Israel intercepts missile that Hezbollah said targeted Mossad headquarters

Hezbollah said Wednesday it fired a ballistic missile targeting the headquarters of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency near Tel Aviv, while Israeli forces carried out what the military said were widespread airstrikes against Hezbollah in southern and eastern Lebanon.

Israel’s military said it intercepted the Hezbollah missile, which prompted air raid sirens in Tel Aviv. There were no reports of damage or casualties.

Lebanon’s state news agency reported heavy Israeli bombardments Wednesday hitting areas across southern Lebanon.

Israel’s targets included dozens of ammunition depots, the Israeli military said. It added that about 40 Hezbollah rocket launches were detected, with some being intercepted by Israeli air defenses.

The escalated conflict along the Israel-Lebanon border is set to be the focus of a U.N. Security Council meeting later Wednesday in New York.

Pope Francis said Wednesday he was saddened by the situation in Lebanon and that the international community will work to stop what he called “this terrible escalation.”

Diplomatic efforts to contain the fighting and prevent a wider regional conflict included a meeting Tuesday between French President Emmanuel Macron and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, during which Macron’s office said he “highlighted the responsibility of Iran to support a general de-escalation and use its influence with destabilizing actors.”

Iran is a backer of both Hezbollah and the Hamas militant group that Israel is fighting in the Gaza Strip.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that Israel’s killing of top Hezbollah commanders will not bring the group to its knees.

"The organizational strength and human resources of Hezbollah is very strong and will not be critically hit by the killing of a senior commander, even if that is clearly a loss," Khamenei said.

Israel said one of its strikes in Beirut's suburbs Tuesday killed Ibrahim Muhammad Kobeisi, identified by Israel as a senior Hezbollah military commander who oversaw the group’s missile systems.

The conflict has also prompted some governments to urge their nationals to leave Lebanon. The United States announced it was sending more military personnel to the region to augment its existing forces, while Britain said it expected 700 of its forces to arrive Wednesday in Cyprus in preparation for potential evacuations of its nationals from Lebanon.

Lebanese health officials said Israeli attacks since Monday have killed at least 564 people and injured more than 1,800 others.

The United Nations refugee agency said it was “outraged and deeply saddened” by other Israeli attacks that killed two of its staff members.

Thousands of Lebanese, on their own and at the urging of Israel, have fled southern Lebanon in search of safety from the Israeli attacks, clogging roads north to Beirut.

“We should all be alarmed by the escalation. Lebanon is at the brink,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the U.N. General Assembly Tuesday. “The people of Lebanon, the people of Israel and the people of the world cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza.”

Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire since the outbreak of the war in Gaza last October 7, when the militant group began firing rockets in solidarity with Palestinians and its fellow Iran-backed ally Hamas. The fighting has killed dozens of people in Israel, hundreds in Lebanon, and displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the border.

The war in Gaza began with Hamas' October 2023 attack on southern Israel, in which Palestinian militants killed about 1,200 people and took about 250 others hostage. They are still holding around 100 captives, a third of whom are believed to be dead. Israeli airstrikes and ground attacks have killed more than 41,400 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, with the Israeli military saying the death toll includes thousands of Hamas fighters.

Hamas has been designated a terror group by the U.S., the United Kingdom, the European Union and others. Hezbollah also is a U.S.-designated terror group.

Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.