Israel Lebanon latest: Starmer tells Britons to leave Lebanon immediately as British troops prepare to evacuate

Sir Keir Starmer has called on Britons still in Lebanon to “leave immediately” as Israel escalates attacks on Hezbollah.

Speaking on the flight to United Nations headquarters in New York, Sir Keir said: “The most important message from me to the British people in Lebanon is to leave immediately. It is important that we are very clear: now is the time to leave.”

Sir Keir Starmer has rejected Benjamin Netanyahu’s criticism of the UK government’s decision to suspend some arms export licenses to Israel over concerns of breaches of humanitarian law.

Israel’s prime minister called the decision “misguided” after the new Labor government suspended about 30 of a total of 350 arms export licenses to Israel.

The license was issued after a UK assessment suggested it could be used in breach of international rules.

Sir Keir told LBC ahead of his UN General Assembly speech that Israel was an “important ally” but said Britain must abide by international rules.

“I have long supported Israel’s right to self-defense and have been very clear and consistent with everything I have said,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“But the point we have reached now is very close to the bone and that is why we have to reduce it”.

“It doesn’t mean that we walk away from the problem, it doesn’t mean that we don’t understand the threat that Israel poses, which is very real, but this escalation has reached the point where we have to de-escalate, have a ceasefire and see if we can move forward in a different way .

Warning sirens sounded in Tel Aviv as a single surface-to-surface missile was intercepted by Israel’s air defense system after it was detected crossing from Lebanon, the military said.

Warning sirens also sounded in other parts of central Israel, including Netanya City. There were no reports of damage or casualties and the military said there were no changes to its civil defense instructions for central Israel.

This is the first time Hezbollah has targeted Tel Aviv in central Israel since it launched an attack on northern Israel late last year after the October 7 attack by Hamas and Benjamin Netanyahu’s revenge war in Gaza.

Iran-backed Hezbollah militants have fired hundreds of missiles and rockets at Israel in recent days as the months-long conflict on the border with southern Lebanon escalates.

The Israeli military has carried out the heaviest airstrikes of the war this week, targeting Hezbollah leaders and striking hundreds of targets inside Lebanon that have killed more than 560 people and wounded more than 1,800.

A top Hezbollah commander was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon, the militia group confirmed this morning.

The Iran-backed group said Ibrahim Mohammad Qobeissi, commander of Hezbollah’s rocket and missile unit, was killed in the attack on the southern outskirts of Beirut. He is 62 years old.

The group in a statement said Qobeissi “achieved martyrdom on the road to Jerusalem”. Israel said Qobeissi had orchestrated the 2000 attack when three Israeli soldiers were kidnapped and killed.

Fears of an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah have grown, with the Israeli military launching a new offensive in Lebanon after the country’s deadliest day since at least 2006.

The rapid escalation has come after a series of explosive device attacks last week, in which pagers and walkie-talkies exploded in Lebanon. Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the attack.

Fifty children are among the more than 560 killed so far this week following Israeli strikes in Lebanon.

The Independent take a look at the new timeline of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which is supported by Iran and its ally Hamas in Gaza.

An Israeli airstrike in Beirut killed a senior commander of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon on Tuesday as cross-border rocket attacks by both sides raised fears of a full-scale war.

“We seek peace for all and have no intention of conflict with any country … Iran opposes war and emphasizes the need to end the military conflict in Ukraine,” Pezeshkian said.

Russia has been developing closer ties with Iran since the start of its war with Ukraine and says it is preparing to sign a broad cooperation agreement with the Islamic state.

Iran has brokered secret talks between Russia and Yemeni Houthi rebels to transfer anti-ship missiles to militant groups, three Western and regional sources said, a development that highlights Tehran’s deepening relationship with Moscow.

Hezbollah said it launched a surface-to-surface rocket targeting the Mossad headquarters near Tel Aviv, saying the Israeli intelligence agency was responsible for killing the commanders and blowing up the fence and walkie-talkies.

The Iran-backed group said it fired a Qadr-110 medium-range ballistic missile at its headquarters this morning, in its first attack on central Israel since the Gaza war began last October.

Israel said the projectile was intercepted by air defenses.

The Israeli military has carried out the heaviest airstrikes of the war this week in Lebanon, targeting Hezbollah leaders and striking hundreds of targets inside the country. More than 560 people were killed and 1,800 injured in the attacks on Monday and Tuesday alone.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan compared Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler at the UN General Assembly, calling on world leaders to end what he described as the Israeli prime minister’s aggression in the Middle East.

“Just as Hitler was stopped by a humanitarian alliance 70 years ago, Netanyahu and his assassination network must also be stopped by a humanitarian alliance,” Mr Erdogan said yesterday as he criticized the UN for being a “dysfunctional structure”.

“I am calling the UN Security Council, what are you waiting for to stop the massacre in Gaza? To stop this cruelty and barbarism?” he asked.

Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 41,400 Palestinians and injured more than 95,800 others in Gaza in 11 months. The war began in retaliation for a surprise attack by Hamas in southern Israel on October 7, which killed nearly 1,200 Israelis, most of them civilians.

A journalist in Lebanon was injured after his home was hit by an Israeli projectile while he was broadcasting live.

Fadi Boudia, editor-in-chief of the Maraya International network, was injured when an explosion destroyed the windows of his home in eastern Lebanon’s Al-Bekaa region.

The video of the incident is now viral on social media.

Mr. Boudia spoke directly on the Iraqi channel iNews about the Israeli bombing of Lebanon, which has killed more than 560 people, Middle East Monitor reported.

Demonstrators in several US cities demonstrated yesterday against American military support for Israel amid concerns about a wider war in the Middle East, with anti-war activists demanding an arms embargo on US allies.

Dozens of protesters gathered in Herald Square in New York City on Tuesday evening and carried banners reading “Hands off Lebanon now” and “no more US-Israeli war in Lebanon,” according to the coalition group ANSWER, which stands for “Act Now to End the War and Stop Racism”.

Protesters chanted “Hands off the Middle East”, “Free Palestine” and “Biden, Harris, Trump and Bibi; no one is welcome in our city,” referring to US president Joe Biden, vice president Kamala Harris, former president Donald Trump and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Smaller protests with similar slogans and banners were also seen near the White House in Washington late afternoon.

“Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and the ongoing siege and massacre in Gaza are made possible by the number of bombs, missiles and warplanes provided by the US government,” the coalition group ANSWER said in a statement.

He said protests were also organized in other cities including San Francisco, Seattle, San Antonio and Phoenix.