Israel Iran War News Live Updates: Israeli strike cuts highway linking Lebanon with Syria; Iran vows harsh retaliation if attacked

Israel Iran War Latest News Live: The Israeli military claims it has killed around 250 Hezbollah fighters, including several commanders, since its ground operations in Lebanon began this week.

Israel Air Strike Lebanon Latest News Live: An Israeli airstrike has cut off a main highway linking Lebanon with Syria, leaving two huge craters on either side of the road. The airstrike Friday rendered the road unusable for cars, leaving people to go on foot to the Masnaa Border Crossing where tens of thousands of people fleeing war in Lebanon have crossed into Syria over the past two weeks. Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has warned that if Israel “takes any step or measure against us, our retaliation will be stronger than the previous one.” In another update, the Israeli military estimates it has killed around 250 Hezbollah fighters since the start of its ground operation in Lebanon earlier this week.

What’s the situation? Most recent Israeli strikes in Beirut targeted senior Hezbollah leader Hashem Safieddine, news agency Reuters reported citing Axios. Safieddine is the leader who is widely regarded as the heir of the slain Hassan Nasrallah. More than 1,900 people have been killed and over 9,000 wounded in Lebanon in almost a year of cross-border fighting, with most of the deaths occurring in the past two weeks. The Israeli military has warned people to evacuate communities in southern Lebanon that are outside an UN-declared buffer zone, signalling that it may widen a ground operation launched earlier.

How India is responding to the conflict?  India has high stakes in the West Asian region and has voiced concerns over Iran and Israel being on the brink of an all-out war. Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security on Thursday to discuss the outbreak of fresh hostilities, news agency PTI said quoting sources. Earlier, the Ministry of External Affairs said: “It is important that the conflict doesn’t take a wider regional dimension and we urge that all issues be addressed through dialogue and diplomacy.”

Live Updates
20:36 (IST) 4 Oct 2024
Israel Iran War News Live: Israeli airstrikes kill 29 in Gaza amid renewed rocket fire from Hamas

Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 29 Palestinians, according to medics, as sirens blared in southern Israel following renewed rocket fire from militants in the enclave. Despite a year-long Israeli aerial and ground offensive that has devastated large parts of Gaza, Hamas-led militant factions continue to launch rockets into Israel.

The latest rocket barrage, the first in around two months according to the Israeli military, underscores the ongoing threat. "Almost a year after October 7, Hamas is still targeting our civilians with terrorism, and we will continue to take action against them," an Israeli military spokesperson said. (REUTERS)

19:35 (IST) 4 Oct 2024
Israel Iran War News Live: Two soldiers killed in combat in northern Israel, says IDF

In a statement released on Friday, the Israeli military said that two of its soldiers were killed in combat in northern Israel, news agency Reuters reported.

18:49 (IST) 4 Oct 2024
Israel Iran War News Live: Israeli military says around 250 Hezbollah fighters killed in southern Lebanon since start of ground operation

The Israeli military on Friday said that around 250 Hezbollah fighters were killed in southern Lebanon since it launched ground operation, news agency Reuters reported. Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said the military was still assessing the damage caused by its strike on the Hezbollah Intelligence Headquarters in Beirut on Thursday night.

18:15 (IST) 4 Oct 2024
Israel Iran War News Live: Iran's foreign minister warns of harsh retaliation if Israel responds to recent strikes

Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday warned Israel that if it carries out an attack on Iran, Tehran will retaliate in a harsh manner, the Associated Press reported. “If the Israeli entity takes any step or measure against us, our retaliation will be stronger than the previous one,” Araghchi, who was in Beirut to meet Lebanese officials, said.

17:07 (IST) 4 Oct 2024
Israel Iran War News Live: Sirens sound in southern Israel for first time in two months, says IDF

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Friday said that sirens are currently sounding for the first time in approximately two months in southern Israel. "For the first time in approx. 2 months, there are sirens sounding in southern Israel. Almost a year after October 7, Hamas is still threatening our civilians with their terrorism and we will continue operating against them," the IDF said in a post on X.

16:30 (IST) 4 Oct 2024
Israel Iran War News Live: Israeli strike near south Lebanon hospital leads to temporary evacuation, halt in medical services

An Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese town of Marjayoun on Friday, which hit around five metres from the entrance of its main hospital, led to the medical staff deciding on temporary evacuation of the premises, Reuters reported hospital director Mounes Klakesh as saying.

