Israel-Iran live: soldiers killed in ambush near Hezbollah tunnels in Lebanon

Sir Keir Starmer condemned “the attack by Iran” as he arrived in Brussels for talks to “reset” Britain’s relationship with the European Union “in dangerous times”.

Standing alongside Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, the prime minister said that the crisis in the Middle East would form part of talks on security.

“We stand with Israel, recognising her full right to security and to self-defence,” he said, echoing remarks he made on Tuesday night.

“We do need to pull back from the brink and to encourage all parties to find a way to de-escalate and for a political solution to the very many fronts of the crisis in the Middle East. And of course, foremost in our minds are the hostages still held after such a very, very long time. They should be released immediately and unconditionally.”

Germany’s foreign ministry has told its citizen to leave Iran, saying the situation there was volatile and could change for the worse.

The warning came after Iran fired waves of ballistic missiles at Israel, which stepped up its war with Tehran’s proxy Hezbollah by sending troops over the border into Lebanon.

Berlin has condemned the attack and summoned Iran’s ambassador in the German capital.

The Israeli military said one of its soldiers was killed in combat in Lebanon, marking its first confirmed fatality since the start of the ground operation.

“Captain Eitan Itzhak Oster, aged 22, fell during combat in Lebanon,” the military said in a statement. Oster was killed during a battle with Hezbollah operatives in a village in southern Lebanon.

The Times has been told Israel has sustained numerous casualties, including an unconfirmed number of dead.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, speaking on Wednesday

KHAMENEI.IR/AFP

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, has said the presence of American and European nations in the Middle East is a source of “conflicts, wars, concerns and enmities”.

“Regional nations can manage themselves and … they will live together in peace,” Khamenei is quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency. They were his first remarks since Tehran fired ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday, however he made no mention of the previous night’s attack.

Elsewhere, Iran’s President Pezeshkian left Tehran for a scheduled visit to Qatar, state media reported on Wednesday. He is due to attend the Asia Cooperation Dialogue summit and deliver a speech while in Doha.

John Healey, defence secretary, meets troops onboard HMS Duncan during a visit to Cyprus as the government steps up efforts for potential evacuation of citizens in Lebanon

YUI MOK/PA

Pods containing sea viper surface to air missiles are checked as the Middle East conflict increases

YUI MOK/PA

Oil prices rose 2.94 per cent this morning to $75.73 a barrel after reports that Israel may target Iranian oil refineries in revenge strikes following Iran’s ballistic missile attack.

The price of oil has risen 5.2 per cent in two days as the risk of supply disruptions from the Gulf region has increased.

Some experts suggested an Israeli strike on Iran’s oil fields was less likely than other options, however.
“Speculation of an Israeli strike on Iranian oil fields seems unlikely, as such a move would drive oil prices toward $80, displeasing Israel’s allies who are making strides against inflation,” said Tony Sycamore, an analyst at IG.

“Instead, strategic Israeli strikes on critical weapons facilities and military objectives are more probable.”

The rise in the price of Brent crude lifted the shares of London’s oil majors — Shell and BP — which gained by 2.8 per cent and 2.7 per cent respectively on Wednesday morning.

Hezbollah has said “we are only in round one” following clashes with Israeli troops on the Lebanese border today.

Mohammad Afif, the group’s media chief, insisted that it had enough fighters, weapons and ammunition to counter and push back Israel.

His comments came amid reports of fierce clashes between the Iranian-backed group and Israeli troops on Wednesday.

A collection of what the Israeli military said are seized Hezbollah weapons, at a command base in the Israeli city of Safed, near the border with Lebanon

JALAA MAREY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Israel has sustained numerous casualties, including an unconfirmed number of dead, after one of its commando units was ambushed close to Hezbollah tunnels on the Lebanese side of the border, The Times has been told.

One survivor of the ambush said everyone in his unit had been injured but had managed to withdraw. The ambush took place close to the town of Odaisseh, a village in southern Lebanon.

It is thought to be the first face-to-face clashes since Israel troops crossed the Lebanese border on Tuesday. One soldier called it a “tactical battle”.

Earlier this week the Israeli military said it had entered Hezbollah tunnels close to the border.

Israel’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that he was barring Antonio Guterres, the UN’s secretary general, from entering the country for his failure to “unequivocally condemn” Iran’s massive missile attack.

