Iran’s stark message to West: ‘Get lost’

Iran’s supreme leader has said western nations are liars and told them to get out of the region as fears of a regional war spread.

WARNING: Graphic

Iran’s supreme leader has told Western nations to “get lost” and has accused them of lying for Israel.

Ina addition, at least eight Israeli soldiers have been killed in Lebanon as battles against Hezbollah continue. The soldiers’ deaths are the first confirmed since Israeli troops and tanks stormed over the border this week.

Five members of the Egoz commando unit were killed in a gunbattle with Hezbollah terrorists in a Lebanon village.

They have been named as Cpt. Eitan Itzhak Oster, 22, Cpt. Harel Etinger, 23, Sgt. First Class Noam Barzilay, 22, Sgt. First Class Or Mantzur, 21, Sgt. First Class Nazar Itkin, 21, and Captain Itai Ariel Giat.

Four more soldiers and an officer were seriously hurt in the same gunbattle.

Staff Sgt. Almken Terefe and Staff Sgt. Ido Broyer, both 21 and of the Golani Brigade’s reconnaissance unit, were killed in a separate attack.

“May their memories forever be a blessing,” the Israel Defense Force wrote on X:

Overnight attacks caught in chilling footage

Chilling footage of missile strikes on Israel are emerging after Iran launched a series of attacks overnight.

The Islamic regime fired 180 missiles into Israel on Tuesday night local time, as at least seven people were killed by terrorists opening fire on civilians near a busy train station.

Iran’s response in response to the decimation of Lebanon’s ruling militia Hezbollah and the ground invasion of the country’s south.

Tehran has long been a financial and political backer of Hezbollah, as well as Syria, as part of the ‘Axis of Resistance’ against Israel and the west.

Sirens blared across the nation as the Israeli Defense Force urged citizens to hide in bomb shelters.

After about an hour, the IDF announced there was no longer a threat and “it was decided that it is now permitted to leave protected spaces in all areas across the country”.

They said a “large number” of the 180 missiles fired at Israel by Iran had been intercepted.

Explosions were heard all over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, while rescuers said two people suffered minor injuries from shrapnel in central Israel.

A Palestinian in the occupied West Bank was also reportedly killed by falling shrapnel from an Iranian missile.

Iran later claimed they targeted “three military bases” in the Tel Aviv area during the attack.

Just minutes before rockets lit up the sky, two gunmen opened fire on a train in Jaffa, central Israel, killing at least seven people in a mass shooting.

Israeli forces have now breached the Blue Line and have advanced approximately 400 metres into Lebanon’s south.

Iran launched a major missile attack at Israel on Tuesday night. The projectiles were largely intercepted by the Iron Dome. Picture: AFP

Shortly before the missile attack, terrorists opened fire near a train station in Jaffa. Picture: X

IDF Confirms Death of 22-year-old soldier

The Israel Defense Forces have confirmed the death of Captain Eitan Itzhak Oster, a 22-year-old Squad Commander in the elite ‘Egoz’ Unit.

Captain Outer fell during combat operations in Lebanon and is the first confirmed casualty from the IDF.

The exact circumstances surrounding his death have not been fully disclosed, but it is believed to be in combat as part of Israel’s crossing of the Blue Line into the nation’s south.

The Israel Defense Forces have confirmed the death of Captain Eitan Itzhak Oster, a 22-year-old Squad Commander in the elite ‘Egoz’ Unit.

Clashes erupt in Southern Lebanon as Hezbollah and Israel trade blows

Battles have now erupted in southern Lebanon, with Hezbollah clashing against Israeli forces in what could signal a larger-scale invasion.

The militant group, backed by Iran, launched over 100 rockets into Israel, claiming to have targeted troops near the border town of Maroun Al Ras.

Hezbollah’s media chief Mohammad Afif warned that this is “only the first round” of the confrontation.

Earlier, the group claimed to have repelled Israeli forces trying to enter Adaisseh, while also targeting “a large infantry force” in Misgav Am across the border.

Meanwhile, Israel intensified its operations from the sky, striking Beirut with at least five air strikes this morning. According to Israeli officials, recent air raids have destroyed “more than 150 terror infrastructures.”

A picture taken from northern Israel along the border with southern Lebanon shows smoke billowing above the Lebanese village of Yaron during Israeli bombardment.

Ayatollah tells West to ‘get lost’

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has addressed a group of elite political figures in Tehran today, launching a sharp rebuke against the US and Europe, who he has blamed for escalating conflicts in the region.

