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Israeli strikes may have displaced a million people – Lebanon PM

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Israel’s continuing air strikes may have already forced as many as one million people from their homes across Lebanon, the country’s prime minister has said.

“It is the largest displacement movement that may have happened,” Najib Mikati said.

Lebanon’s health ministry reported more than 50 people killed in Sunday’s strikes – two days after Israel assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut. Meanwhile, Hezbollah fired more rockets into northern Israel.

In a separate development, Israel said it had carried out “large-scale” air strikes on military targets of the Iran-backed Houthi movement in Yemen.

Hezbollah confirmed on Sunday that top military commander Ali Karaki and a senior cleric, Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, had also been killed in the Israeli air strikes.

“We need to keep hitting Hezbollah hard,” Israel’s military chief of staff Herzi Halevi said.

Another Israeli strike in the central Beirut neighbourhood of Kola early on Monday killed three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the group said in a statement.

The PFLP is a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization, a coalition recognised at the UN as the official representative of the Palestinians. The group is also considered a terrorist organisation by both the US and EU.

The statement named those killed as military security chief Mohammad Abdel-Aal, military commander Imad Odeh, and fighter Abdel Rahman Abdel-Aal.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Mikati said the wave of air strikes had forced people to flee from Beirut and other parts of the country, including the southern border areas.

The local authorities are struggling to assist everyone in need, with shelters and hospitals under growing pressure, BBC correspondents in Lebanon report.

Aya Ayoub, aged 25, told the BBC she had to flee her house in Beirut’s southern Tahweetet al-Ghadir suburb with her family of six as it was too dangerous to stay.

Around her house, she said, “all the buildings are completely destroyed”, and she was currently staying with another 16 people in a house in Beirut.

“We left on Friday and had no place to go. We stayed until 02:00 in the streets until a group of people helped us get into a residential building that was under construction. We are living on candles at night, and have to get water and food from outside”.

Sara Tohmaz, a 34-year-old journalist, told the BBC she had left her house near Beirut with her mother and two siblings last Friday.

It took them almost 10 hours to reach Jordan through Syria by car, she said.

“I think we are lucky enough to have a place to stay in Jordan, where my mother’s relatives are based. We don’t know what will happen next, and don’t know when we will be back,” Tohmaz added.

The previously sporadic cross-border fighting escalated on 8 October 2023 – the day after the unprecedented attack on Israel by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip – when Hezbollah fired at Israeli positions, in solidarity with the Palestinians.

Since then hundreds of people, including many Hezbollah fighters, have been killed, while tens of thousands have also been displaced on both sides of the border.

Also on Sunday, Israel said it carried out air strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, striking power plants and a port in Ras Isa and Hudaydah.

Footage later emerged showing a huge explosion at the port.

Israel says it targeted the sites in response to recent missile attacks from the Houthis, as well as to destroy facilities being used to transport Iranian weapons.

The Houthis, a Shia group controlling large areas of Yemen, condemned the Israeli strikes as a “brutal aggression”.

They said four people were killed and 33 injured, vowing revenge.

There are mounting international fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East.

Washington warned Israel against an all-out war with Hezbollah or Iran, saying a major conflict would leave Israelis unable to return to their homes in the north.

(BBC News)

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China strongly condemns US attacks on Iran

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China strongly condemns the U.S. attacks on Iran and bombing of nuclear facilities under the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Sunday.

The spokesperson made the remarks when asked to comment on U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement that the United States carried out strikes on three nuclear facilities in Iran.

The actions of the United States seriously violated the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and international law, and have exacerbated tensions in the Middle East, the spokesperson said.

China calls on the parties to the conflict, Israel in particular, to reach a ceasefire as soon as possible, ensure the safety of civilians, and start dialogue and negotiation, the spokesperson said.

China stands ready to work with the international community to pool efforts together and uphold justice, and work for restoring peace and stability in the Middle East, the spokesperson said.

(Xinhua)

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No military solution ; only hope is peace – Guterres

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Responding to the US strikes on Iran, UN Secretary General António Guterres has called the development a “dangerous escalation”.  He said.

On a X post he adds : “I call on Member States to de-escalate and to uphold their obligations under the @UN Charter and other rules of international law. At this perilous hour, it is critical to avoid a spiral of chaos. There is no military solution. The only path forward is diplomacy. The only hope is peace.”

The Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI) has also condemned America’s “savage assault” on three Iranian nuclear sites.

The organisation also criticises the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for being “indifferent and even complicit”.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump announced that the US has completed strikes on three nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordo, Natanz and Esfahan.

“We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan. All planes are now outside of Iran air space,” he wrote on Truth Social.

In a public address, Trump later congratulated Benjamin Netanyahu, saying they worked as a “team” to erase this “horrible threat to Israel”.

“There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days,” Trump warned.

(Excerpts : BBC)

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Iran rules out new nuclear talks until attacks stop

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Iran has said it will not resume talks over its nuclear programme while under attack, hours after Israel’s defence minister warned of a “prolonged” conflict with the Islamic Republic.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met European diplomats in Geneva who urged him to revive diplomatic efforts with the US over his country’s nuclear programme.

His Israeli counterpart, Eyal Zamir, said in a video address that his country should be ready for a “prolonged campaign” and warned of “difficult days ahead”.

Fighting raged into the night with the Israeli military announcing a new wave of attacks against Iranian missile storage and launch infrastructure after Iran launched missiles towards central Israel.

Explosions were heard close to the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. Reports say a building was set on fire in central Israel by falling shrapnel.

Araghchi said Iran was ready to consider diplomacy only once Israel’s “aggression is stopped”.

Iran’s nuclear programme was peaceful, he insisted, and Israel’s attacks violated international law. Iran, he added, would continue to “exercise its legitimate right of self-defence”.

“I make it crystal clear that Iran’s defence capabilities are non-negotiable,” he said.

Israel’s ambassador to the UN accused Iran of having a “genocidal agenda” and posing an ongoing threat, adding that Israel would not stop targeting nuclear facilities until they were “dismantled”.

US President Donald Trump said Iran had a “maximum” of two weeks to avoid possible American air strikes, suggesting that he could take a decision before the 14-day deadline he set on Thursday.

“I’m giving them a period of time, and I would say two weeks would be the maximum,” Trump told reporters.

The aim, he said, was to “see whether or not people come to their senses”.

The US president was also dismissive of the talks between Araghchi and foreign ministers from the UK, France, Germany and the EU.

“Iran doesn’t want to speak to Europe,” Trump said. “They want to speak to us. Europe is not going to be able to help in this.”

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said that the US had provided a “short window of time” to resolve the crisis in the Middle East which was “perilous and deadly serious”.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the ministers had invited the Iranian minister to “consider negotiations with all sides, including the United States, without awaiting the cessation of strikes”.

Barrot added that there could be “no definitive solution through military means to the Iran nuclear problem” and warned that it was “dangerous to want to impose a regime change” in Iran.

Israel was also hit by a new round of Iranian strikes on Friday with the Israeli military reporting an attack of 20 missiles targeting Haifa.

One Israeli woman died of a heart attack, bringing the Israeli death toll since the conflict began to 25.

The Israel Defense Forces said they had attacked ballistic missile storage and launch sites in western Iran.

Over the past week, Israeli air strikes have destroyed Iranian military facilities and weapons, and killed senior military commanders and nuclear scientists.

Iran’s health ministry said on Sunday that at least 224 people had been killed, while a human rights group put the unofficial death toll at 639 on Thursday.

Iran has launched hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel in response to the air strikes.

(BBC News)

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