Israel-Hezbollah tensions Highlights: In 'biggest attack', Israeli strikes hit headquarters in Dahieh; two dead, 76 hurt

Israel rejects US-backed Lebanon ceasefire proposal

Israel rejected proposals on Thursday for a ceasefire with Hezbollah, defying allies including the United States which had called for an immediate three-week halt in fighting to allow for diplomacy to avert a wider war.

"There will be no ceasefire in the north," Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on X. "We will continue to fight against the Hezbollah terrorist organization with all our strength until victory and the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes."

The comments dashed hopes for a swift settlement, after Prime Minister Najib Mikati had expressed hope that a ceasefire could be reached soon in Lebanon, where hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes seeking safety.

World leaders voiced concern that the conflict - running in parallel to Israel's war in Gaza - was escalating rapidly.

The heaviest fighting in nearly two decades between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group has raised fears of a new Israeli ground offensive across the Lebanese-Israeli frontier. (Reuters)

Beirut soup kitchen struggles to keep up as Israeli strikes intensify

Chains of volunteers spoon rice and vegetables into meal containers while others stir huge pots of boiling rice, as a soup kitchen in Beirut struggles to keep up with demand from displaced people escaping Israeli strikes.

Josephine Abu Abdo, a chef and one of the founders of Nation Station, said the kitchen is serving 700 meals a day and is at maximum capacity, but she then hears 1,000 meals are needed.

"The challenge is that we can't keep up. We feel like we are just a drop in the ocean," Abu Abdo said, while a team of volunteers of different ages from all over Lebanon hurriedly packaged up food.

Nation Station was founded to help victims of the devastating 2020 Beirut port explosion, growing from a team of five to a hundred over time. It serves some traditional Lebanese dishes, such as zucchini stuffed with rice and meat, bulgur and tomato, vegetable soup and cabbage salad.

When the Israeli strikes across Lebanon intensified on Monday, forcing around 40,000 into shelters within days, the volunteers cooked more food without any funding, distributing it as an emergency response to the centres housing the displaced. (Reuters)

Over 30,000 crossed into Syria from Lebanon in past days, says UN

Well over 30,000 people, mainly Syrians, have crossed into Syria from Lebanon in the past 72 hours, the UN refugee agency said on Friday, amid an escalating conflict between Israeli forces and Hezbollah that has killed hundreds of people in Lebanon.

About 80% of those crossings are Syrians and about 20% are Lebanese, said the UNHCR representative in Syria, Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, adding that about half are children and adolescents, and that men are making the crossing in smaller numbers than women.

"They are crossing from a country at war to one that has faced a crisis conflict for 13 years," an extremely difficult choice, he told a news conference.

"We will have to see over the next few days how many more do so," added the representative. (Reuters)

Israeli strikes on Lebanon kill 25 since early on Friday, health minister says

Lebanese health minister Firass Abiad said 25 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon since the early hours of Friday, reports Reuters.

Yemen's Houthis say they attacked Israel's Tel Aviv and Ashkelon

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said on Friday they had targeted Israel's cities of Tel Aviv and Ashkelon with a ballistic missile and a drone in support of Gaza and Lebanon.

The Israeli army said it had intercepted a missile that was fired from Yemen after sirens and explosions were heard early in the day.

The Houthi's military spokesperson said their operations won't halt in the coming days until Israel's offensives in Gaza and Lebanon stop.

"We will carry out more military operations against the Israeli enemy in victory for the blood of our brothers in Palestine and Lebanon," Yahya Sarea said in a televised speech.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 600 people in Lebanon since Monday, with the conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah at its most intense in more than 18 years. (Reuters)

Highlights of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's UN Assembly address

• Netanyahu says Israel forced to defend itself on war fronts organized by Iran

• Netanyahu to Iran - if you strike us, we will strike you

• Netanyahu says Israel seeks peace but fighting for life

• "My country is at war, fighting for its life," Netanyahu said in a speech at the UN General Assembly. "We must defend ourselves against these savage murderers. Our enemies seek not only to destroy us, they seek to destroy our common civilization and return all of us to a dark age of tyranny and terror."