He accused them of falsely claiming to bring peace and urged them to scale back their influence in the region.

“They must get lost from the region so that the countries can live in peace,” he said, in his first statement since Iran’s most recent attack.

Khamenei also shared his grief over the recent death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and said Iran’s mourning is a “reviving and driving” force.

The religious figurehead has remained in a secure location amid the escalating regional tension.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has made strong anti-West comments as conflict erupts in the Middle East.

Reporter ducks for cover during live cross

Sky News’ security and defence editor Deborah Haynes was caught in a tense moment while delivering a live cross from Israel.

Sky News’ security and defence editor Deborah Haynes was caught in a tense moment while delivering a live cross from Israel. She was forced to interrupt her rundown of the night’s developments to run for cover as Iran attacked the Israel-Lebanon border.

“It was an incredibly surreal and haunting experience,” she said after the close shave.

“We knew the Iranians had launched their missiles towards Israel and that it would only be a matter of minutes before they started appearing.

“But none of us I don’t think knew what that would actually look and feel like. And from our position in the north of Israel – it wasn’t one of the areas that Iran had targeted, it was much more directed towards the centre and the south.

“We were basically in the flight path – that’s the only way I could describe it – of these ballistic missiles. We could see them streaking across the sky.”

Iran President defends ‘legal’ missile attack

Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian has claimed his nation’s brief assault on Israel was “a decisive response to the aggression of the Zionist regime”.

“Let Netanyahu know that Iran is not a belligerent, but it stands firmly against any threat … Do not enter into a conflict with Iran,” Pezeshkian said this week.

Iran has claimed its actions were a “legal, rational and legitimate response to the terrorist attacks of the Zionist regime, which involved the targeting of Iranian nationals and interests and infringing on the national sovereignty of Iran”.

Meanwhile Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Wednesday that there was “no exchange” of messages with the United States before Iran’s missile attack.

Iran on Tuesday launched a barrage of missiles at Israel in response to the killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah alongside Revolutionary Guards commander Abbas Nilforoushan in a strike on the Lebanese capital last week.

Iran’s missile attack also came in retaliation for the killing of Palestinian Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in a July strike in Tehran widely blamed on Israel.

Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian has claimed his nation’s brief assault on Israel was ‘a decisive response to the aggression of the Zionist regime’.

“Before the attack, there was no exchange of messages,” Araghchi told state TV, adding that Iran communicated with the US 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.”

– with AFP

‘Big mistake’: Israeli PM’s chilling warning

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Iran “made a big mistake tonight, and will pay for it”.

Speaking at the opening of a cabinet meeting, the Israeli PM says Iran “does not understand” his country’s “determination to retaliate” against its enemies.

“They will understand,” he says. “We will stand by the rule we established: whoever attacks us – we will attack” them.

Chilling cockpit footage

Alarming footage taken from the cockpit of a British Airways flight over the Middle East captured Iranian-launched missiles soaring nearby — suggesting Iran failed to make sure the airways were clear of international civilian flights before they filled the sky with hundreds of explosives.

The clip was filmed by the pilot of the Dubai-bound BA flight Tuesday evening and showed what is clearly a volley of recently fired ballistic missiles rising into the night sky on their way to Israel.

All the missiles safely cleared the airliner — but the footage showed just how close Iran came to immediately setting off an international incident by firing rockets into the skies without first making sure they were clear of civilian air traffic from across the world.

Footage from the cockpit of a British Airways flight to Dubai.

Flights were diverted from the entire Middle East airspace after Iran started firing rockets at Israel on Tuesday evening.

Airlines scrambled to divert their flights from the skies over the Middle East as the Iranian missiles started flying without warning around 7:30pm local time. Flight trackers from the region soon showed a gaping clearing in the airspace between Iran and Israel that has persisted hours after the barrage ended — with planes flying north and south of the entire Middle East to avoid the possibility of future missile fire.

Airports in Iran, Iran, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, and Israel, also immediately began suspending flights in and out of their airports, according to BNE.

Many planes already in the air were diverted to Cyprus and Egypt.

Filmed from flight deck of an airliner near Shiraz, Iran. No warning from ATC who had no idea. Turned away immediately. pic.twitter.com/Iq6k6jY9Zm

— Tim L-G🇺🇦 (@IntercityFC) October 1, 2024

Some airlines have even suspended routes to Israel and Iran altogether as the region is poised to explode into all-out war.

