This Israeli government is simply mad’

The Israeli government is still the “culprit” as it steps up its attacks on Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon, and as Iran and Iraq enter this rapidly widening conflict, says Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst.

“The fascists and the fanatics of the Israeli government that have been carrying out the genocide in Gaza this past year, and that are responsible for expanding that war against the people in Gaza and later on against the people of the West Bank, are the ones who are expanding the war against Lebanon and beyond,” Bishara said.

“Instead of finishing up with one war, accepting a ceasefire, they decided that they’re going to start another war.”

Bishara rejected Israel’s continued claim that it is targeting “terrorists” and criticised the international community for failing to step up and enforce international law.

But even Israel’s staunchest supporters, he said, could not ignore Israel’s most recent escalation.

“The world, the so-called international community, including the ‘Western world’ community, is seeing more and more that this Israeli government is simply mad,” said Bishara. “It’s actually going crazy. It’s totally apocalyptical.”

Israel has not yet decided how to respond to Iran: Biden

US President Joe Biden says the US military and diplomats are “constantly in contact” with their Israeli counterparts.

He said he would think about alternatives to striking Iranian oilfields if he were in Israel’s shoes, adding that he thinks Israel has not yet concluded how to respond to Iran.

Biden also said sanctions on Iran are “under consideration right now”.

Biden made his remarks to reporters at a White House news briefing.

Hezbollah’s rockets have caused fires in northern Israel

The Israeli army has said that at least 180 rockets were fired from southern Lebanon into northern Israel, many of them intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defence system.

However, many of them have impacted open areas and caused huge fires that local workers are still trying to put out.

The Israeli army says that they are in Lebanon for this exact reason: to try and stop the rocket fire, to quash Hezbollah’s military capabilities.

They said they had two goals in mind. The first is to restore the balance of power along the border, meaning they want to destroy Hezbollah, and the second is to return those evacuated Israelis back to those towns and settlements along the northern border.

The Israeli military and the defence minister alike have said that they have more surprises in store for Hezbollah and that they haven’t unleashed their full capabilities just yet, but that they are prepared to do so from land, air and sea.

Ireland rejects Israeli army’s request to withdraw peacekeepers from Lebanese border: Report

The Irish Times reports that Dublin has rejected an Israeli military request for Ireland to withdraw its peacekeeping troops from an outpost along the Lebanon-Israel border. Ireland, which has a single outpost designated as post 6-52 on the border, is one of several countries contributing troops to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL.

UNIFIL was set up in 1978 to monitor the withdrawal of Israeli forces after they invaded Lebanon in reprisal for a Palestinian attack. UNIFIL, as well as unarmed technical observers known as UNTSO, have since then been stationed in southern Lebanon to monitor hostilities along the demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel, known as the Blue Line.

Its roughly 10,000 peacekeepers are tasked with monitoring the ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel. The Irish platoon stationed at the post is tasked with observing and reporting any incursions along the border.

The request for the troop removal raises concerns that Israel may be preparing a broader invasion of southern Lebanon, with the prospect of expanding operations along the entire border.

UNIFIL has communicated to Israel that the peacekeepers will not be withdrawn, reinforcing its commitment to maintaining stability in the region.

Israeli army issues new evacuation order for Beirut

The Israeli army has issued an order for residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs to evacuate immediately. The military specifically called on those living in a building in the Bourj el-Barajneh area to abandon their homes.

The issuance of these evacuation orders, which has become a near-nightly occurrence from the Israeli army, shortly preceded violent air strikes on the Lebanese capital.

#عاجل ‼️ انذار عاجل جديد إلى سكان الضاحية الجنوبية وتحديدًا المتواجدين في المبنى المحدد في الخارطة والواقع في حي برج البراجنة

🔴أنتم متواجدون بالقرب من منشآت ومصالح تابعة لحزب الله حيث سيعمل ضدها جيش الدفاع على مدى الزمني القريب
🔴من أجل سلامتكم وسلامة أبناء عائلتكم عليكم اخلاء… pic.twitter.com/Ob6mZHvs8c

— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) October 4, 2024

Blast heard in south Beirut after Israeli evacuation orders

A blast has been heard and smoke seen rising over Beirut’s southern suburbs, according to witnesses, Reuters is reporting.

The explosion came shortly after the Israeli military issued a new alert for residents of the area to immediately evacuate.

Four reported killed in Israeli drone strike on north Lebanon refugee camp

Local Lebanese and Palestinian media have reported that four people were killed in an Israeli drone strike in the far north of Lebanon.

