foot, and announced it had deployed a second division to support the fighting.
Explosions in the Lebanese capital were audible kilometres away and came as the Israeli military ordered residents to leave multiple parts of densely populated southern Beirut in the early hours of Thursday.
Lebanon's health ministry said 46 people were killed and 85 others injured by Israeli strikes over the past 24 hours.
Earlier, Lebanon's disaster management agency said 1,928 people had been killed in Lebanon since Israel and Hezbollah began trading cross-border fire after the Gaza war erupted nearly a year ago.
Iran missile attack
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said an Israeli strike in Damascus killed four people, including Hassan Jaafar al-Qasir, son-in-law of the slain Hezbollah leader.
Hours after Israel announced the start of ground operations in Lebanon, Iran fired some 200 missiles, including hypersonic weapons, sending frightened Israeli civilians hurrying to shelters.
Israel said it intercepted most of the missiles. Two people were wounded by shrapnel and a school building was damaged.
The Israeli military said several Iranian missiles struck inside air force bases without causing any casualties or damage.
In Jericho in the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian was killed when "pieces of a rocket fell from the sky and hit him", the city's governor Hussein Hamayel said.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant warned that "those who attack the state of Israel, pay a heavy price".
Iran's armed forces chief of staff, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, threatened to attack "with bigger intensity" if Israel made good on its pledge to retaliate.