Lufthansa Group — which operates Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings, and Swiss Air — suspended all flights to Beirut until November 30, flights to Tel Aviv until October 31, and flights to Tehran until October 14, Fortune reported.

KLM, out of the Netherlands, has suspended flights to Tel Aviv through the end of the year.

Those cancellations come after the European Commission and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency — which regulates air safety for Europe — recommended on Saturday that airlines avoid the airspace between Lebanon and Israel, citing “an overall intensification of air strikes and degradation in the security situation.”

Horror footage as Palestinian killed by Iranian missile

The only person killed in Iran’s air strikes so far is a Palestinian man — who was struck by a piece of errant shrapnel.

Horrific footage — shared by the Israeli government on social media — purports to show the moment the man was struck.

The man, identified by Palestinian media as a 37-year-old labourer named Sameh al-ASL, was reportedly killed in the West Bank village of Nu’eima, not far from Jericho.

“A Palestinian worker in Jericho was killed when pieces of a rocket fell from the sky and hit him,” Jericho governor Hussein Hamayel told AFP.

Four other Palestinians were reportedly injured by shrapnel from the same missile.

The shadow of the shrapnel was seen falling in the footage. Picture: State of Israel

The 37-year-old man was killed in the incident.

Mr al-Asali, a father of three, was one of the thousands of Gazan labourers with an Israeli work permit who were stranded in Israel on October 7 and sought refuge in the West Bank.

Images circulating on social media show a meters-long fragment of a missile next to al-As li’s body, lying on the ground and covered with a sheet.

Oil price surges on all-out war fears

The price of oil is soaring on fears of the conflict in the Middle East worsening.

Crude futures rose 1.56 per cent on fears of oil supply disruptions in the Middle East. Brent gained 2.6 per cent.

Iran, a member of the organisation of the petroleum exporting countries (OPEC), is a major oil producer in the region.

“The direct involvement of Iran, an OPEC member, raises the prospect of disruptions to oil supplies,” ANZ Research said in a note, referring to the conflict.

‘More will die’: 15k Aussies still in Lebanon

Some 15,000 Australians are still in Lebanon as Israeli troops invade and Iranian missiles fly into Israel.

The Australian government has guaranteed 100 seats on commercial flights out of Lebanon, one of which departed on Tuesday and one of which is scheduled for Wednesday night.

Speaking on Channel 9 on Wednesday, an Australian woman in Lebanon said she was safe but innocent people were dying as the attacks by Israeli forces, Iran and Hezbollah became more intense.

A crater left by an exploded projectile at a heavily-damaged school building in Israel's southern city of Gedera. Picture: Menahem Kahana / AFP

“I’m fortunate to be a bit away from all of this, but it’s innocent people who want to live on their land in peace. They’re the ones who are dying,” she told the Today show. “And more will die should the invasion proceed.”

Israel vows to hit back

IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari warned the Israeli air force would “strike powerfully in the Middle East”.

“The Israeli and US air defence systems operated effectively. There was close co-operation in detection and interception,” he said.

“Iran carried out a serious act tonight and is pushing the Middle East to an escalation.

“Tonight’s event will have consequences.”

Meanwhile, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards threatened to carry out “crushing attacks” against arch-foe Israel if it retaliated to the missile barrage.

The IRGC said the missile barrage was “in accordance with the United Nations Charter”.

Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian also fired a warning shot at Israel, describing the attack as a “decisive response” to what he called Israeli “aggression”.

“Iran is not a warmonger but will firmly stand against any threat,” he said, claiming the attack was just a “glimpse” of Iran’s military capabilities.

‘Ineffective’: America weighs in

The United States said Tuesday that Iran must suffer “consequences” for the strike.

“Of course, there must be consequences for Iran for this attack,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

“I’m not going to get into what those consequences are today, but there are things on which we will be co-ordinating with our Israeli counterparts.”

Projectiles being intercepted by Israel near the northern city of Baqa al-Gharbiya on October 1. Picture: AFP

Mr Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, described the missile attack as “ineffective”.

“Obviously, this is a significant escalation by Iran, a significant event, and it is equally significant that we were able to step up with Israel,” Mr Sullivan said.

The White House official would not say what consequences Tehran could expect to face, saying it would discuss “next steps” with Israel.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said separately that Iran’s missile attack was “unacceptable” and that the world should condemn it.

“Initial reports suggest that Israel, with the active support of the United States and other partners, effectively defeated this attack,” Mr Blinken told reporters.

