Israel-Lebanon live: Israeli military ‘targets Hezbollah leader’ as 356 killed

The US is sending additional troops to the Middle East during a sharp spike in violence between Israel and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon that has raised the risk of a greater regional war, the Pentagon has said.

Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder would provide no details on how many additional forces or what they would be tasked to do.

The US currently has about 40,000 troops in the region. 

The new deployments come after significant strikes by Israeli forces against targets inside Lebanon that have killed hundreds and as Israel is preparing to conduct further operations and the State Department is warning Americans to leave Lebanon as the risk of a regional war increases.

Hezbollah sources hit back at rumours that Ali Karaki was killed in the latest wave of Israeli air strikes.

They said: “There is no truth to the enemy’s claims of assassinating the Mujahid Ali Karaki, and we confirm that he is in full health and wellness.”

Karaki is in charge of Hezbollah’s so-called “Southern Front,” responsible for the terror group’s military activity in south Lebanon.

He is third in command of Hezbollah’s armed forces and is the most senior figure after the assassinations of commanders Fuad Shukr, and Ibrahim Aqil.

Iran’s president has accused Israel of seeking a wider war in the Middle East and laying “traps” to lead his country into a wider conflict.

Masoud Pezeshkian told about two dozen media representatives that Iran doesn’t want to see the current war in Gaza and airstrikes across the Israeli-Lebanon border expanded.

He said while Israel insists it doesn’t want a wider war, it is taking actions that show otherwise. 

Mr Pezeshkian pointed to the deadly explosions of pagers, walkie-talkies and other electronic devices in Lebanon last week, which he blamed on Israel, and the assassination of Hamas’ political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on the eve of his inauguration.

The death toll from Israeli strikes on Lebanon has reached 356, with 1,246 others injured since Monday morning, a statement from Lebanon’s health ministry said.

The statement added that 24 children and 42 women were among the dead.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant claims Israel’s airstrikes destroyed tens of thousands of Hezbollah rockets, adding to the most difficult week for the Iranian-backed movement since its creation.

“Today is a significant peak. On this day we have taken out of order tens of thousands of rockets and precise munition. What Hezbollah has built over a period of 20 years since the second Lebanon War, is in fact being destroyed by the IDF,” he said in a statement.

US Vice President Kamala Harris plans to discuss efforts to secure a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal in her meeting with the United Arab Emirates president, according to a White House official.

Harris and US President Joe Biden are meeting separately with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the first in what are expected to be a series of foreign leader gatherings during the week of the United Nations General Assembly.

They give Harris an opportunity to demonstrate national security chops at a time the Democratic administration is under increasing pressure to contain strife in the Middle East.

Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian, spoke to a group of journalists after his arrival in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly on Monday.

He said: “We do not wish to be the cause of instability in the Middle East as its consequences would be irreversible”

“We want to live in peace, we don’t want war,” he added. “It is Israel that seeks to create this all-out conflict.”

Pezeshkian, a relatively moderate politician who was elected in July promising a pragmatic foreign policy, accused the international community of silence in the face of what he called “Israel’s genocide” in Gaza.

Pezeshkian’s call to resolve the Middle East conflict through dialogue came on the deadliest day in Lebanon in nearly a year of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

“We will defend any group that is defending its rights and itself,” Pezeshkian said, when asked whether Iran will enter the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. He did not elaborate.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for “de-escalation” of airstrikes across the border with Lebanon urging a diplomatic solution as the threat of wider war looms.

“He expresses great concern for the safety of civilians, both in southern Lebanon and in northern Israel as well as the UN staff there in those areas,” Guterres’ spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

“The secretary-general notes the ongoing efforts by the UN special coordinator for Lebanon and the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon to reduce tensions, and he reiterates the urgent need for de-escalation – that all efforts should be devoted to a diplomatic solution.”

It came as at least 274 people have been killed and more than 1,024 wounded, including 39 women and 21 children, in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon.

The Independent’s International Editor Chris Stevenson reports: