Live Updates
Israel begins ground incursion in southern Lebanon
By Lex Harvey and Irene Nasser, CNN
Updated 1:44 AM EDT, Tue October 1, 2024
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Fareed Zakaria weighs in on Israel launching a ‘limited ground operation’ in Lebanon
03:47 – Source: CNN
What we’re covering
• The Israeli military says it has begun “a limited ground operation” in southern Lebanon targeting Hezbollah. There will be “no long-term occupation” of Lebanon, Israeli officials said, but declined to provide a timeline.
• The ground offensive comes after hours of Israeli raids and artillery fire across the border, and after Israel restricted civilian movements in some border communities. Ahead of the incursion, Israel’s security cabinet approved the “next phase” of its war with Hezbollah, according to a national broadcaster.
• Israel’s blistering escalation in its war with Hezbollah defies pressure from the US, a key ally, to reach a ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah. The escalation in the war has killed more than 1,000 people, destroyed homes and displaced 1 million in Lebanon, authorities say.
• Hezbollah said it would choose a leader as soon as possible after Israel assassinated its leader Hassan Nasrallah. The group also vowed to continue fighting Israel in support of Palestinians, even after a growing number of senior figures were killed.Allcatch upGazaAnalysis
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Israeli paratroopers, commando unit and armored corps involved in Lebanon incursion
From CNN’s Eugenia Yosef
The Israeli military says soldiers including paratroopers and commandos, as well as armored corps troops have been “preparing for limited, localized, targeted operations in southern Lebanon that began last night.”
Soldiers have been training in northern Israel over the past few weeks, the military says, after “plans were approved,” adding that they had gained skills and operational experience from military operations in Gaza over many months.
“They moved north and are now operating in the northern arena after making the necessary adjustments for fighting in Lebanon,” the Israeli military said.
The Israeli military earlier said it had begun “a limited ground operation” in southern Lebanon targeting Hezbollah. There will be “no long-term occupation” of Lebanon, Israeli officials said, but declined to provide a timeline.
It’s morning in the Middle East. Here’s what you need to know
From CNN staff
Israel has launched a ground operation southern Lebanon targeting Hezbollah. Israeli officials said there would be “no long-term occupation” of Lebanon but declined to provide a timeline.
The ground offensive comes after hours of Israeli raids and artillery fire across the border.
Here’s what you need to know:
• Mass casualties: At least 95 people were killed in Israeli strikes yesterday, adding to a death toll of more than 1,000 since last Monday. One million people in Lebanon have been displaced by the fighting, the prime minister said.
• Lebanese army retreats: The Lebanese army evacuated observation posts at the southern border with Israel and moved to barracks in preparation for the ground offensive, a security source told CNN.
Israel defies US: The White House reaffirmed Israel’s right to defend itself but warned of the risk of “mission creep,” one day after President Joe Biden once again called for a ceasefire. Israel’s escalation in its war with Hezbollah defies rising pressure from the US, a key provider of its weapons. US-supplied 2,000-pound bombs were likely used in the Israeli attack that killed Hezbollah’s leader on Friday.
• UN opposes ground incursion: “We all know the devastation that an all-out war, a ground war in Lebanon would bring to the people of Israel and the people of Lebanon,” the UN chief’s spokesperson said Monday.
• Strikes on Damascus: An Israeli strike has killed a well-know television anchor and two others, state news agency SANA reported. Israel has launched airstrikes in Syria intermittently since October 7.
• US troops: An unspecified number of US troops have been put on prepare to deploy orders to the Middle East, the Pentagon said Monday.
• International evacuations: Multiple governments including the UK and Germany have organized for their citizens to evacuate Lebanon.
• Israel’s wide battles: Israel has struck a refugee camp and school housing displaced Palestinians overnight in Gaza, where it is pressing on with its war against Hamas. Further afield, a CNN reporter joined the Israeli military on its longest-range combat mission since 1985 to strike a Houthi-controlled port in Yemen.
Israeli troops are now inside southern Lebanon. This is far from the first time
From CNN’s Lex Harvey
This week’s ground incursion into southern Lebanon is the latest chapter in a long history of Israel sending its troops into the territory of its northern neighbor.