On Tuesday after Iran’s missile strike, Guterres wrote: “I condemn the broadening of the Middle East conflict with escalation after escalation. This must stop. We absolutely need a ceasefire.”

Last October, Israel had called on the UN chief to resign after Guterres said in a speech that he condemned unequivocally Hamas’s deadly attacks in Israel two weeks ago but that they “did not happen in a vacuum”.

Military Police guarding the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen

AFP

The Israeli embassies in Copenhagen and Stockholm both appear to have been targeted by attacks in the aftermath of Israel’s ground invasion of southern Lebanon.

At about 6pm on Tuesday at least one gunshot was fired at the embassy in Stockholm, according to Swedish police.

About nine hours later there were two explosions near the Israeli embassy in the Danish capital.
No one was hurt in either incident and the authorities in both countries are still trying to identify suspects and possible motives.

There have already been three attacks on Israel’s embassies in Europe earlier this year: two in Stockholm and one in Brussels.

Peter R Neumann, professor of security studies at King’s College London, said the background to all three of the previous incidents appeared to be an Iranian “shadow war” against Jewish and Israeli institutions in Europe, often using local criminal gangs as proxies.

The European Union has condemned Iran’s attack on Israel “in the strongest terms” and called for a ceasefire.

“Such actions threaten regional stability and escalate tensions in an already extremely volatile situation,” said Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission.

“The EU continues to call for a ceasefire across the border with Lebanon, and in Gaza, and for the release of all hostages that are held since almost a year.”

Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign affairs chief, stressed: “[The] EU reiterates its commitment to the security of Israel. Once again, a dangerous cycle of attacks and retaliations risks fuelling an uncontrollable regional escalation which is in no one’s interest.”

Russia said on Wednesday that the situation in the Middle East was “alarming”.

“The situation is developing according to the most alarming scenario. We call on all parties to exercise restraint in light of what is happening,” Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said.

He also told reporters that Russia had contacts with all sides and condemned any action that caused the death of civilians.

An Israeli Apache helicopter releasing flares near the Israeli-Lebanon border

AP

Two former Israeli prime ministers have called for a decisive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

“We must act now to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, its central energy facilities, and to fatally cripple this terrorist regime,” Naftali Bennett wrote on X. “We have the justification. We have the tools. Now that Hezbollah and Hamas are paralysed, Iran stands exposed.”

In a separate statement, Yair Lapid, Israel’s main opposition leader, said that Iran should pay a “significant and heavy price” for the attack.

“Tehran knows that Israel is coming. The response needs to be tough and it should send an unequivocal message to the terror axis in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, Gaza and in Iran itself,” said Lapid. Both served briefly as PMs this decade.

A destroyed building in Beirut following Israeli strikes in Lebanon

AFP/GETTY IMAGES

As countries scramble to get their citizens out of Lebanon, China said on Wednesday that it has evacuated more than 200 citizens from the Middle East country. The news was reported by the Xinhua news agency.

South Korea announced on Wednesday that it had ordered military aircraft to be deployed immediately to evacuate its citizens from Israel and other parts of the Middle East. Britain has urged nationals to leave immediately and has chartered a flight to help meet any additional demand.

France said that its military “participated” to counter what it called the Iranian threat on Tuesday night.

“France condemns the attack on Israel by ballistic missiles fired from Iran. It reiterates its absolute commitment to the security of Israel. It participated through its military means in the Middle East to counter the Iranian threat,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Hezbollah has said it has targeted areas north of Israel’s Haifa city with a “large rocket salvo”. Warning sirens have been repeatedly sounding in northern Israel close to the border, it has been reported.

Earlier, Israel said some 100 rockets had been fired so far today from Lebanon towards Israel.

By Samer Al-Atrush

Damage wrought by Iran’s attack on Israel

ABIR SULTAN/EPA

Iran launched dozens of ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday in response to its invasion of Lebanon to rout Tehran’s ally Hezbollah.

Iran said the attack came in response to Israel’s assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader, in an airstrike in Beirut on Friday.

The Israeli military said it was unaware of any injuries caused by the barrage. Israel and the US had anticipated the attack, and many of the missiles were intercepted by Israeli aerial defences.

• Read in full: Will Iran pursue a nuclear option?