The strike targeted an apartment building in the Beddawi camp for Palestinian refugees, which is situated near Lebanon’s Tripoli city – more than 80km (50 miles) north of the capital Beirut.

The news reports did not provide information on the four victims.

According to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), the Beddawi camp was established in 1955 and has five UNRWA-run schools catering to more than 3,700 students among the camp’s estimated 18,000 inhabitants.

Hamas confirms military official, family killed in north Lebanon drone strike

Hamas has now confirmed that one of its military officials, Saeed Atallah Ali, was killed in the attack along with his wife and two young daughters.

“We pledge to our people to avenge the pure blood that was shed and to confirm that our upcoming series of responses will be in actions before words,” Hamas said in a statement.


Israeli military announces new evacuation orders for Beirut

The evacuation orders, announced on X by the Israeli military’s Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee, ordered the residents of the Burj al-Barajneh and Haret Hreik areas of southern Beirut to leave their homes.

“You are located near Hezbollah facilities and interests, and the [Israeli military] will operate against them in the near future,” he said alongside an image of a city map with targeted buildings highlighted in red.

Hezbollah says it inflicted ‘casualties’ on Israeli forces attempting to infiltrate Odaisseh

The Lebanese armed group said its fighters clashed with Israeli forces when they attempted to advance towards the town of Odaisseh in southern Lebanon late on Friday evening.

Hezbollah said it carried out a “huge explosion” on the Israeli troops, forcing them to retreat and inflicting casualties and injuries. It said Israeli forces have since resumed their advance and clashes are ongoing.

No death toll for the incident has been announced. Israel is yet to confirm the attack.

_{Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the southern Lebanese town of Odaisseh on September 18}

Hezbollah dismisses footage of Israeli soldiers in Lebanon

In a statement attributed to a field commander, Hezbollah has played down videos released by the Israeli military showing soldiers running through the streets and entering buildings in south Lebanon, stressing that they do not prove Israeli advances.

The Hezbollah commander said the footage was taken just dozens of metres into the Lebanese side of the border.

“Everyone knows some southerners have built homes right by the border,” the statement said.

It added that the videos aim to improve the image of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is facing a crisis as the Israeli military’s elite units are suffering heavy casualties in Lebanon since the ground invasion started three days ago.

The commander said Hezbollah fighters continued to fend off Israeli forces on multiple fronts along the border on Friday.

“The fighters of the resistance are monitoring and following and repelling the enemy’s movements on the front lines of south Lebanon,” the statement added.

Hezbollah says rocket attacks launched against Israeli military

The Lebanese armed group has announced that it has carried out rocket attacks against Israeli forces in recent hours.

US military having doubts about wisdom of its ‘ironclad’ support for Israel – Report

Military officials in the United States are debating whether sending more forces to the Middle East risks further emboldening Israel, according to a report in The New York Times.

US officials say its policy of military support for Israel seeks a “de-escalation of the situation through deterrence and diplomacy”. But some senior officials now question if it is having the desired effect, the paper says.

In the 12 months since Hamas attacked Israel, the Pentagon has supplied billions of dollars of weapons to Israel, while sending its own aircraft carriers, guided missile destroyers and fighter squadrons, as well as deploying 43,000 troops in the region.

The Times said several Pentagon officials expressed concern that Israel was waging an increasingly aggressive campaign against the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, knowing that “an armada of American warships and dozens of attack planes stand ready to help blunt any Iranian response”.

One official was quoted as saying it was in Israel‘s interest to take advantage of the beefed-up US military presence in the region to achieve its objectives of destroying Hamas and Hezbollah.

General Charles Q Brown Jr, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who previously commanded US air forces in the Middle East, has raised the issue in meetings at the Pentagon and the White House, The Times reported, citing US officials.

“If you’re Israel and you’re a military planner, you want to do all that while things are in the region, not after it leaves,” said Dana Stroul, the Pentagon’s former top official for Middle East policy, of US military presence.

On Sunday, Biden administration officials said they had talked to Israeli officials about limiting its ground invasion of Lebanon. But Israel’s raids this week have so far looked more like a more extensive operation is planned, other officials said.

US to provide humanitarian aid in response to Lebanon crisis

The State Department says that the United States will provide nearly $157m in new humanitarian assistance to support populations affected by conflict in Lebanon and the region.

The department said in a statement, “This funding will address new and existing needs of internally displaced persons and refugee populations inside Lebanon and the communities that host them.

“The assistance will also support those fleeing to neighbouring Syria,” the State Department said.

Washington provides Israel with at least $3.8bn in military aid annually, and US President Biden has greenlit $14bn in additional assistance to the US ally since the Gaza war began in October of last year.