• Netanyahu says Israel will do everything in its power to make sure Iran doesn't get nuclear weapons

• He calls on UN Security Council to reimpose sanctions on Iran to ensure it doesn't get nuclear weapons

• Israeli military have killed or captured more than half Hamas' 40,000 fighters, destroyed 90% of Hamas rockets

• if Hamas stays in power in Gaza, it will regroup, rearm and attack Israel again

• Netanyahu says we are ready to support a local civilian administration in Gaza committed to peaceful coexistence

• Netanyahu says war can end if Hamas surrenders, lays down weapons, returns hostages

• Netanyahu says on Hezbollah: 'we won't rest until our citizens can return safely to their homes, we will not accept a terror army perched on our northern border'

• Netanyahu says on Lebanon's Hezbollah: Enough is enough

• Netanyahu says we must continue the path we paved with the Abraham accords, this means achieving a historic peace agreement between Israel, Saudi Arabia

• Netanyahu says on Gaza: 'we don't want to see a single person, a single innocent person, die. That's always a tragedy'

As long as Hezbollah chooses the path of war, Israel has no choice, says Netanyahu

Netanyahu says on Iran: 'we're defending ourselves, but we're also defending you against a common enemy that through violence and terror seeks to destroy our way of life'

Netanyahu says singling out of Israel continues to be a moral stain on the United Nations

Netanyahu accuses ICC prosecutor of pure antisemitism

Netanyahu says to people and soldiers of Israel: Be strong and of good courage

Massive clouds of smoke rising from Beirut after multiple blasts

Massive thick clouds of smoke were rising from the Lebanese capital Beirut on Friday after multiple explosions were heard, according to Reuters witnesses. (Reuters)

Hezbollah's al-Manar TV says Israel attacks southern suburbs of Beirut in successive air strikes

Hezbollah-affiliated al-Manar TV reported successive Israeli airstrikes on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut later on Friday. Israeli strikes destroyed 4 buildings in Beirut's southern suburbs.

It showed smoldering crater in Beirut's southern suburbs

(Reuters)

Israeli military says it targeted Hezbollah central command in Beirut southern suburbs

The Israeli military said on Friday it targeted Hezbollah's central headquarters in the Dahieh suburb of southern Beirut.

In a televised statement, Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said the central command centre was embedded deep within civilian areas. (Reuters)

Israeli strikes targeted area where Hezbollah's top officials usually are

Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was the target of the latest Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, and the Israeli military is checking whether he was hit or not, US news website Axios said on Friday, citing an Israeli source.

Lebanon's caretaker PM Najib Mikati says Israeli attack on Beirut's southern suburbs shows Israel 'does not care' about global calls for ceasefire

Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Israel's attacks on Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday show it "does not care" about efforts to bring about a ceasefire.

Mikati's press office sent a statement while he was in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, where the US and other countries had made a call for a 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah. (Reuters)

Hezbollah's al-Manar TV says Israeli attack was 'unprecedented'

Iran's Asnim news agency reports that Lebanon's Hezbollah chief Nasrallah is safe, no official comment from group

Hezbollah's secretary general Hassan Nasrallah is alive

Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah is alive, a source close to the armed group told Reuters on Friday, following a series of Israeli airstrikes on Beirut's southern suburbs.

The Israeli military said the strikes targeted the Iran-backed group's central command. 

Hezbollah's al-Manar TV says at least one killed and 50 wounded in Israeli strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs

Netanyahu cuts short New York visit to return to Israel, his office says

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will cut short his trip to New York and return to Israel on Friday, his office said in a statement, following an Israeli strike on Hezbollah's command centre in Lebanon's capital Beirut. (Reuters)

US did not have advanced warning of Israeli strike in Beirut, Pentagon says

Senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine is alive

Senior Hezbollah official Safieddine alive after Israeli strikes: Hezbollah source

Senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine is alive, a Hezbollah source said on Friday after several Israeli strikes pounded the Lebanese capital's southern suburbs. (Reuters)

'No truth to any statement' about Israeli attack on Beirut's southern suburbs: Hezbollah

Hezbollah's media office said on Friday that there was "no truth to any statement" about the Israeli attack on Beirut's southern suburbs, without specifying what statements it was referring to. (Reuters)

Senior Hezbollah commanders were target of Israeli strike: Israeli official

Senior Hezbollah commanders were the target of Israel's strike on the group's central headquarters in Beirut's suburbs on Friday but it was too early to say whether the attack took out its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, a senior Israeli official said on Friday. (Reuters)