"No one was wounded from the medical staff but we have decided to evacuate temporarily until the security situation becomes clearer," Klakesh said.

16:26 (IST) 4 Oct 2024
Israel Iran War News Live: Israel military says it struck underground tunnel crossing from Lebanon's border to Syria

Israel's military on Friday said that it struck an underground tunnel crossing from Lebanon's border into Syria the previous day, which had enabled the transfer and storage of large quantities of weapons, news agency Reuters reported.

15:43 (IST) 4 Oct 2024
Israel Iran War News Live: Most of Lebanon's displacement shelters full, says UN refugee agency

An official from the UNHCR on Friday said that most of Lebanon's 900 displacement shelters were full, adding that people fleeing Israeli strikes were sleeping out in the open, news agency Reuters reported.

"Most of the nearly 900 government established collective shelters in Lebanon have no more capacity," UNHCR's Rula Amin told a Geneva press briefing. "With the onset of winter, UNHCR is concerned that conditions for those affected by the escalating conflict in other will only worsen," Reuters quoted her as saying.

15:35 (IST) 4 Oct 2024
Israel Iran War News Live: Supreme Leader Khamenei calls Iran's attack on Israel 'legal and legitimate'

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday said that his country's recent missile strike on Israel was "legal and legitimate", adding that it was minimum punishment for Israel's "crimes", Reuters reported. Addressing a huge crowd during the Friday prayer sermons, Khamenei said that Iran will not " procrastinate nor act hastily to carry out its duty" in confronting Israel.

15:27 (IST) 4 Oct 2024
Israel Iran War News Live: Israel's military says it has eliminated head of Hezbollah communication networks

Israel's military on Friday said that it had eliminated the head of Hezbollah's communication networks Mohammad Rashid Sakafi, news agency Reuters reported. They added that they had conducted a "precise, intelligence-based strike" in Beirut on Thursday.

14:29 (IST) 4 Oct 2024
Israel Iran War News Live: Khamenei says Oct 7 attack was legitimate act, so was Iran' attack on Israel

Addressing worshippers with a rifle by his side, Khamenei says Muslim nations have to "strap the belt of defence from Afghanistan to Yemen, from Iran to Gaza and Lebanon", AFP reported

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday defended Iran's missile attack on Israel as "legal and legitimate". 

"The operation of our armed forces a few nights ago was totally legal and legitimate," he said. Iran will "not delay nor rush to respond to Israel".

14:08 (IST) 4 Oct 2024
Israel Iran War News Live: Khamenei begins leading Friday prayers at Tehran mosque

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has begun leading the Friday prayers at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla mosque in central Tehran, news agency AFP reported

13:59 (IST) 4 Oct 2024
Israel Iran War News Live: Khamenei at rare Friday sermon in Tehran with head of 3 branches of govt

Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, is leading today's Friday prayer in Mosalla, Tehran.

"Head of three branches of the government, President Masoud Pezeshkian , Speaker of the parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Judiciary Chief, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i, are also attending," Tehran correspondent of the AFP said in a post on X

Mizan News Agency published this photo of the Supreme Leader and the Heads of Three Branches of the Government from today's ceremony. (Credit: X/ @SaeedAzimi1772 )

13:52 (IST) 4 Oct 2024
Israel Iran War News Live: Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei reaches Friday prayers venue in Tehran

"Iran's Supreme Leader has entered Tehran's Mossalla, the venue chosen for the Friday prayers. A part of the sermons delivered by Ayatollah Khamenei at the Friday prayers will be in Arabic," Tehran correspondent of the AFP said in a post on X.

His First Friday sermon in five years comes three days before the one-year anniversary of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, triggered by the Iran-backed Palestinian group’s October 7 attack.

13:04 (IST) 4 Oct 2024
Israel Iran War News Live: Who is Iranian foreign minister set to meet in Beirut

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi who landed in Beirut a while ago is set to meet Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and speaker of parliament Nabih Berri, who is a close ally of Iran-backed Hezbollah, according to his schedule.

As per a Reuters live broadcast showed an Iranian-flagged plane landing at Beirut airport, just hours after air strikes hit outside the airport perimeter overnight.

12:49 (IST) 4 Oct 2024
Israel Iran War News Live: Iran's foreign minister lands in Beirut, says Lebanese media

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has landed in Beirut, according to Lebanese official media.

