While the Bekaa and the Baalbeck district have been particularly affected by Israeli strikes in recent days, our correspondent reported that a dispute between two families in the locality of Hamoudiyeh, east of Brital, escalated into an exchange of gunfire and rocket fire.
Hezbollah has released a new video of less than a minute aimed at boosting the morale of its fighters. This video, composed of a montage of scenes featuring fighters on the front lines, includes a recording of the former secretary-general of the organization, who was killed on Sept. 27 during an Israeli strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, stating to the Israeli army: "You will lose all your tanks if you bring them into Lebanon."
Lebanon death toll from Israeli attacks rises to 2,897, Health Ministry says
Israeli attacks have killed at least 2,897 people and injured 13,150 in Lebanon, with 30 fatalities reported in the past 24 hours, Lebanon's health ministry said on Friday.
The situation in northern Gaza is "apocalyptic," with all its residents facing an "imminent risk of death," according to leaders of major U.N. humanitarian agencies. More details here.
Today, Hezbollah's ‘War Media’ released only five statements regarding its operations against Israeli army positions. Typically, it publishes dozens of updates daily, with a record of 48 operations within 24 hours, especially aimed at countering Israeli army advances in southern Lebanon. Among the five statements today, two referred to attacks carried out overnight, while the remaining three were related to afternoon strikes.
"The Israeli triangle eliminated the terrorist Izz al-Din Kassab, a member of Hamas's political bureau and head of national relations within the organization," announced the Israeli army's Arabic spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, on X. The term "triangle" refers to the coordination among the three security services: the Israeli army, Shin Bet (internal security), and Mossad (foreign intelligence agency). According to Adraee, "Kassab was one of the last members of Hamas's political bureau still alive in the Gaza Strip." "We continue to eliminate Hamas terrorists, from leaders down to regular members," he asserted.
Several suspects were arrested on Friday in Israel in relation to a leak of classified documents from the Prime Minister's Office, the Rishon Lezion Magistrate Court announced in a statement.
The arrests were the result of a joint investigation by the Shin Bet, the police, and the Israeli army, on suspicions of risking sensitive information and harming the achievement of the war goals in Gaza, Judge Menachem Mizrahi noted in the statement.
The Israeli Prime Minister's Office responded shortly after, saying that nobody who was arrested was officially employed by the office. "Contrary to the publications, no one from the office was investigated or arrested," the office said continued.
Hezbollah announced that its fighters targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers south of Khiam in the Marjeyoun district with a salvo of rockets at 6 p.m.
Since Monday night, the Israeli army has been attempting to advance on Khiam, a village located about six kilometers from the border. This advance has faced strong resistance from Hezbollah, which has struck Israeli soldiers and tanks in the area dozens of times.
Israeli aircraft broke the sound barrier over Lebanon. The noise was heard in several regions of the country.
Latest developments in the Bekaa, according to our correspondent in the region:
- Israeli aircraft carried out simultaneous strikes on the towns of Aalaq and Saaideh, west of Baalbeck.
- The strike in Aalaq killed two children and their parents.
- Israeli forces also targeted Libbaya in western Bekaa, as well as an area between Yohmor and Sohmor.
Latest updates from South Lebanon, according to our correspondent in the region:
Israeli military aircraft targeted central Kfar Roummane in the Nabatieh district.
Another strike hit a seven-story building in the al-Bayad neighborhood of Nabatieh. The building houses an office of the Amal Movement and the family home of Ali Daoud, an Amal fighter recently killed in an Israeli strike. So far, the attack has resulted in one death and five injuries.
U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein, responsible for leading cease-fire negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, denied reports that the U.S. had asked Lebanon to declare a unilateral cease-fire. Earlier, the office of Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati also denied these claims. “This is false,” Hochstein wrote on X in response to Reuters' report.
According to local news outlet Lebanon24, the explosion that was heard between Damour and Saadiyat (Chouf district) was the result of the Lebanese Army detonating ammunition.
At least four people have been killed in the Israeli airstrikes that targeted the city of Sour this afternoon, according to our correspondent in the South. Rescue teams are still looking for missing people.
Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper that the American initiative for a cease-fire in Lebanon has failed as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Lebanon's roadmap that was agreed upon with U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein.