How Israel and US manufactured the case for genocide in Gaza

Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara makes the case that Israel’s deep humiliation in the days after the October 7 Hamas attacks led it to collaborate with the US to manufacture a case for Palestinian genocide.

At least 8 dead following Israeli military attacks in central Gaza

The Israeli military has carried out several deadly air attacks in central Gaza in recent hours, the Wafa news agency reports.

They include:

Biden unsure if Netanyahu seeking to influence US election by rejecting peace deal

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/4/biden-unsure-if-netanyahu-holding-up-gaza-deal-to-influence-us-election

President Joe Biden says he doesn’t know if Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is holding up a peace deal in Gaza and Lebanon in order to influence the outcome of the 2024 US presidential election, The Associated Press news agency reports.

Biden was responding to comments made by one of his allies, Senator Chris Murphy, who said this week that he was concerned Netanyahu had little interest in peace, in part because of US politics.

“No administration has helped Israel more than I have,” Biden said Friday. “None. None. None. And I think Bibi [Netanyahu] should remember that. And whether he’s trying to influence the election, I don’t know but I’m not counting on that.”

US confirms ‘US citizen’ killed this week in Lebanon, corrects earlier report

The US State Department has corrected the record and now confirmed that a US citizen was killed in a reported Israeli air strike in Lebanon this week.

US citizen Kamel Ahmad Jawad, from Dearborn, Michigan, was killed in Lebanon in an Israeli air strike on Tuesday, according to his daughter, a friend and the US congresswoman representing his district.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said earlier this week that it was Washington’s understanding that Jawad was a legal permanent resident, not an American citizen.

On Friday, the State Department corrected its earlier erroneous information.

“We are aware and alarmed of reports of the death of Kamel Jawad, who we have confirmed is a US citizen,” the spokesperson said.

“As we have noted repeatedly, it is a moral and strategic imperative that Israel take all feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm,” he said.

Today, my friend, Kamel Jawad of Dearborn, Michigan was murdered by an Israeli air strike in Lebanon

Israel killed an American citizen with weapons provided by the US government

One of the kindest and most generous humans I ever met

إنا لله وإنا إليه راجعون pic.twitter.com/7pxG3m5PqL

— Hamzah Raza (@raza_hamzah) October 1, 2024

Trump says Israel should ‘hit’ Iran’s nuclear facilities

The US Republican Party presidential candidate, Donald Trump, said Israel should strike Iran’s nuclear facilities in response to Tehran’s recent missile barrage.

The former president, speaking at a campaign event in North Carolina on Friday, referred to a question posed to US President Joe Biden this week about the possibility of Israel targeting Iran’s nuclear programme.

“When they asked him that question, the answer should have been, hit the nuclear first and worry about the rest later,” Trump said.

Hezbollah ambushes stall Israeli ground offensive at Odaisseh

What Hezbollah is saying is that there are fierce clashes going on in Odaisseh.

Odaisseh is very, very key because it is one of the entry points for Israeli forces to get on the ground in southern Lebanon. But it is also one of the choke points for Hezbollah.

What Hezbollah is doing is allowing Israeli forces to come slightly further in, get into grounds that they are not really that familiar with, and then ambush them. Hezbollah said they are pushing them back. They did this a couple of days ago in exactly this position. So the Israeli army was expecting this time to have a fight.

What the Israelis are trying to do is destroy Hezbollah’s infrastructure directly on the border. Stuff they cannot hit through the aerial bombardment campaign. But every time they try and do this … either they get pushed back or they get ambushed with improvised explosive devices and take casualties and fatalities.

That’s what we’ve been seeing. No real entry point is safe for the Israelis now. Hezbollah, on the ground, like we predicted, has the upper hand.

New Israeli air strikes target Beirut suburbs

We’re getting reports of new Israeli air strikes on the Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh.

Our colleagues on the ground are reporting plumes of smoke rising from the site of the attack.

Sound of Israeli blasts in Beirut heard as far away as Sidon

There were several Israeli air strikes during the night that targeted buildings across Beirut’s southern suburbs. There is no information yet on casualties.

There were several warnings from the Israeli army spokesperson, and then very big explosions were heard across Beirut, the capital, and the southern suburbs. The attacks were out in the southern suburbs but the sounds were huge and some of the sounds actually reached the city of Sidon, which is 40 kilometres (25 miles) away.

These continuous attacks on Beirut’s south are not stopping. It seems that every night there is a new batch of attacks.