"An Iranian plan has landed at the Rafik Hariri International Airport with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on board," the Lebanese National News Agency said of the first visit by a top Iranian official since an Israeli strike killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut last week -- AFP

12:27 (IST) 4 Oct 2024
Israel Iran War News Live: Iran Supreme Leader Khamenei will ‘honour slain Hezbollah chief’ in rare sermon today

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will be leading the Friday prayers in the country, his first in nearly five years, days after Tehran launched a missile barrage on Israel after the killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.

Khamenei will be leading prayers at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla mosque in central Tehran, according to his official website. The Friday prayers will follow a commemoration ceremony at 10.30 am local time for Nasrallah.

12:25 (IST) 4 Oct 2024
Israel Iran War News Live: Israeli strike hits rescue workers in Beirut's southern suburbs, wounds three

An Israeli strike hit Hezbollah-linked rescue workers in Beirut's southern suburbs, wounding three, a Lebanese security source told Reuters on Friday

11:29 (IST) 4 Oct 2024
Israel Iran War News Live: Where is Hashem Safieddine, widely regarded as Hezbollah's next chief

The most recent Israeli strikes in Beirut is said to have targetted senior Hezbollah leader Hashem Safieddine, news agency Reuters reported citing Axios.

The air raids targeted Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine, rumoured successor to its assassinated leader Hassan Nasrallah, in an underground bunker, Axios reporter Barak Ravid said on X, citing three Israeli officials.

Safieddine's fate was not clear, he said.

Israel's military declined comment.

11:00 (IST) 4 Oct 2024
Israel Iran War News Live: Israeli strike closes off road used to flee Lebanon to Syria, Lebanese transport minister

Following continued attacks overnight, an Israeli strike on Friday morning near Lebanon's Masnaa border crossing with Syria is said to have cut off a road used by hundreds of thousands of people to flee Israeli bombardments in recent days,

Lebanon Transport Minister Ali Hamieh told Reuters the strike hit inside Lebanese territory near the border crossing, creating a four-metre (12 feet) wide crater.

An Israel Defence Forces (IDF) military spokesman had accused Lebanese armed group Hezbollah on Thursday of using the crossing to transport military equipment into Lebanon. "The IDF will not allow the smuggling of these weapons and will not hesitate to act if forced to do so, as it has done throughout this war," IDF spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X.

10:20 (IST) 4 Oct 2024
Israel Iran War News Live: Here's more on India's strategic ties with Israel and Iran

India, which has strategic ties with both Israel and Iran, is attempting to stay ambivalent at the moment.

The strategic relationship with Israel, especially the defence and security partnership, has grown and deepened under the Narendra Modi government. The two sides have strong shared concerns over extremism and terrorism. Israel has emerged as a major defence supplier alongside the US, France, and Russia — and New Delhi remembers that the Israelis had stepped up at its time of crisis during the Kargil war in 1999.

Iran, on the other hand, has been a major supplier of crude to India. Also, the two countries share concerns on terrorism emanating from Pakistan and Afghanistan, and on the Taliban’s treatment of minorities and lack of an inclusive and representative government in Kabul. The Chabahar port is a project of great strategic and economic importance to India.

Past tensions between Israel and Iran have brought discomfiture to New Delhi. Widening of the conflict in the Middle East will make it difficult for India to stay ambivalent.

09:51 (IST) 4 Oct 2024
Israel Iran War News Live: Iran's Khamenei to give rare Friday sermon after attack on Israel

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is set to give his first Friday sermon in five years today (October 4), as per AFP .

This comes three days before the one-year anniversary of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, triggered by the Iran-backed Palestinian group's October 7 attack.

As per the report which cited his official website, the supreme leader who wields the highest authority in Iran will lead Muslims in prayer at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla mosque in central Tehran.

09:44 (IST) 4 Oct 2024
Israel Iran War News Live: 250 Americans go back home in US-arranged flights

Flights aranged by the US have reportedly brought about 250 Americans and their relatives out of Lebanon this week even as tensions between Iran and Israel continue to flare.

Thousands of others are still there amid airstrikes and diminishing commercial flights, AP said.

In Washington, senior State Department and White House officials met Thursday with two top Arab American officials to discuss US efforts to help American citizens leave Lebanon.

09:27 (IST) 4 Oct 2024
Israel Iran War News Live: Israeli strike in Beirut kills 9 in southern Lebanon

An Israeli airstrike on an apartment building in the Lebanese capital killed nine people, according to Lebanon's health ministry.

