Israel launches new strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon as thousands flee homes — live

Israeli airstrikes are building up again on Lebanon, according to reports on Israeli radio.

A brief lull in strikes appears to have ended, after nearly 500 people were killed on Monday.

Lebanese state news agency NNA said on Tuesday: “Hostile airstrikes resumed on Baalbek and its surrounding areas, targeting Al-Tal Al-Abyad district at the northern entrance of Baalbek, the town of Talia, and the outskirts of Shamstar.”

Sky News reports that four strikes hit the area around Tyre, southern Lebanon, within a few minutes.

Israeli army radio confirmed that another wave of strikes is underway.

Israeli officials say they have not yet made an official decision to expand military operations against Hezbollah – and have not said publicly what those operations might be. Last week, however, the head of Israel’s Northern Command was quoted in local media as advocating for a ground invasion of Lebanon.

Meanwhile, as fighting in Gaza has slowed, Israel has increased its forces along the Lebanese border, including the arrival of a powerful army division believed to include thousands of troops.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant last week declared the start of a “new phase” of the war as Israel turns its focus towards Hezbollah.

“The centre of gravity is shifting to the north,” he said.

A UN-brokered truce to the 2006 war called on Hezbollah to pull back 29 kilometres (18 miles) from the border, but it has refused, accusing Israel of also failing to carry out some provisions.

Israel is now demanding Hezbollah withdraw eight to 10 kilometres (five to six miles) from the border – the range of Hezbollah’s anti-tank guided missiles.

A small number of US troops will be sent to the MIddle East following escalating tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, the Pentagon said.

It is unclear how many troops will be deployed and whether they have a specific mission, The Guardian reports.

Pentagon spokesperson Patrick Ryder told reporters: “Out of an abundance of caution, we are sending a small number of additional US military personnel forward to augment our forces that are already in the region.”

“We have more capability in the region today than we did on April 14th when Iran conducted its drone and missile attack against Israel.”

Ryder referred to a 300-missile attack by Iran which sustained modest damage inside Israel after being intercepted by western air defence.

Saudi Arabia expressed deep concern in a statement on Monday over security developments in Lebanon, warning of escalating violence and urging all parties to exercise restraint, state news agency SPA reported.

Israel launched hundreds of airstrikes in southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday, killing 492 people, including 35 children and 58 women, as the Israeli military called on residents to immediately evacuate places where it claimed the Hezbollah militant group stores weapons.

Thousands of people fled southern Lebanon, jamming the main highway to Beirut in the biggest exodus since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.

More than 1,645 people were wounded in the strikes, the Health Ministry said, a staggering one-day toll for the country.

Below we take a look at where Israel struck southern Lebanon throughout yesterday.

Almost 500 people were killed in the strikes, the deadliest in nearly two decades.

Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly considering a plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians from northern Gaza and impose a military siege on Hamas militants who remain in the area.

The plan, endorsed by some Israeli military figures, suggests designating the area as a “closed military zone” and forcing all civilians to leave, The Guardian reported.

The Likud MP Avichai Boaron said the plan was ‘‘currently being evaluated by the government”.

“According to the plan, the IDF will evacuate all the civilians who are in the north of Gaza, from the border to the Gaza River,” Boaron was quoted as saying by the outlet. ‘‘And after they will evacuate, the IDF will assume that only the terrorists will remain. When the civilian population has left, you can find and kill all the terrorists without harming the civilians.”

The goal is said to be to isolate and target Hamas fighters without civilian casualties, pressuring them to surrender or face starvation.

Multiple interceptions of rockets fired from Lebanon were seen over Israel’s northern city of Haifa on Monday (23 September).

Hezbollah said it fired dozens of rockets toward Israel, including at military bases.

Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli strikes on Monday killed 492 people, including more than 58 women and 35 children.

Thousands of Lebanese fled the south, and the main highway out of the southern port city of Sidon was jammed with cars heading toward Beirut in the biggest exodus since 2006.

Israel’s military has claimed it struck dozens of Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon overnight, a day after it launched a wave of airstrikes against the Iran-backed group’s sites in Lebanon’s deadliest day in decades.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah said this morning it had attacked several Israeli military targets, including an explosives factory 37 miles into Israel, with the Fadi series of rockets.

It said it attacked the explosives factory around 4 a.m. (0100 GMT) and the Megiddo airfield three separate times overnight.

Turkey slammed Israel’s recent attacks on Lebanon as “efforts to drag the region into chaos” on Monday, calling for international measures against them and a halt to support for Israel.

In some of the heaviest cross-border fire exchange since its nearly year-long war against Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza began, Israel has started shifting its focus north to Iran-backed Hezbollah, which has been firing rockets into Israel in support of Hamas, also backed by Iran.

Lebanese authorities have said Israeli airstrikes against Hezbollah sites in the country had killed 492 people on Monday and sent tens of thousands fleeing for safety in the country’s deadliest day in decades.

In a statement late on Monday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said countries that “unconditionally support Israel” were helping Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “shed blood for his political interests”.

“It is imperative that all institutions responsible for maintaining international peace and security, especially the United Nations Security Council, as well as the international community, take the necessary measures without delay,” it said.