REPLAY. Lebanon: “On the brink of total war”… UN meets urgently after Israel’s deadliest strike against Hezbollah

According to Israel, Hezbollah fired about 300 rockets from Lebanon into its territory on Tuesday.

The Israeli army said late Tuesday that Lebanon’s Hezbollah had fired about 300 rockets at its territory, after earlier saying its aircraft had pounded sites of the Islamist movement in Lebanon. “Today, about 300 rockets were fired at Israeli (territory), injuring six civilians and soldiers, most of them lightly,” army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a televised press briefing.

Hezbollah says it fired 90 rockets into northern Israel

“In defense of Lebanon and its people,” Hezbollah announced that it had fired two salvos of 90 rockets at an Israeli military base near Safed, in northern Israel. This is the headquarters of the Israeli army’s northern command.

“The UN system is dying in Gaza,” Erdogan tells UN podium

“It’s not just children, it’s also the UN system that is dying in Gaza,” the Turkish head of state said, calling the UN a “dysfunctional structure.” “The values ​​that the West claims to uphold are dying… I ask the question openly: Hey, human rights organizations, aren’t those living in Gaza and the West Bank human beings?” Erdogan continued, saying that Gaza has become “the largest cemetery of children and women in the world.”

Joe Biden warns of ‘all-out war’ in Lebanon

“A generalized war is in no one’s interest. Even if the situation escalates, a diplomatic solution is always possible,” insisted the American president, who delivered his last speech in New York at this annual UN meeting overshadowed by fears of a regional war in the Middle East.

Hezbollah Commander Reportedly Killed in Israeli Strike on Beirut

On its X account, the Israeli army claims to have killed Ibrahim Muhammad Kabisi, a Hezbollah commander, in a strike in Beirut on Tuesday. According to Tsahal, the man was the head of the missile and rocket network of the Lebanese Shiite organization, allied with Hamas.

Netanyahu assures that Israel will continue to strike Hezbollah on Lebanese soil

“We will continue to strike Hezbollah. And I say to the Lebanese people: our war is not against you, our war is against Hezbollah,” he said in a video.

EU Foreign Minister Josep Borrell calls for “immediate ceasefire”

“The (UN) Security Council must play its role. It is urgent to put an end to the war. Both parties must implement an immediate ceasefire,” wrote Josep Borrell, the head of European diplomacy, on X.

Starmer calls for ‘restraint’ and ‘de-escalation’ on Israel-Lebanon border

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Tuesday called for “restraint” and “de-escalation” on the border between Israel and Lebanon after bombings that killed more than 550 people the day before, and raised fears of a flare-up in the region. The British leader called on “all parties to avoid a catastrophe”, again demanding an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza and the return of hostages, in a speech at the annual Labour Party conference in Liverpool.

“Lebanon is on the brink of the abyss,” says UN Secretary General

“We should all be alarmed by this escalation,” Guterres told world leaders gathered in New York for the UN General Assembly.

Six dead in Beirut after Israeli strike

Six people were killed and 15 injured in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. This is the second strike on the pro-Iranian movement’s stronghold in two days.

Russia “condemns” Israeli strikes in Lebanon and fears “complete destabilization” of the region

Russia said on Tuesday it feared the “complete destabilization” of the Middle East due to the ongoing military escalation between Hezbollah in Lebanon and Israel, whose strikes it condemned.

“This is, of course, a potentially extremely dangerous event with the expansion of the conflict zone, the complete destabilization of the region,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Hezbollah claims responsibility for new missile attacks on Israel

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for new Fadi 2 missile launches towards Israel on Tuesday and announced that it had targeted military sites near Haifa, the large city in the north of the country, including an “explosives factory” about 60 kilometers from the Lebanese border, as well as the city of Kiryat Shmona.

“It was a day of terror,” say the Lebanese

“It was a day of terror,” Thuraya Harb, a 41-year-old Lebanese woman who fled to Beirut on Tuesday after an eight-hour journey from her southern village of Toul on Monday, told AFP. “I didn’t want to leave, but the children were afraid and we left, with nothing but the clothes we were wearing,” added the woman, dressed in a long black dress and her hair covered by a veil.

In the port city of Haifa, which is being overflown by warplanes, schools, universities and shops remained closed on Tuesday and traffic was lighter than usual, according to an AFP journalist.

Israeli strikes in Lebanon: China “deeply shocked” by number of victims

China said Tuesday it was “deeply shocked” by the human losses following the large-scale Israeli strikes that left nearly 500 dead in Lebanon.

“China pays close attention to the current tensions between Lebanon and Israel and is deeply shocked by the large number of casualties caused by these military operations,” Lin Jian, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a regular press briefing in response to a question about the Israeli attacks.

Israel says more than 50 projectiles fired from Lebanon Tuesday morning

The Israeli military said Tuesday that more than 50 projectiles were fired Tuesday morning toward northern Israel from Lebanon, where months of cross-border firefights with the Islamist movement Hezbollah have intensified in recent days.

From 09:36 (0636 GMT) to 09:44 (06:44), more than “50 projectiles” were identified as crossing Israeli territory from Lebanon, “the majority were intercepted and several projectiles” damaged buildings in the area, the army said in a statement.

Israel says it struck dozens of Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon overnight

The Israeli army said Tuesday it had struck dozens of targets of the Islamist Hezbollah movement in Lebanon overnight, after a day of heavy bombing on Monday during which it said it had hit around 1,600 targets.

“During the night from Monday to Tuesday, the army struck dozens of Hezbollah targets in many areas of southern Lebanon,” it said in a statement.

“We are on the brink of total war,” warns the head of European diplomacy

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned Monday that the conflict between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah threatened to plunge the Middle East into “total war.”

“I can say that we are almost on the brink of total war,” said the diplomat, who was due to attend a meeting of G7 countries on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York later this evening.

Paris calls for emergency meeting of UN Security Council

France requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Monday to discuss the situation in Lebanon, which is experiencing increasing clashes with Israel, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said.

“France calls on the parties and those who support them to de-escalate and avoid a regional conflagration that would be devastating for everyone, starting with the civilian populations. This is why I have requested that an emergency meeting of the Security Council on Lebanon be held this week,” he told the UN.

492 dead, including 35 children, in Israeli strikes in Lebanon on Monday

Intense Israeli strikes against Hezbollah left 492 dead on Monday in Lebanon, including 35 children, according to the authorities of this country, which experienced its deadliest day in nearly a year of exchanges of fire between the two sides on the sidelines of the war in Gaza.

In a video, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recommended at the end of the day that the Lebanese “move away from dangerous areas” while waiting for the end of the “operation”.

His Lebanese counterpart, Najib Mikati, denounced “a plan to destroy” his country, where schools will remain closed on Tuesday.