Berri added that the political movement to resolve the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel has been postponed until after the U.S. elections set to take place on Nov. 5. He said this leaves matters in Lebanon "subject to developments on the ground", expressing fear of "turning Lebanon into a second Gaza."
"Hochstein has not communicated with us since he left Israel", Berri added noting that "Hochstein promised in his previous visit that he would go to to Israel if he saw positive elements but he has not informed us of anything since he left Tel Aviv.”
An explosion has been heard between the city of Damour and the village of Saadiyat in the Chouf district, according to local media outlets. The reason behind the explosion remains unknown.
Hamas has refused to consider a proposal for a short cease-fire in the war in Gaza put forward by mediating countries because it did not meet "the needs of the Palestinians," an official from the movement stated on Friday.
➡️ More details here.
The President of Parliament Nabih Berri mentioned the developments on the ground in southern Lebanon and the situation of UNIFIL "south of the Litani and the aggressions it is subjected to" during a meeting with the commander of the Blue Helmets, General Aroldo Lazaro, in Ain el-Tineh.
"Since at least September, Israel has missed more than one opportunity to establish a cease-fire, implement Resolution 1701, and allow the return of displaced persons on both sides of the border," said Berri, who also detailed the discussions held with the American envoy Amos Hochstein on this subject. He reaffirmed that "Lebanon is committed to implementing Resolution 1701, considered the only option for security and stability in the region."
Berri also received the outgoing Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdallah Bou Habib, with whom the latest developments and the situation of the displaced who fled the bombings in Lebanon were discussed.
Two Israeli airstrikes have targeted the neighborhood of Baydar in the village of Jouaiyya (Sour), according to our correspondent in the South.
⚡ Kamal Kharrazi, an adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader, told pro-Iran broadcaster Al Mayadeen on Friday that Tehran is likely to increase the range of its ballistic missiles.
Kharrazi also indicated that Iran's nuclear doctrine could change if the nation faced an existential threat.
An Israeli airstrike on Labweh (Baalbeck) at around 3:40 p.m. killed three people and wounded two.
Latest updates from South Lebanon, according to our correspondent in the region:
- An undetermined number of people have been killed in the Israeli airstrikes that targeted the city of Sour around an hour ago.
- The Israeli army has destroyed a mosque in the village of Dhayra (Sour).
- Israeli warplanes have struck the village of Taybeh (Marjeyoun).
⚡ Twelve people are reported missing following three separate Israeli airstrikes earlier today that targeted Younine, Bednayel, and Saaideh (Baalbeck), according to our correspondent in the Bekaa.
These strikes also killed twelve people and injured three others.
⚡ In South Lebanon, Israeli warplanes fired multiple missiles at two buildings near the Imam Hussein complex in the city of Sour, according to our correspondent.
- Israeli airstrikes also targeted the al-Housh area (Sour) and the villages of Tebnine (Bint Jbeil).
- An Israeli drone struck a garage in the outskirts of Ain Ebel (Bint Jbeil).
- Israeli warplanes bombed a house in the village of Arab Salim (Nabatieh).
Latest updates from the Bekaa, according to our correspondent in the region:
- Israeli warplanes have carried out 16 strikes on villages in the Baalbeck district in half an hour.
- At least six people have been killed in the village of Saaideh (Baalbeck) as a result of an Israeli airstrike.
- Israeli airstrikes have targeted Houch al-Rafqah, the outskirts of Taraiyya.
- Since 12 p.m., Israeli airstrikes on the Baalbeck district killed at least 41 people, according to our correspondent in the Bekaa.
In south Lebanon:
- A second Israeli strike targeted Ansar (Nabatieh) and another Zrarieh (Saida).
- Fighter jets bombed Bint Jbeil, Hanine and Ainata.
Hezbollah announced that it fired rockets at Kiryat Shmona, an Israeli town near the border, at 6 a.m. this morning.
In south Lebanon and the Bekaa:
- Fighter jets carried out six strikes on the Zahrani Valley, in the direction of Aazzeh and Arkay (in the districts of Nabatieh and Saida respectively).
- Strikes targeted Nahleh and Ansar (Baalbeck).
The situation in the Bekaa and South Lebanon:
- An Israeli strike targeted Ansar (Nabatieh).
- A heavy bombardment targeted Bednayel (Baalbeck), already heavily hit yesterday. Local residents called for bulldozers to be sent to the village to clear the rubble.