On the other side, we have heard nothing yet from Hezbollah on the fate of its executive council head Hashem Safieddine after the Israel strike the day before yesterday.

At least one killed in latest Israeli air strikes on Lebanon

A school director has been confirmed killed in Lebanon as the Israeli military continues hitting multiple areas.

The director of Al-Abrar School in the town of al-Rafid in the Bekaa governorate was killed after Israeli aircraft targeted his home at dawn, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.

It said civil defence teams are also working to open a road connecting the towns of Shuhour and Saraifa after it was targeted in an air raid.

Another attack took place on the Burj al-Barajneh area, while Israeli drones are now flying over Beirut and its southern suburbs at low altitudes, it reported.

Israel cuts off main Lebanon-Syria road

On Friday, an Israel air strike hit Lebanon’s Masnaa border crossing with Syria, cutting off a road that was being used by hundreds of thousands of people to flee Israeli bombardments in recent days.

Most weapon smuggling does not take place through the crossing Israel struck, Lebanese minister says

Lebanon’s Minister of Economy and Trade said most weapon smuggling does not take place through the Masnaa border crossing with Syria, which Israel struck on Thursday.

The Israel Defense Forces said it hit an “underground tunnel crossing” at that location to prevent weapons from being smuggled into Lebanon. Amin Salam told CNN’s Isa Soares on Friday that Lebanon intends to inspect the site after the rubble is cleared but that most smuggling takes place through illegal channels rather than the official entry point at Masnaa.

“Smuggling weapons into Lebanon or smuggling anything inside or outside Lebanon mostly is not done through this channel. Mostly it is done through illegal channels, illegal roads, in Lebanon that are not like this one,” he said.

The Masnaa border crossing lies in the Bekaa Valley on the Beirut-Damascus international highway, a major transport link for people and goods between Lebanon and Syria. Tens of thousands of people have used the highway to flee Israeli bombardment in recent days.

Salam said that taking out the crossing — the only land border entry point into Syria — has left Lebanon more isolated. It will make moving goods and people between the two countries more difficult, he said.

“It only adds another layer of desperation for people that are moving or running away, seeking shelter from Lebanon to Syria,” Salam said.

Lebanon shelters filling up as Israeli bombing displaces more people

The UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) reports that a second consecutive week of intense Israeli air strikes across Lebanon has driven more people from their homes, with attacks affecting central Beirut and Palestinian refugee camps.

As of Thursday afternoon, a total of 4,250 internally displaced people were registered in UNRWA shelters, marking an 82 percent increase from the 2,332 registered at the end of September.

The number is expected to rise, the agency said, adding that it has opened 12 emergency shelters across the country.

“At the start of October, UNRWA temporarily suspended most of its operations in the Tyre area, primarily because of the displacement of UNRWA staff due to the security situation.”

Hezbollah uses IEDs to thwart Israeli incursion: Monitors

While Hezbollah reports that ambushes and improvised explosive devices (IEDS) have blunted Israel’s ground offensive into southern Lebanon this week, an Israeli military correspondent blamed the slow going on Lebanon’s topography, war monitors report.

According to US-based think tanks the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP), the correspondent reported that the Israeli military’s push into southern Lebanon had been “relatively slow” due to the hilly and rough terrain”.

Hezbollah said that its attacks have stalled Israel’s cross-border incursion, including targeting Israeli forces with three IEDs (improvised explosive devices) around the village of Maroun al-Ras, located some 500 metres from the border with Israel, on Friday. The IEDS were planted along paths that Hezbollah expected Israeli troops to pass, according to the latest ISW-CTP report.

Hezbollah also carried out at least 14 attacks on locations in northern Israel between Thursday and Friday, including one barrage of about 70 rockets and a second of about 40 rockets. Antitank missile fire also targeted Israeli armour on the border, the ISW-CTP reports.

Latest Israeli air strike hit near Beirut’s airport

We are in the southern suburb of Beirut. The latest Israeli hit on the area is very close to the Rafic Hariri International Airport, Lebanon’s only international airport.

This attack took place in the last few hours and it’s in the same area where Israel hit a couple of days ago and claimed to target one of Hezbollah’s top leaders, Hashem Safieddine. For now, there’s no word from Hezbollah on the fate of the head of its executive council.

This attack took place without warning. These strikes were around a complex where Hezbollah used to hold their ceremonies. It’s not the exact location, but the smoke is rising from nearby areas.

It’s a residential area and it’s crowded, home to 700,000 people, most of whom have now left. But there are people who decided to stay, because either they don’t have the resources to leave or they don’t want to go into a cycle of displacement.

