Soldiers slain in Lebanon a 'wake-up call' for Israel, analyst says
The killing of eight Israeli soldiers during the military's invasion of southern Lebanon will likely be a "wake-up call" for Israel as it takes stock of the success of its offensive, a security expert told NBC News.
Mahdi Ghuloom, a regional security analyst at Le Beck International, said Israel will have anticipated the risk of casualties in its ground offensive into territory that Hezbollah will inevitably be more familiar with. But, he said the IDF's claims to have been covertly launching cross-border raids for months prior to its announcement of ground operations, indicates that "familiarity with the terrain is increasing based on intelligence obtained from these raids."
Still, Ghuloom said, the deaths of eight soldiers in a relatively short time "is certainly a wake-up call for Israel that advancing quite rapidly into Lebanon would be costly.”
"It is likely that any considerations over the cost of the operation will have increased since yesterday, though this is also not a game-changing event — as opposed to the series of blows Israel inflicted on Hezbollah," he said, including the recent killing of the militant and political group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
Ghuloom said it is still "too early to tell" whether the casualties are a sign of things to come in Israel's ground operations, with its aerial attacks in Lebanon still in full swing.
Israel prepares response to Iran’s unprecedented missile attack
Israel launched another deadly airstrike in Beirut and carried out new attacks in the Gaza Strip while also preparing its response to the unprecedented missile attack from Iran. Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting to address the conflicts in the Middle East.
New blasts in Beirut
Three loud explosions could be heard just now in the Lebanese capital.
Lebanese army says soldier killed by Israeli attack during evacuation
A Lebanese army soldier has been killed and another injured by Israeli forces while evacuating casualties in the country's south, the Lebanese army and the Lebanese Red Cross said.
They were carrying out an evacuation and rescue mission in the southern town of Taybeh when they were attacked by Israeli forces, the Lebanese army said.
The Lebanese Red Cross said that four of its paramedics were also injured, according to The Associated Press. The AP previously reported that it said four paramedics were killed.
It said the convoy for wounded residents was targeted despite coordinating its movements with U.N. peacekeepers.
NBC News has reached out to the IDF for comment.
More women and children killed in a year in Gaza than in any other recent conflict, aid groups say
More women and children have been killed by Israel's assault in the Gaza Strip over the past year than in any other conflict over the past two decades, aid groups say.
Conservative estimates show that more than 6,000 women and 11,000 children were killed in Gaza over the last 12 months, according to Oxfam and Action on Armed Violence (AOAV).
In comparison, the two figures are both higher than those from existing records. The highest number of women killed in a single year of conflict was more than 2,600 in Iraq in 2016, while an average of more than 4,700 children died in the Syria conflict, the new analysis said, citing previous reports.
'It was a nightmare,' one woman says after night of strikes in Beirut
It was another sleepless night for many across Lebanon as the sound of Israeli strikes rang out into the early hours, with a strike in central Beirut killing at least nine people and injuring several others.
"It was a nightmare," said Hiam Khoury, 50, who lives in Hadath, a municipality in the Baabda District, about 4 miles south of Beirut. "We didn’t sleep. How can you do it, even if the bombing stops?" she told NBC News.
Khoury said she woke up at around 2 a.m. to the sound of a strike. "Everything was shaking. The house, us." She said it had become a daily routine to "wake up in the middle of the night" and "stay up, traumatized."
"In the morning, we clean the smoke residues from our balconies and houses. We go to work, pass by buildings with broken glass, or hit," she said. "I don’t know how long this is going to last. We don’t have a place to go to and we don’t want to leave our house and stay on the street. We are exhausted."
Relatives mourn Israeli solider killed in southern Lebanon
Relatives and friends mourn by the grave of Israeli soldier Eitan Itzhak Oster who was killed during fighting in the with Hezbollah yesterday. The IDF announced that eight of its troops were killed, a day after Israel launched an invasion of southern Lebanon.
Japan, Australia, U.K. plan evacuations of thousands of their citizens
Japan today has dispatched two of its military transport aircraft to Jordan and Greece, the Japanese broadcaster NHK reported, as it prepares for a potential airlift of its citizens from Lebanon.
Meanwhile, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced today the government has booked 500 seats on commercial airlines for Australian citizens to leave Saturday along with their families.
“What I would say to Australians who wish to leave, please take whatever option is available to you,” Wong told reporters.
The British government said it was chartering additional flights, a day after an evacuation flight had left Beirut with 150 British nationals onboard.
IDF orders new evacuations in southern Lebanon, extending north of U.N. buffer zone
The Israel Defense Forces issued another evacuation warning today in southern Lebanon, ordering 27 villages to be evacuated.
Israel has urged the residents of the villages to head north of the Awali River, the IDF’s Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a post on X, referring to the river that is a third of the way into Lebanon's entire length.
The orders cover areas that are located north of a United Nations-declared buffer zone that was established after the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, potentially signaling an expanding Israeli incursion.
Earlier today, he had urged residents in southern Lebanon who had already been asked to evacuate not to return as fighting was still ongoing.
Death toll from the Israeli strike on central Beirut rises to 9
At least nine people have now been killed in the Israeli airstrike that hit central Beirut overnight, Lebanon's Health Ministry said today.
The death toll was updated from six, and the ministry said another 14 people were injured in the airstrike on the neighborhood of Bachoura, which is within walking distance of the prime minister’s headquarters, as well as many foreign embassies, including those of the United Kingdom and Australia.