- A strike targeted Younine (Baalbeck), causing injuries.
- The strike on Bazzalieh, reported earlier, targeted the funeral of a person killed in another strike three days ago.
Israeli strikes have again targeted Baalbeck, at the Iaat crossroads, as well as the villages of Khodr and Bednayel and the surroundings of Harabta and Nabi Sheet, according to L'Orient Today correspondent.
According to Haaretz, one person was seriously injured in an olive grove in the northern Israeli town of Sha'ab in the latest rocket attack from Lebanon.
Hezbollah announced that it fired rockets at the towns of Karmiel and Ma'alot-Tarshiha in northern Israel at 1:45 p.m.
The number of victims of the Israeli strike earlier on the village of Amhaz has risen to 12 people, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent in the Bekaa.
The Israeli airstrike between Rasm al-Hadath and the Harabta plain (Baalbeck) killed five people.
The polio vaccination campaign is due to resume on Saturday in the northern Gaza Strip, currently the scene of intense Israeli military operations, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.
"Polio vaccination in northern Gaza is set to resume tomorrow. We are assured of the necessary humanitarian pause in Gaza City to carry out the campaign," wrote Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on the social network X.
The U.N. said on Friday that it is seriously short of funds for humanitarian aid to Lebanon, with its appeal only 17 percent funded.
"The needs are increasing by the minute and the pledges of funds are not enough to buy food, medicine or shelter," said the spokesman for the U.N. humanitarian coordination agency (OCHA), Jens Laerke, at a press briefing in Geneva.
"We are facing a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation" and "we therefore hope that U.N. agencies and our partners will receive funds quickly," he said.
The situation in the Bekaa and south Lebanon:
- The number of victims of the Israeli strike that targeted Tarayya (Baalbeck) rose to two dead and four injured.
- An Israeli airstrike between Rasm al-Hadath and the Harabta plain (Baalbeck) caused an unknown number of casualties.
- Israeli strikes targeted the Ras al-Ain area in the city of Baalbeck, as well as the surroundings of Douris (Baalbeck).
- Israeli fighter jets fired several missiles at the village of Hanin (Bint Jbeil) in southern Lebanon.
Eight people were killed in an Israeli strike on Amhaz, in the Bekaa, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent.
A senior U.N. official warned of "great danger" hanging over the historic cities of Sour in the south and Baalbeck in the east of Lebanon, which have been hit by Israeli airstrikes that say they are targeting Hezbollah.
"Ancient Phoenician cities, steeped in history, are in great danger of being left in ruins," U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert posted on X, citing Sour and Baalbeck, two cities that are home to UNESCO World Heritage sites. "Lebanon's cultural heritage must not be another victim of this devastating conflict," she stated.
Hezbollah announced that it had fired a large number of rockets at a group of Israeli soldiers in the Maslakh neighborhood, south of Khiam (Marjayoun), at 4:30 a.m.
The Israeli army has been trying since Monday evening to advance on Khiam, a village located about six kilometers from the border. This advance has encountered strong resistance from Hezbollah, which has struck Israeli soldiers and tanks in the area dozens of times.
In south Lebanon, where the Israeli air force carried out 18 aerial bombardments between midnight and 11 a.m., artillery fire targeted, early in the afternoon, Tiri, Kounine, Yater, Srebbine and Ainata (Bint Jbeil), according to L'Orient Today's correspondent.
The situation in the Bekaa:
- A woman was killed and five people injured in an Israeli strike on Taraya (Baalbeck).
- A bombing on Qsarnaba caused one casualty.
- An Israeli strike targeted Bazzalieh.
The body of a member of the Nabatieh municipal council in southern Lebanon was pulled from the rubble after an Israeli strike on a house in the city's "al-Maslakh" (slaughterhouse) neighborhood, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent.
The president of the Nabatieh municipality, Ahmad Khalil, was killed on Oct. 16, along with other members of the council, in a strike on the municipality.
The health ministry in Gaza announced a new death toll of 43,259 in the Palestinian territory since the start of the war with Israel more than a year ago.
At least 55 people have been killed in the past 24 hours, he said in a statement, adding that 101,827 people had been injured in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war, triggered by an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is "deeply concerned" by attacks by the Israeli military on health services in its war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, a spokesperson said.