Israel’s military has issued a new warning for residents in some 25 southern Lebanese villages to evacuate.

It follows a similar warning issued yesterday, and includes several new villages. Avichay Adraee, the Israeli Defence Forces Arabic spokesperson, warned that those in the villages should “evacuate your homes immediately” and to head north of the Awali River.

“Any movement south could put you in danger,” said Adraee in a message posted on social media. “We will let you know when it is safe to return home.”

An apartment building on fire in Beirut following airstrikes

HUSSEIN MALLA/AP

Spain will send two military aircraft to evacuate as many as 350 citizens from Lebanon as early as Thursday, Margarita Robles, the Spanish defence minister, said on Wednesday.

“The Spanish airplanes are ready, the staff are ready, as always with the professionalism of the Spanish army,” she said in an interview with Antena 3 TV station.

A group of 350 Spanish citizens present in Lebanon have asked to go to Spain, Robles said in the interview. Jose Manuel Albares, the foreign minister, had said earlier this week that about 1,000 Spaniards were in Lebanon.

Iran warned several countries ahead of launching a salvo of ballistic missiles against Israel last night, including the US, Russia and Arab nations. The Israelis were also braced for a ballistic missile attack, rather than one involving drones like they witnessed in April.

The warning gave Israel time to convey its message back to Iran — should the regime go ahead with the attack then it would directly hit Iran’s nuclear or oil facilities in response.

Kasra Aarabi, a director of IRGC Research at United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) said that Iran’s oil industry was “one of main lifelines — or arteries — of the regime”. He said its infrastructure, including the financing of its proxies such as Hezbollah, was largely dependent on it.

Oil prices had already jumped by over a dollar on Wednesday due to rising concerns Middle East tensions could escalate.

A plume of smoke billows from a rocket hit on a village in south Lebanon

JIM URQUHART/REUTERS

Lebanese official media said an Israeli airstrike on Wednesday targeted Beirut’s southern suburbs, after a night of repeated strikes on the area, where Hezbollah holds sway.

“Israeli aircraft targeted the southern suburbs with a strike,” the National News Agency reported. Israeli media reported this morning that about 100 rockets have been launched into Israel from the direction of Lebanon so far today. There are so far no reports of any casualties.

In a message from Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, Tehran has told the US not to intervene in its fight with Israel or expect a “harsh response”.

He said that communication took place after the attack through the Swiss embassy in Tehran.

“The main point of the message we conveyed to the Americans was that we were taking defensive action within the framework of the United Nations Charter,” he said. “We have also warned the US forces to withdraw from this matter and not to intervene, otherwise they will face a harsh response from us.”

The Israeli ambassador to the UK has said Iran “will pay a major price” for its attack — and claimed that Britain would have not been able to cope with the type of rocket attack launched by Tehran.

“The Iranians will pay a major price for what they did yesterday … it means they won’t be able to fire again on Israel,” Tzipi Hotovely told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme .

She added: “We are eliminating Hamas, we are eliminating Hezbollah and we will make sure that Iran won’t have the capabilities to hurt Israeli people.”

On the attack, Hotovely said: “The intention of the Iranian regime was to target Israeli civilians in a massive attack. I don’t think Britain would have coped with 182 rockets direct to London, to Manchester, to Birmingham, to your main cities.”

Palestinians embrace following an airstrike in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip

HATEM KHALED/REUTERS

Some 60 people were killed in Israeli strikes overnight across Gaza, reported the Reuters news agency.

Tanks carried out a raid on several areas in eastern and central Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, before partially retreating, leaving at least 40 people killed and dozens wounded, according to Palestinian media and medics cited by Reuters.

In Gaza City, at least 22 Palestinians were killed, officials said. The escalation came after Iran launched its salvo of ballistic missiles at Israel.

Kamala Harris in Washington before giving a response to the missile strike on Israel

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

The US presidential hopeful Kamala Harris has called Iran a “destabilising, dangerous force” after its rocket attack last night.

She also said that Washington will continue to support Israel and “ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself against Iran and Iran-backed terrorist militias”.

“My commitment to the security of Israel is unwavering,” the current vice-president added.

