Middle East crisis live: Israel launches small raids across border amid reports Lebanese army is pulling back | Lebanon

Patrick Wintour

Calls for a tougher response from Iran’s reformist-led government redoubled after news that Brig Gen Abbas Nilforushan, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) deputy commander for Lebanon and Syria, had been killed in Beirut alongside the Hezbollah chief, Hassan Nasrallah.

The dominant line in Iranian government circles remains that a direct war between Israel and Iran should be avoided as it would play into Benjamin Netanyahu’s hands and draw in the US – but that Hezbollah should not be left to fight alone.

The atmosphere in Iran appeared to have been affected by Netanyahu’s statement that Nasrallah’s death was essential to “change the balance of power in the region”. On Monday, the Israeli prime minister made an explicit call for regime change in Tehran, saying Iran will be “free … a lot sooner than people think”.

Read the full analysis here: The decapitation of Hezbollah leaves Iran weighing its options

Lebanese media has reported that Israel has been shelling and firing tanks at border villages adjacent from the area it announced was a closed military border a few hours before, ahead of a reported Israeli land incursion of south Lebanon.

The area around Khiam and Wizani, both facing the Lebanon-Israel border, have been shelled for at least two hours.

They are both directly east of the closed military area specified by Israel’s military spokesperson late on Monday night.

If Israel did intend to conduct a land invasion across the Lebanese border, shelling and tank fire would likely precede their entry.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has declared the areas around the communities of Metula, Misgav Am, and Kfar Giladi in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon as a closed military zone.

Entry to those areas around the communities was prohibited, the IDF said.

It said the decision was taken following a situational assessment and signed off by the chief of Israel’s northern command, Ori Gordin.

Lebanese army reportedly withdrawing from Israel border area

Joanna Walters

Reports are coming in that the Lebanese army is in the process of withdrawing from the border area close to Israel, Lebanon’s southern neighbour.

The news agency Reuters has said sources have told them the country’s military is pulling back from “several positions on the southern border with Israel”, while adding that a Lebanese army spokesperson has neither confirmed nor denied such reports.

Separately, Iran-backed Hezbollah has been launching rockets into Israel from the border area and has been the target of heavy attacks from Israel in recent days.

The Lebanese army is part of the official national military of Lebanon, under the control of the central government, and has not been waging a military offensive against Israel since last October, unlike Hezbollah.

Hezbollah is a separate entity with its own military wing that is known to be more powerful than the Lebanese army.

Joanna Walters

The United Nations peacekeepers mission in Lebanon, under Security Council Resolution 1701, is to “control the area” and help the Lebanese government and armed forces establish control south of the Litani River, which is around 30km (20 miles) from the border with Israel.

The resolution ended a war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, the AFP writes.

It called for all armed personnel to pull back north of the Litani, except for Lebanese state security forces and United Nations peacekeepers.

While Hezbollah has not had a visible military presence in the border area since then, the group still holds sway over large parts of the south.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres, said the peacekeepers:

Are able to observe what they can from where they are but they are not doing any road patrols.”

Dujarric said some civilian staff “have been moved north” as a precaution.

We have a contingency plan and we’re looking at the situation hour by hour,” he added.

Joanna Walters

United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon have been unable to conduct patrols because of the intensity of Israeli strikes and Hezbollah’s rockets targeting Israel, a UN spokesman said earlier today.

With more than 10,000 personnel, the peacekeeping force, Unifil (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon), has been stationed in Lebanon since 1978, with its role strengthened after a 33-day conflict between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.

Our Unifil Blue Helmets remain in position in the mission’s area of responsibility, while the intensity of fighting is preventing their movements and ability to undertake their mandated tasks. Given the intensity of the rockets going back and forth, they are not able to do patrolling,” Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres, told a media briefing.

Even before the dramatic escalation in fighting seen in recent weeks, several Blue Helmets had been wounded in the crossfire between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement.

Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

• Israel has launched small, precision raids across the border in Lebanon and a larger ground operation is being planned, AP is reporting, citing two officials. It was not clear if Israel had made a final decision on a broader operation, the news agency reported.

• Israel has told the US it is planning a “limited” ground operation in Lebanon that could start “imminently”, according to multiple US media reports. A US official said it had looked like Israel was planning a major ground invasion but the plan now appears to have been “significantly scaled down”.

• Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, said that “next phase of the war against Hezbollah will begin soon”, in comments that further indicate that Israel plants to mount a ground invasion of Lebanon. Gallant earlier on Monday told troops in the north of the country that “we will use all of our capabilities – including you”.

• Hezbollah’s deputy leader Naim Qassem said the group would shortly appoint a replacement for assassinated leader Hassan Nasrallah, and claimed Hezbollah was still only using a fraction of the group’s capabilities to attack Israel. In a defiant address, he boasted of the range of Hezbollah’s weaponry, and said that the group would continue to fight.

• Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson said Israel “will not go unpunished for the crimes it has committed”. Nasser Kanaani said “We do not make empty promises. Iran will not leave any aggressive actions of the Zionist regime, which target Iran’s interests, unanswered”.

• Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a fresh warning to Iran on Monday, saying “there is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach”.

• A Lebanese solider has been killed by an Israeli drone strike, Lebanon’s army announced. Since Israel stepped up its air attacks, which it says are targeting Hezbollah, in Lebanon 1,000 people are reported to have been killed, with 6,000 more wounded, and one million people displaced from their homes by Israeli strikes

• Throughout the day Israel’s military continued to report projectiles being fired into northern Israel from the direction of Lebanon. There have been no reports of any casualties. Earlier Israel reported intercepting a UAV out at sea, believed to be targeting infrastructure at the Karish gas field.

• Yemen’s Houthis said they will escalate military operations against Israel in response to its attacks on the country on Sunday.

• Germany has evacuated some non-essential staff out of Lebanon, as well as families of embassy workers and German nationals who are medically vulnerable, a statement by the German foreign ministry said on Monday.

• The UK government has said it is doing “everything we can” to secure seats on commercial flights as it reiterated calls for British nationals to leave Lebanon.

• The US embassy in Beirut said it is working with airlines “to address US citizens request to depart Lebanon”. The embassy said it will provide additional flights “with seats for personal purchase”.

• The European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell convened an extraordinary informal meeting of EU foreign ministers to discuss the EU’s response to the latest escalation

• While Israel continues airstrikes on Lebanon, its assault on the Gaza Strip also continues, with at least 12 people including journalist Wafa Al-Udaini reported dead in strikes on Monday

• Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Israeli security forces have detained 45 people in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in the past 24 hours

The US state department’s spokesperson, Matthew Miller, is holding a briefing with reporters.

Miller says the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and other senior US officials have been monitoring and responding to “unfolding events in the Middle East” over the weekend.

He says he will let Israel “speak to its own military operations”, including the “timing, purpose, tempo of those” operations”. He adds that the US has been engaged in conversations with Israel about those operations.

About reports about Israeli ground operations in Lebanon, Miller says:

We’ve had some conversations with them about that. They have told us that those are limited operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure near the border, but we’re in continuous conversations with them about it.

The Israeli military said it is “preparing for the next steps in the fighting” in a statement on Monday.

In the statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) added that the chief of Israel’s northern command, Maj Gen Ori Gordin, recently approved tactical battle plans with officers who would potentially be involved in a ground offensive in Lebanon, the Times of Israel reports.

Israel has launched small, precision raids across the border in Lebanon and a larger ground operation is being planned, AP is reporting, citing two officials.

It was not clear if Israel had made a final decision on a broader operation, the news agency reported.