WHO is "deeply, deeply concerned about the increasing attacks on health workers and health facilities in Lebanon, and we stress again and again that health care is not a target," WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris told a news briefing in Geneva.
The Israeli army said it targeted "weapons manufacturing sites and Hezbollah headquarters" in its multiple strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut and Nabatieh overnight. In Nabatieh, the Israeli air force also bombed the "intelligence infrastructure" of the party, according to a message published on X by army spokesperson Avichay Adraee.
The situation in south Lebanon:
- An Israeli drone struck the Maalieh Plain (Sour), causing an as yet undetermined number of victims.
- Israeli strikes targeted Tiri, Baraachit, Safad al-Battikh, Shaqra, Kfar Dounine (Bint Jbeil) and Mahmoudieh (Jezzine).
- Shebaa (Hasbaya) was hit by Israeli artillery.
Israel's expansion of strikes signals its "refusal" of any cease-fire, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said.
A column of smoke rises following Israeli airstrikes on a village south of Sour, south Lebanon, on Sept. 25, 2024. (Credit: Hassan Fneich/AFP)
After an Israeli airstrike on Oct. 19 damaged the main water network connecting their homes to the Shebaa spring, residents of nine villages in southeastern Lebanon are without water.
Since the start of the war between Hezbollah and Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, at least 29 water facilities have been damaged, affecting the water supply of more than 360,000 people. Read here.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health announced that last night's strike on Qmatieh (Aley) left three dead and five injured.
An entire wall of the Toron Citadel, a fortress built during the Crusader era in Tebnine (Bint Jbeil) in south Lebanon, was destroyed this week by Israeli strikes, Carmen Fawwaz, head of cultural activities in the village, confirmed to L'Orient Today.
"The fortress is at risk of being completely destroyed. There are even strikes taking place right now not far from this archaeological site," said Fawwaz, who is calling for the protection of this heritage site.
Since the early hours of the day, several bombings have targeted south Lebanon, according to the sources of L'Orient Today's correspondent.
Strikes targeted Shehabieh, Mjadel, Jwaya (Sour), causing casualties, the “al-Maslakh” area of Nabatieh and Tiri (Bint Jbeil).
Bint Jbeil was heavily hit at 6 a.m. by two airstrikes and around twenty artillery shells hit Bint Jbeil and neighboring Ainata and Kounin.
According to the state-run National News Agency (NNA), Thursday's strikes on Baalbeck and its surroundings, which took place after a new call to evacuate launched a few hours earlier by the Israeli army, left 11 dead and 14 injured.
Shortly before 11 p.m. yesterday, and before the series of strikes on the different regions of Lebanon, the Israeli army warned of a response after the death, in the north of Israel, of "seven civilians" following the fire of "Hezbollah rockets."
"Hezbollah's deadly attacks will not go unanswered," the army wrote.
Five civilians, including four farm workers of Thai origin, were killed in a rocket attack on Metula, near the border with Lebanon, and two others in a strike on Haifa.
A strike also targeted an apartment in Qmatiyeh (Aley), killing at least two people and seriously injuring four, including children, according to an initial report by local media. Qmatiyeh is one of the villages in the Aley region that has been hit several times since the launch of the large-scale Israeli offensive which began on Sept. 23.
Following Israeli threats, fighter jets also repeatedly bombed Nabatiyeh last night. The call to evacuate did not contain a specific location or building, but called on "people near Hezbollah infrastructure" to leave the area.
The bombings targeted the "Rahbet" neighborhood, an area near Shukin and the outskirts of the city's vocational school and the evangelical school. Other bombings hit the city, but it was not possible to determine precisely where, due to the thickness of the smoke rising in the area.
Last night saw Israel restart bombings on Beirut's southern suburbs – with the last ones having taken place over the weekend – with evacuation orders being issued at around 1:30 a.m. and strikes starting a little after 2 a.m.
The orders called on residents of Ghobeiry, Haret Hreik, Burj al-Barajneh and Tahouita al-Ghadir to leave the area, however, at least half of the orders issued came after the Israeli bombings had already begun.
Mreijeh and Hadi Nasrallah Road were also targeted in the strikes.
Over 10 bombings were reported with, according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA), dozens of buildings being destroyed in the bombardment and fires breaking out.
For more on the overnight bombings, read here.
Make sure to read the Morning Brief so you are caught up with what has been happening.
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