By Richard Spencer, Tel Aviv

While most of the missiles were intercepted, buildings were still left damaged by the attack

JOHN WESSELS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

When Israel strikes, there is no ­warning. The first that anyone in the apartment block above Hezbollah’s command bunker would have known of the bombs that killed its leader, ­Hassan Nasrallah, last Friday, would ­also have been the last.

Israel, though, is better prepared. Even as the United States was alerting the world that a barrage of ballistic ­missiles was on its way to Israel, alarms sounded throughout the country and mobile phones buzzed with the high-pitched squeal that urges its ten million residents to seek out their bunkers, basements and safe rooms.

For residents of central Israel and Tel Aviv, the alarms are more a nuisance than a cause for panic. Rocket attacks from Hamas in Gaza at times of tension — such as now — are a regular if not daily occurrence.

• Read in full: Israel’s Iron Dome averts disaster

Footage appeared to show a volley of Iranian ballistic missiles fired on Tuesday night hitting Israel’s Nevatim air base — a facility that hosts both of the air force’s F-35 fifth generation fighter jet squadrons.

Iranian media sources have reported that the facility was “completely destroyed” in the attack. There were unverified reports that more than 20 of the aircraft — considered high-value targets — were destroyed.

The F-35 fighter jets, which may have British components in them, have been used to hit targets in both Gaza and Lebanon. The UK government came under pressure several weeks ago for not banning exports of F-35 components to Israel, via third parties.

Germany’s chancellor said a war in the Middle East must be prevented

NADJA WOHLLEBEN/REUTERS

Olaf Scholz, the chancellor of Germany, has said that Iran could set the Middle East on fire after its attack on Israel.

In a statement on Wednesday, Scholz added that Germany and its partners will continue to work towards a ceasefire.

“Iran is risking setting the entire region on fire, this must be prevented at all costs,” he said. “Hezbollah and Iran must immediately cease their attacks on Israel.”

Donald Trump has said Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s response to Iran’s missile attack on Israel is “leading us to the brink of World War III.”

The former president used the crisis in the Middle East to criticise presidential rival’s handling of foreign policy, calling it “grossly incompetent.”

“The two incompetent people running our country — and I don’t think they’re even running it — are leading us to the brink of World War III, a war like no other,” Trump told the crowd at a campaign event in Waunakee, Wisconsin.

A vehicle damaged by the Iranian missile strike in Israel

JACK GUEZ/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Iran said on Wednesday its missile attack on Israel was over barring further provocation.

“Our action is concluded unless the Israeli regime decides to invite further retaliation. In that scenario, our response will be stronger and more powerful,” Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, said in a post on X on Wednesday.

Israel has said it will will launch a “significant retaliation” within days following the barrage of missiles fired by Tehran on Tuesday night.

Houthi rebels have specifically warned Britain that supporting Israel will put its interests “under fire”.

In a series of statements by Yahya Saree, the group’s military spokesperson, reported by the Reuters news agency, the Yemen-based group specifically warned London and Washington that they would be targets. It also said it “would not hesitate” to broaden its operations against Israel.

Since the beginning of the latest Gaza war, the Iranian-backed group announced their support for Hamas and targeted shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. In May this year, Britain and the US carried out airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.

Smoke rises following Israeli bombardment in southern Lebanon

BAZ RATNER/AP

Hezbollah claims to have beaten back Israeli soldiers trying to cross the border into Lebanon.

The Iran-backed Lebanese group said its fighters clashed with “a large infantry force” in Misgav Am across the border with “rockets and artillery”, as well as troop gatherings in three other locations, one with Burkan rockets.

In a statement, Hezbollah said that it confronted “an Israeli enemy infantry force that tried to infiltrate into the village of Adaysseh … and clashed with them … and forced them to withdraw”.

By Catherine Philp

On hearing that Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s charismatic and corrupt leader, had been killed in an Israeli airstrike, a deeply shaken Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, assembled key lieutenants at his home in Tehran to discuss the calamity.

For all the other partners and proxies Iran has assembled across the Middle East over decades, Hezbollah was the linchpin of the “axis of resistance” the Islamic Republic built to harry Israel and burnish its credentials as self-appointed leader of the Muslim world.

The stakes, as the Iranians could see it, were enormous. Hezbollah was the one force above all whose vast arsenal of rockets and proximity to Israel’s borders Tehran had counted on as insurance against direct Israeli strikes on Iran.