‘Incredibly proactive’: Albo slams planned protest

Anthony Albanese says pro-Palestine rallies planned for the anniversary of Hamas’ brutal October 7 terrorist attacks on Israel should not go ahead, calling them “incredibly provocative.”

“It would not advance any cause. It would cause a great deal of distress,” he told the ABC.

“It’s important that people be able to express themselves peacefully.

“But October 7, it will be one year since the largest number of deaths and murders … of Jewish people since the Holocaust.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Picture: NewsWire/ David Crosling

‘Terror attack’ in Tel Aviv

Moments before the missile attack, terrorists opened fire in the central Israeli city of Jaffa.

“Six civilians were killed in a stabbing and shooting terror attack and nine civilians were injured with varying degrees of injury according to medical sources,” police said in a statement.

The death toll has now been revised to seven, after a wounded person died from their injuries, Israeli authorities said.

The ordeal began when two gunmen attacked passengers on the city’s light rail network.

The pair then fled on foot before being “neutralised” by police and citizens present using personal firearms, the statement said.

Surveillance footage captured the men brandishing rifles as they emerged from the train, while the bodies of blood-soaked victims were strewn on the ground nearby.

Police are treating the incident as a suspected terror attack.

Paramedics were still on the scene treating the wounded – including two people who were unconscious and in a critical condition, the ambulance service said.

No group has claimed responsibility.

Meanwhile, police were also investigating concerns of another terror-related incident at a hotel in the Herzliya section of the city.

It wasn’t immediately clear if the two incidents were connected.

Israelis were ordered to seek shelter immediately. A chilling photo shows the incoming rocket alert app. Picture: Getty

The two shooters were ‘neutralised’ by Israeli police. Picture: X

‘Crushing attacks’: Iran doubles down

Today’s attack was Iran’s second on Israel this year after a missile and drone attack in April in response to a deadly Israeli air strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus.

UN chief Antonio Guterres condemned the “broadening conflict in the Middle East”, adding in a statement: “This must stop. We absolutely need a ceasefire.”

Israeli airspace was closed with all flights diverted, a spokesman for the airport authority said.

Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan, which lie between Iran and Israel, closed their airspace too.

As the missiles made their way to Israel from the east, blasts were heard over the Jordanian capital Amman, as Israel’s allies moved to intercept them, an AFP correspondent said.

Jordan said its air defences responded to missiles and drones.

US President Joe Biden ordered the military to “aid Israel’s defence” and shoot down Iranian missiles, the White House said.

Israeli border guards are seen at the scene of the shooting attack. Picture: Jack GUEZ / AFP

Attack came after Israeli soldiers entered Lebanon

The missile attack came after Israeli soldiers entered Lebanon in a major escalation of events which global leaders fear could lead to a wider war in the Middle East.

The Israeli military said “intense fighting” was taking place and has warned people living in southern Lebanon to evacuate their homes.

Hezbollah, the political and paramilitary group which effectively runs swathes of the country, has said it “is ready” to defend its territory, launching missiles at Israel.

Israel says it prevented another October 7 style attack

The IDF earlier revealed that it has been engaging in covert operations in Lebanon for the past 12 months and has been working to prevent another “October 7 style attack”.

The Israeli army said it discovered secret tunnels as part of these operations and dismantled Hezbollah weapons.

“The troops also uncovered and destroyed underground infrastructure, struck thousands of targets and hundreds of weapons storage facilities, tons of explosives, and hundreds of living areas for operatives, command centres and more,” an IDF statement revealed.

Israel warns Lebanese civilians to evacuate ‘immediately’

Israel has warned people still residing in areas around southern Lebanon to evacuate their homes.

The Israel Defense Forces’ Arabic spokesman Avichay Adraee reeled off a list of around 25 villages that are expected to be affected during this week’s escalation.

Projectiles above the Israeli city of Ashdod on October 1. Picture: AFP

“For your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately,” he said on Tuesday.

“Any home used by Hezbollah for its military needs is expected to be targeted.”

Civilians have been told to “immediately head to the north of the Awali River” and await instructions on when it will be safe to return home.

Photos continue to stream in of the destruction on both sides of the border. On Tuesday, Israeli personnel were deployed to inspect missile strikes on their side of the border, with one landing in the middle of a highway.

Hezbollah also claimed it launched “Fadi-4” rockets at the headquarters of Mossad, Israel’s key intelligence service, in Tel Aviv.

– With AFP and NewsWire