Israel has been pounding areas of the country where the Hezbollah militant group has a strong presence since late September. However, there was no warning before the strike late Wednesday, which hit the building close to the United Nations headquarters, the prime minister’s office and parliament.

09:16 (IST) 4 Oct 2024
Israel Iran War News Live: How India is a 'friend to both sides' in the ongoing West Asia conflict

India has high stakes in the West Asian region and is keenly tracking the developments even as Iran and Israel are on the brink of an all out war.

The Ministry of External Affairs has said: “It is important that the conflict doesn’t take a wider regional dimension and we urge that all issues be addressed through dialogue and diplomacy.”

New Delhi has so far not offered to play a mediatory role. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken to both Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the last 10 days.

09:03 (IST) 4 Oct 2024
Israel Iran War News Live: US President Biden says US is going to 'protect Israel'

When asked if he would send American troops to help Israel, US President Joe Biden responded: "We have already helped Israel. We are going to protect Israel."

He also said that such a war can be avoided but more needed to be done to ensure that, news agency Reuters reported.

Tensions have been high since Israel, having seemingly concluded its military operation against Hamas in Gaza, shifted its focus to the larger and more powerful Iranian proxy, Hezbollah, by launching a military operation in Lebanon. This followed dramatic explosions involving pagers and walkie-talkies targeting Hezbollah members, as well as the assassination of its long-time leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

08:44 (IST) 4 Oct 2024
Israel Iran War News Live: Israel extends evacuation warnings in Lebanon, strikes continue overnight

Strikes continued overnight following a series of blasts in Beirut's southern suburbs, news agency AP reported early Friday.

On Thursday, the Israeli military warned people to evacuate communities in southern Lebanon that are outside a UN-declared buffer zone. This was a considered to be a signal that it may widen a ground operation launched earlier this week against the Hezbollah militant group.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces said they had struck around 200 Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, including weapons storage facilities and observation posts.

08:31 (IST) 4 Oct 2024
Israel Iran War News Live: Biden thinks there won't be an ‘all-out war’ in Middle East

President Joe Biden on Thursday said that he did not believe there is going to be an “all-out war” in the Middle East, a region that has been on edge amid Israel’s assaults in Gaza and Lebanon.

When asked about if there would be a war in the region, Biden said: “How confident are you it's not going to rain? Look, I don't believe there is going to be an all-out war. I think we can avoid it.” He added: “But there is a lot to do yet, a lot to do yet.”

What’s the context:

Tensions between Iran and Israel have been high as Israel has been weighing options to respond to Tehran's ballistic missile attack on Tuesday.

08:20 (IST) 4 Oct 2024
Israel Iran War News Live: The importance of Hashem Safieddine

As Israel targets Hezbollah’s headquarters in Beirut and its leader Hashem Safieddine, we take a quick look at who he is and his importance in the region:

📌 Since the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Safieddine has been touted as his likely successor. Safieddine, a cousin of Nasrallah and a cleric like his predecessor, has been outspoken in his criticism of Israel and the United States, and has consistently advocated for the Palestinian cause.

📌 Born in 1964 in southern Lebanon, Safieddine has long been groomed as Nasrallah’s successor. He was called back from Iran in the 1990s, where he had been pursuing studies, to take on a leadership role within Hezbollah. Just two years after Nasrallah took the reins of Hezbollah, Safieddine was appointed head of the group’s Executive Council.

📌 Safieddine has managed Hezbollah’s civilian operations, overseeing areas such as the group’s education system and finances, while Nasrallah focused on strategic matters.

📌 In 2017, the US State Department designated Safieddine a terrorist. The same year, he was also was blacklisted by Saudi Arabia for his role in supporting Hezbollah’s activities and his backing of the Syrian regime.

08:14 (IST) 4 Oct 2024
Israeli strike on Beirut targets senior Hezbollah leader Hashem Safieddine: Report

Weeks after killing Hezbollah’s chief Hassan Nasrallah, Israeli strikes in Beirut targetted the group’s headquarters and its senior leader Hashem Safieddine, news agency Reuters reported citing Axios.

Safieddine is the man widely regarded as the heir of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

08:11 (IST) 4 Oct 2024
Welcome to our Live Blog

Good Morning and welcome to our Live Blog where we cover the ongoing crisis in the Middle East, amplified by Israel's strikes in Lebanon and Iran. Follow this space for latest news and updates from the region

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