Here is a timeline of Israel’s previous invasions of Lebanon, one of which lasted years:
1978: Israel first sent troops across the border after members of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) entered Israel from Lebanon by sea and seized control of a civilian bus, killing dozens of Israelis, according to the IDF.
In response, Israel occupied most of the southern part of the country, despite Lebanon’s claims it had nothing to do with the bus attack. This eventually led to the creation of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, (UNIFIL) tasked with securing Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon.
1982: The longest Israeli invasion of Lebanon began in June 1982. Much like this week’s declarations, Israel said the incursion was going to be brief and limited with a mission to destroy the PLO.
But it resulted in a years-long occupation of southern Lebanon and Israeli troops bogged down in a protracted and increasingly unpopular war.
Israeli forces ended up initially taking almost half of Lebanon’s territory including West Beirut. The operation resulted in more than 17,000 deaths, according to contemporary reports, and an Israeli inquiry into a massacre at the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila.
That investigation held Israel indirectly responsible for the massacre that was carried out by Israel-allied right-wing Christian Lebanese fighters. Israeli troops withdrew from West Beirut after that but continued to occupy southern Lebanon until 2000. That conflict also ultimately birthed Hezbollah.
2006: In 2006, Hezbollah militants infiltrated Israel in a surprise attack, killing eight Israeli soldiers and kidnapping two more in an attempt to prompt a prisoner exchange.
Israel retaliated with a massive air operation followed by a sweeping ground offensive, which ended with a UN-brokered ceasefire.
The month-long war killed about 1,200 people in Lebanon, hundreds of them children, according to Human Rights Watch. Forty-nine Israeli civilians and 121 IDF soldiers were killed, according to the Israeliu military.
A UN commission found the IDF used “excessive, indiscriminate and disproportionate” force against civilians.
US Secretary of Defense spoke with Israeli counterpart as Israel begins ground incursion in southern Lebanon
From CNN’s Rashard Rose
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin attends a meeting at Ramstein Air Base in Ramstein-Miesenbach, Germany, on September 6. Andreas Arnold/AP
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke Monday with his Israeli counterpart, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, “to review security developments and Israeli operations,” according to a Pentagon readout of the call.
Austin and Gallant “agreed on the necessity of dismantling attack infrastructure along the border to ensure that Lebanese Hizballah cannot conduct October 7-style attacks on Israel’s northern communities,” Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon spokesman, wrote in the statement.
The Israeli military said it has begun “a limited ground operation” in southern Lebanon targeting Hezbollah.
Earlier Monday, President Joe Biden told reporters that “we should have a ceasefire now,” when asked what he knew about Israeli special forces’ raids into southern Lebanon. “I’m comfortable with them stopping,” the president said.
“The Secretary made clear that the United States is well postured to defend U.S. personnel, partners, and allies in the face of threats from Iran and Iran-backed terrorist organizations, and determined to prevent any actor from exploiting tensions or expanding the conflict. The Secretary and Minister Gallant discussed the serious consequences for Iran in the event Iran chooses to launch a direct military attack against Israel,” the statement read.
Israeli strikes kill at least 13 in Gaza refugee camp, health officials say
From CNN’s Kareem Khadder and Kareem El Damanhoury
Israeli strikes killed at least 13 people and wounded a number of others in central Gaza late Monday night, health officials told CNN.
The casualties were caused by at least two Israeli attacks on the Nuseirat refugee camp, according to officials at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital and Al-Awda Hospital in the enclave.
CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment.
The reports come after Gaza’s Civil Defense said an Israeli strike killed at least seven people and wounded a number of others at a school housing displaced Palestinians in northern Gaza on Tuesday.
White House says mission creep is a real risk as it monitors Israel’s incursion into Lebanon
From CNN’s MJ Lee
The Biden White House reaffirmed Israel’s right to defend itself as it begins its incursion in southern Lebanon, but warned of the potential of mission creep.
The White House said it sees Israel’s incursion as being in line with the country’s right to defend itself against threats from terror groups.