Israeli army strikes mosque in southern Lebanon

The Israeli military has struck a mosque beside a hospital in south Lebanon, adding to a growing list of civilian infrastructure it has targeted in the country.

The Salah Ghandour Hospital said nine of its medical and nursing staff were wounded by heavy strikes, most of them seriously, after it received an Israeli warning to evacuate.

The Israeli military claimed Hezbollah fighters were present inside the mosque when it was targeted but no evidence has been given.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that the grounds of the hospital in the southern town of Bint Jbeil were “subjected to Israeli shelling”.

AFP news agency reported the hospital director as saying that it took a direct hit and was evacuated.

Hezbollah claims direct hit on Israeli tank

Hezbollah said its fighters used a guided anti-armour missile to hit an Israeli Merkava tank as it was advancing in the Maroun Forest area, resulting in casualties.

Hezbollah has claimed seven attacks on Israeli forces so far today as they try to expand a ground invasion of Lebanon, with the latest using a salvo of Fadi-1 rockets to hit the Ramat David military base near the northern city of Haifa, about 45km (30 miles) from the Lebanese border.

The group also said its fighters launched multiple barrages of rockets to target Israeli soldiers near the border.

More than 200,000 people have fled Lebanon into Syria: UN commissioner

More than 200,000 Lebanese and Syrian nationals have crossed the border into Syria to flee the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon, according to the UN high commissioner for refugees.

Filippo Grandi wrote in a post on X that authorities, the Syrian Red Crescent and his agency are providing assistance to the displaced along the border.

More than 200,000 people — Lebanese citizens and Syrians living in Lebanon — have now fled the country and crossed the Syrian border as a result of Israeli airstrikes. Relief efforts by the authorities, @SYRedCrescent, UNHCR and other organisations continue in border locations.

— Filippo Grandi (@FilippoGrandi) October 5, 2024

Volunteers risk lives to retrieve pets from south Beirut

After Israeli bombardments forced them to flee their homes in haste, displaced Lebanese have been asking volunteers to enter their bombed-out neighbourhoods to retrieve their pets.

Maggie Shaarawi, vice president of the Animals Lebanon charity, is one of the rescuers. “A lot of people had to evacuate their homes in a hurry. In most cases, cats stressed by bombing hide,” making it impossible to scoop them up quickly, she said.

“Our goal is to just enter, rescue and leave.”

Multiple casualties in Israeli air strikes across Lebanon

A female volunteer with the Red Cross from a town in eastern Lebanon’s Baalbek has died of a head wound sustained in an Israeli air strike, according to the National News Agency (NNA).

It reported that an Israeli drone carried out another strike this afternoon targeting a house in the eastern town of Zawtar with initial information indicating three people were killed.

The NNA said two people were killed after a bomb hit Nabatieh in southern Lebanon and a raid in Majdal Silm in Tyre resulted in at least one person being killed and another wounded.

The agency also reported the Israeli military is carrying out more attacks on the southern suburbs of Beirut.

More Israeli air strikes on southern Beirut

We’re getting reports of more Israeli air strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs targeting the areas of Hara Harik and Burj al-Barajneh.

There have also been attacks on the Dahiyeh region today.

More Israeli attacks hit the suburbs of Beirut, target paramedics

There have been several airstrikes across the southern suburb of Beirut in the past few minutes.

In the past hours, one strike hit near the airport, and we understand another missile hit near a paramedic team to prevent them from getting to the scene of the bigger strike.

Multiple attacks hit the Burj al-Barajneh area, which is inside the southern suburb. There’s clearly a grey layer of smoke above this area now.

There is increasing destruction and it’s clear that complete blocks are being destroyed one after another.

Yesterday, during the night alone there were 13 attacks. Since this morning, there have been at least three air strikes and two drone strikes. We’re not sure about the number of casualties because it’s not safe to get in and paramedics are being prevented from getting to the hit areas.

The sound of the drones is becoming part of the environment.

Israeli military says two Hamas fighters killed in Lebanon

The Israeli forces say it had killed two fighters from the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas operating in Lebanon.

The Israeli military named Muhammad Hussein Ali al-Mahmoud, who it said served as the group’s executive authority in Lebanon, as being killed in an Israeli air strike. Said Alaa Naif Ali, a member of Hamas’s military wing in Lebanon, was also killed in an Israeli operation overnight on Saturday, it said.

The Qassam Brigades confirmed the deaths of two of its fighters following Israeli air strikes in Lebanon, but provided different names for them: Mohammed Hussein al-Louise and Saeed Attallah Ali.