• Read in full: Supreme leader avenging Israel’s assassinations of Iranian proxy leaders

Troops crossed into Lebanon on Tuesday to attack Hezbollah targets

BAZ RATNER/AP

Israel’s military has announced that regulatory infantry and armoured units will join its invasion of southern Lebanon.

It said on Telegram that the 36th Division and additional forces are being called up for the ground operation. On Tuesday it was reported that elite divisions and paratroopers had crossed the border.

“The 36th Division, including soldiers of the Golani Brigade, 188th Armoured Brigade, 6th Infantry Brigade, and additional forces are joining the limited, localised, targeted raids on Hezbollah terror targets and terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon that began on Monday,” said the Israeli Defence Forces.

A 30-year-old professional dancer was named as one of seven victims of a shooting in Jaffa, a southern suburb of Tel Aviv.

Shahar Goldman, from the central Israel city of Lod, was killed on Tuesday evening, reported the Times of Israel.

A gunman and a second assailant armed with a knife also wounded ten others, five critically, including a female IDF soldier.

Police said that both assailants, Palestinians from the West Bank town of Hebron named Muhammad Khalaf Saher Rajab and Hassan Mohammed Hassan Tamimi, were shot dead.

Goldman was recently married and was a professional dancer who specialized in Latin dance, according to Ynet. The names of the other six victims are yet to be released.

Debris is cleared up following the missile strikes overnight

HUSSEIN MALLA/AP

Lloyd Austin, the US secretary of defence, spoke with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, after what he called an “outrageous act of aggression by Iran against Israel”.

“The minister and I expressed mutual appreciation for the co-ordinated defence of Israel against nearly 200 ballistic missiles launched by Iran and committed to remain in close contact,” he wrote on X.

Gaza’s civil defence agency said that Israeli bombings killed 19 people on Tuesday — including nine in a strike on a school housing displaced people.

The Israeli military said that it struck Hamas terrorists using the building in central Gaza as a base to plan and carry out “terror attacks against IDF soldiers and the state of Israel.”

The IDF said that it took several steps ahead of the strike “to limit the harm to civilians”. The Israeli military also said troops opened fire Tuesday on “dozens” of Palestinians in central Gaza which they saw as an “immediate threat”. At least some were hit, it added.

Israel’s latest military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 41,638 people, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

By Gabrielle Weiniger

Iran launched 180 missiles towards Israel on Tuesday night

MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Sirens rang out across Israel on Tuesday night as Iran launched dozens of missiles in retaliation for attacks on Tehran-backed militias in Lebanon and Syria.

Israel has built up a range of air defences, which has helped it intercept 99 per cent of the missiles launched by Iran and its proxy groups.

The military’s missile systems — the short-range Iron Dome, the medium-range David’s Sling, and the longer-range Arrow 2 and 3 — proved crucial when Israel last came under sustained attack in April. They were used to shoot down incoming drones, cruise missiles and rockets fired from Iran, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen. Forces from the US, the UK and Jordan also helped form a “defence coalition” against the attack, which saw most threats intercepted outside Israeli airspace.

• Read in full: How Israel’s air defence system works

John Healey with Vasilis Palmas (left), the minister of defence for Cyprus

YUI MOK/PA

John Healey, the UK’s defence secretary, confirmed that UK forces were involved in supporting Israel following the Iranian-launched missile attack last night.

Healey said that British forces had “this evening played their part in attempts to prevent further escalation in the Middle East.”

“I want to thank all British personnel involved in the operation for their courage and professionalism,” he added. “The UK stands fully behind Israel’s right to defend its country and its people against threats.”

The defence secretary has travelled to Cyprus where British staging crews are preparing a possible evacuation of British nationals from Lebanon.

A ballistic missile fired from Iran which fell into an Israeli family’s home

JERUSALEM POST

The US and Israel are discussing a joint response to the Iranian missile barrage, warning Tehran of “severe consequences”.

Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, vowed to make Iran “pay” after the attack and pledged to immediately strike “the Middle East powerfully”.

Tehran responded by threatening to strike infrastructure across Israel if its territory was attacked.

President Biden said that the US was “fully supportive” of Israel and added he would discuss a response with the Israeli prime minister.

Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, posted on X that Tehran’s “action is concluded unless the Israeli regime decides to invite further retaliation”.