But the spokesperson went on to warn:
“Of course, we know that mission creep can be a risk and we will keep discussing that with the Israelis.”
Mission creep is a term used to describe the “gradual broadening of the original objectives of a mission or organization,” according to Merriam-Webster’s definition.
Some context: US officials have told CNN that they have been informed by their Israeli counterparts that Israel’s ground operation was expected to be limited in scope and duration. But they have publicly emphasized the possibility that what the Israelis are currently referring to as a limited ground operation could ultimately broaden in scope and turn into a longer-term incursion.
President Joe Biden last week unveiled a 21-day ceasefire proposal, backed by other US allies, that was almost immediately rejected by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Biden and his advisers continue to call for a diplomatic resolution.
Israeli strike kills at least 7 people in northern Gaza, Civil Defense says
From CNN’s Kareem El Damanhoury, Mick Krever and Eugenia Yosef
An Israeli strike killed at least seven people and wounded a number of others at a school housing displaced Palestinians in northern Gaza, the Civil Defense in the enclave said Tuesday morning.
CNN cannot independently verify the report of the strike at the Al-Shujaiya School in the east of Gaza City, and has reached out to the Israeli military for comment.
Israeli attacks have killed at least 41,615 people and wounded 96,359 in Gaza since October 7, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the enclave said Monday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been considering a plan to force all Palestinian civilians out of northern Gaza, including Gaza City, to lay siege to Hamas and force the release of hostages.
It is unclear how many Palestinians remain north of the Netzarim Corridor, which splits Gaza in two, but estimates run into the hundreds of thousands.
Analysis: Why the US is looking increasingly powerless as Israel’s war expands
Analysis from CNN’s Stephen Collinson
Israel’s expected ground incursion into Lebanon will drive home a new strategic reality of a year of war — the once-mighty US is powerless to rein in its ally or to influence other major belligerents in a fast-worsening regional crisis.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on Monday launched the next stage of its onslaught against Hezbollah with what the Israel Defense Forces called a “limited ground operation” into Lebanon — despite weeks of requests from Washington for restraint and familiar (and spurned) calls for de-escalation.
This came just hours after President Joe Biden said “we should have a ceasefire now,” when asked what he knew about Israeli special forces’ previous raids into southern Lebanon. “I’m comfortable with them stopping,” the president said.
His comments only underscored the chasm between the US and Israeli governments on a day when Netanyahu told Iranians in a broadcast, “There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach.”
The disconnect is widening as it coincides with the endgame of a cliffhanger US election. Biden’s room for maneuver is limited if he is to avoid exacerbating the domestic political impact of war in the Middle East — a factor Netanyahu, a consummate operator in US politics, surely understands. The Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, has largely stuck to the administration line — despite earlier comments that suggested she might take a slightly harder rhetorical stance toward Netanyahu while emphasizing the plight of Palestinian civilians.
Read the full analysis on US-Israel tensions.
3 killed, including TV anchor, in Israeli strike on Damascus, Syrian state media says
From Eyad Kourdi and Irene Nasser
Safaa Ahmed, a well-known Syrian television anchor, has been killed alongside two others in an overnight Israeli strike on Damascus, Syrian state news agency SANA reported.
“The General Authority for Radio and Television announces the death of the anchor Safaa Ahmed as a martyr following the treacherous Israeli aggression on the capital, Damascus,” the report said.
The Syrian defense ministry said the Israeli military targeted Damascus with drones and planes at around 2 a.m. local time from the “direction of the occupied Golan Heights.”
“Our air defense systems confronted the aggression’s missiles and drones and shot down most of them,” the ministry said, adding that three civilians and nine others were injured as a result of the strike.
Videos posted to social media, and geolocated by CNN, show that an explosion took place next to Syria’s Telecom building, west of the city’s military airport. Additional videos geolocated by CNN show a car in flames after the blast.
It is not clear if this is the location where Ahmed or the others were killed, and the location of their death was not reported by SANA.
When asked about the reports, the Israeli military said: “We do not comment on reports in the foreign media.”
Some background: Israel has launched airstrikes in Syria intermittently since Hamas’ October 7 attacks last year but does not usually confirm when it has carried out attacks there.
