Middle East crisis live: children and Hezbollah commander among 31 killed in Beirut strike, Lebanon says | Hezbollah

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu delayed by a day his scheduled departure to the US, the place he is because of tackle the UN basic meeting, stories Agence France-Presse (AFP).

On Friday the UN’s excessive commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, advised the safety council the assault on Hezbollah communications units violated worldwide legislation and will represent a struggle crime.

The pagers and walkie-talkies exploded as their customers had been procuring in supermarkets, strolling on streets and attending funerals, plunging Lebanon into panic.

“I’m appalled by the breadth and influence of the assaults,” mentioned Türk, including that it “is a struggle crime to commit violence supposed to unfold terror amongst civilians”.

Worldwide mediators, together with the US, have been scrambling to cease the Gaza struggle from turning into an all-out regional battle.

Israel has submitted an “official problem” to a request from the worldwide legal courtroom prosecutor for an arrest warrant in opposition to its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

In Might the ICC’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, requested the courtroom issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant over alleged struggle crimes and crimes in opposition to humanity in Gaza.

“The state of Israel submitted at the moment its official problem to the ICC’s jurisdiction, in addition to the legality of the prosecutor’s requests for arrest warrants in opposition to Israel’s prime minister and minister of defence,” the international ministry’s spokesperson, Oren Marmorstein, mentioned on X.

Khan additionally sought warrants in opposition to prime Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Deif on suspicion of struggle crimes and crimes in opposition to humanity.

The prosecutor dropped the applying for Haniyeh on 2 August “due to the modified circumstances brought on by Mr Haniyeh’s demise” in Tehran on 31 July, the ICC mentioned in an announcement this month.

In accordance with Israel, Deif was killed by a strike on 13 July in southern Gaza, although Hamas denies he’s lifeless.

The courtroom continues to be weighing Khan’s utility for an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and Gallant.

Additional violence between Israel and Iran’s allies Hezbollah and Hamas may ignite a devastating regional battle, the United Nations has warned, after an Israeli airstrike in Beirut killed not less than 14 individuals together with a senior Hezbollah chief and wounded 66.

Late on Friday, UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo mentioned:

We danger seeing a conflagration that might dwarf even the devastation and struggling witnessed to date.”

Talking at a gathering of the UN safety council which had been convened to debate Israel’s assaults, DiCarlo mentioned:

It’s not too late to keep away from such folly. There may be nonetheless room for diplomacy. I additionally strongly urge member states with affect over the events to leverage it now.”

Robert Wooden, the deputy US ambassador to the UN, repeated Washington’s assertions that the US had performed no position within the assaults and referred to as on all events to “chorus from any actions which may plunge the area right into a devastating struggle”.

Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, had earlier mentioned Israel’s assaults would proceed, writing on X:

The sequence of actions within the new part will proceed till our purpose is achieved: the protected return of the residents of the north to their properties.”

You’ll be able to learn extra of the report by William Christou in Beirut and Lorenzo Tondo in Jerusalem right here:

The Guardian’s worldwide safety correspondent, Jason Burke, has written a profile of Ibrahim Aqil who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Friday. Right here is an extract:

Aqil, who was in his early 60s, had risen by the ranks and reached a senior place within the organisation. Actual particulars of his position are unclear, however the Israel Protection Forces described him as “the top of the Hezbollah terrorist group’s operations group, the performing commander of the Radwan [special forces] unit”.

“He was one of many actually senior old-timers however was by no means actually the face of something. He was all the time a quantity two or quantity three, however had simply been promoted within the final 5 to 10 years,” mentioned Hussain Abdul-Hussain, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington and an knowledgeable on extremism in Lebanon.

Aqil was one among a gaggle of younger Shia males initially from the south of Lebanon however dwelling in Beirut who had been energised by the 1979 Iranian revolution and recruited by the nation’s Revolutionary Guards right into a community identified initially as Islamic Jihad after which later as Hezbollah.

Their navy purpose, guided by their Iranian mentors, was to struggle the US, which had dispatched a peacekeeping pressure to Beirut; and Israel, which had occupied a lot of Lebanon. Their political goal was to show Lebanon into an Islamic state aligned with Tehran. Nearly all have been killed since, most likely by Israel.

You’ll be able to learn the total profile right here:

Hezbollah has confirmed the demise of Ibrahim Aqil, who sits on the group’s prime navy physique and is needed by the US in reference to the 1983 Beirut embassy bombing. Aqil was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Friday, together with a number of different members of the elite Radwan unit, which underneath his management was designed to conduct cross-border raids into Israel.

The group additionally mentioned Ahmed Wahbi, a commander who oversaw the navy operations of the Radwan unit throughout the Gaza struggle till early 2024, was additionally killed within the strike.

In its assertion, Hezbollah mentioned that Aqil led a “blessed lifetime of jihad”.

In complete, 14 were killed and not less than 66 injured by the Israeli airstrike on a residential constructing within the southern suburbs of Beirut. Paramedics labored late into the evening to retrieve survivors and our bodies from underneath the rubble of the collapsed constructing.

Friday’s strike on Beirut got here amid a pointy escalation by Israel of assaults in opposition to Hezbollah. A minimum of 42 individuals had been killed and greater than 3,000 injured this week when explosives inserted into pagers and walkie-talkies generally utilized by Hezbollah members had been remotely detonated.

On Wednesday, Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant mentioned the struggle with Hezbollah was getting into a brand new part and that the “centre of gravity” had shifted to preventing in northern Israel.

Right here’s a recap of the most recent developments:

• Israel submitted formal challenges to the worldwide legal courtroom (ICC) on Friday over its jurisdiction and the legality of arrest warrant requests in opposition to Israeli leaders for his or her conduct of the Gaza struggle. In Might the ICC’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, requested the courtroom subject arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, over alleged struggle crimes and crimes in opposition to humanity in Gaza. “The state of Israel submitted at the moment its official challenge to the ICC’s jurisdiction, in addition to the legality of the prosecutor’s requests for arrest warrants in opposition to Israel’s prime minister and minister of defence,” the international ministry’s spokesperson, Oren Marmorstein, mentioned on X. Khan additionally sought warrants in opposition to prime Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Deif on suspicion of struggle crimes and crimes in opposition to humanity.

• The White Home mentioned it had seen “deeply disturbing” footage of Israeli troopers pushing three apparently lifeless our bodies from a rooftop throughout a raid within the occupied West Financial institution on Thursday. The incident came about within the city of Qabatiya within the northern West Financial institution, the place the Israeli navy has been finishing up large-scale raids since late August that the Palestinian well being ministry says have killed dozens of individuals. The Israel Protection Forces (IDF) mentioned in an announcement: “It is a critical incident that doesn’t coincide with IDF values ​​and the expectations from IDF troopers. The incident is under review.” The IDF declined to remark when requested if the troopers concerned had been being investigated.

• Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has postponed his journey to the US by a day because of the safety state of affairs within the nation’s north. Netanyahu was resulting from journey to New York on 24 September, throughout which he’s anticipated to handle the annual UN basic meeting. He issued a brief assertion after the Beirut airstrike, saying: “Our objectives are clear, and our actions communicate for themselves.”

• The UN’s excessive commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, denounced the pager and walkie-talkie assaults in Lebanon, saying that they violated worldwide legislation and will represent a struggle crime. The UN’s political affairs chief, Rosemary DiCarlo, warned that if violence continues between Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah, then “we danger seeing a conflagration that might dwarf even the devastation and struggling witnessed to date”.

• The UK’s international secretary, David Lammy, mentioned preparations to evacuate remaining Britons from Lebanon, having already urged UK nationals to depart the nation given the hostilities with Israel. The White Home mentioned Individuals had been strongly urged to not journey to Lebanon or to depart if they’re already there.

• The US president, Joe Biden, mentioned a ceasefire deal in Gaza was nonetheless life like amid the escalating tensions within the area. “We’re going to maintain at it till we get it executed, however we’ve acquired a option to go,” Biden mentioned in his first feedback on the state of affairs because the wave of explosions concentrating on Hezbollah in Lebanon.