Israeli officials say there will be “no long-term occupation” of Lebanon, but decline to provide timeline
From CNN’s Jeremy Diamond
Israeli officials are characterizing the ground operation into southern Lebanon as limited in scope, saying there will be “no long-term occupation” but declining to specify the duration.
Israeli troops will be focused on removing “immediate threats” from Lebanese villages along the border, including Hezbollah’s ability to infiltrate northern Israel, Israeli officials insisted.
A senior Israeli official also said Israel does not plan to remain in Lebanon, said there will be “no long-term occupation of southern Lebanon.”
But the officials declined to say how deep Israeli troops would venture into the country or how long the operation is expected to last.
Explosions, smoke and flashes erupt as Israel begins its ground operation in Lebanon
From CNN’s Jeremy Diamond and Tara John
Smoke rises over Beirut’s southern suburbs after a strike, as seen from Sin El Fil, Lebanon, on Tuesday, October 1. Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters
As Israel’s ground operation in Lebanon began, the sounds of outgoing artillery fire, drones and helicopters rang through the air from a CNN team’s position close to the border.
Several explosions, plumes of smoke and flashes of light were also seen coming from the direction of the Lebanese village of Aadaysit Marjaayoun.
Israel begins “limited ground operation” into Lebanon, Israeli military says
From CNN’s Lauren Izso and Tara John
A Hebrew statement by the Israeli military says it has begun a “limited ground operation” in southern Lebanon.
“The IDF began a few hours ago a targeted and limited ground operation in the area of southern Lebanon against terrorist targets and infrastructures of the terrorist organization Hezbollah, in a number of villages near the border, which pose an immediate and real threat to Israeli settlements on the northern border,” it said in the statement early Tuesday local time.
This appears to culminate a day of positioning for an Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon.
A timeline of Hezbollah leaders killed by Israel
Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon have killed at least seven high-ranking Hezbollah commanders and officials in recent weeks, including the militant group’s chief Hassan Nasrallah, who was assassinated in a strike on his underground headquarters in Beirut on Friday.
Here’s a look at some of the group’s leaders who have been killed.
https://ix.cnn.io/dailygraphics/graphics/20240930-hezbollah-leadership-timeline/index.html?initialWidth=698&childId=graphic-20240930-hezbollah-leadership-timeline&parentTitle=Live%20updates%3A%20Israel-Hezbollah%20war%2C%20ground%20incursion%20in%20Lebanon%2C%20Gaza%20attacks%20%7C%20CNN&parentUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fedition.cnn.com%2Fworld%2Flive-news%2Fisrael-lebanon-war-hezbollah-10-1-24-intl-hnk%2Findex.html
24 children were evacuated from Gaza — but organizations say it’s an increasingly difficult effort
From CNN’s Jeremy Diamond and Aditi Sangal
Twenty-four wounded and sick children and their companions have been evacuated from Gaza in a joint Israeli-European Union operation, an Israeli official told CNN.
In total, 32 people were evacuated from the enclave.
The Palestinians who were evacuated are being relocated to Romania, according to the Israeli official. The action was directly approved by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Some context: One of these children evacuated to Romania was registered with Children Not Numbers, a non-governmental organization, whose founder, Somaya Ouazzani, says evacuating children out of Gaza for medical treatments has become increasingly hard since early May when the Rafah border with Egypt shut down.
“Evacuations are near impossible. They take multi-agency efforts,” she said. “The evacuations do not represent the sickest kids in Gaza.”
Several experts and NGOs also reported similar experiences to CNN, noting that many children with critical cases die while waiting to be evacuated.
Prior to the shutdown, the evacuation process “was still very bureaucratic,” but all NGOs “understood the process and knew the hurdles that were in place,” said Dr. Thaer Ahmad, an emergency medicine physician who has been to Gaza several times. “Now it’s arbitrary.”
Before the Rafah border shut down, the Palestinian Children Relief Fund (PCRF) was seeing “50 or so kids a day approved for evacuation,” according to Tareq Hailat, head of the Treatment Abroad program at PCRF. “Now, we are lucky if we see one.”