Israel-Hezbollah conflict live updates: Hamas sends hostage message to Israel PM, ‘Tragic absurdity’ as Syrian war refugees flee Lebanon

Thousands of people who fled their own war-torn nation have been forced to return home as the streets of Lebanon become a warzone.

Israel has launched a new flurry of air strikes across southern Lebanon, targeting approximately 120 different sites within a single hour.

More than a hundred aircraft were involved in the strikes, according to the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).

“These targets belonged to various units of the Hezbollah terrorist organisation, including regional units of Hezbollah’s southern front, the Radwan Forces, the Missiles and Rockets Force, and the Intelligence Directorate,” the IDF said.

“This operation follows a series of strikes aimed at degrading Hezbollah’s command, control, and firing capabilities, as well as assisting ground forces in achieving their goals.”

Earlier on Monday, local time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu marked the anniversary of last year’s October 7 attack by Hamas by vowing that his country would “continue to fight”.

“As long as there are kidnapped in Gaza, we will continue to fight. We will not give up any of them. I will not give up,” said Mr Netanyahu.

“As long as our citizens do not return to their homes safely, we will continue to fight.”

More than 1200 Israelis were murdered in the October 7 attack, most of them civilians, and hundreds more were kidnapped.

According to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, about 42,000 people have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory strikes over the past year.

Read on for the latest updates from the conflict in the Middle East

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli air strike that targeted a neighbourhood of the Lebanese capital, Beirut. Picture: Anwar Amro/AFP

‘Tragic absurdity’: Over 1.2 million have fled Lebanon

Around 1.2 million Lebanese people been displaced since Israel’s bombardment, which has reduced parts of the capital city of Beirut to rubble.

According to official figures, around 179,500 people are currently residing centres for people displaced by war.

Alarmingly, some 400,000 people have fled Lebanon back into Syria, including 300,744 Syrian nationals.

Many of those nationals had sought refuge in Lebanon amid ongoing domestic concerns in Syria. But now, home may safer than southern Lebanon.

The UN’s high commissioner for refugees says the fact Syrians are returning home is a case of “tragic absurdity”.

“They went to Lebanon to escape the war in Syria - they’re now going back to Syria, escaping the war in Lebanon,” Filippo Grandi said today.

Around 1,400 people have died in Lebanon since Israeli strikes began three weeks ago.

Israel kills senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut strike

The Israeli military has confirmed it successfully eliminated Suhail Hussein Husseini, a senior Hezbollah commander, during an airstrike on Beirut on Monday.

Husseini was reportedly the head of Hezbollah’s headquarters, overseeing the transfer of weapons from Iran and their distribution across various Hezbollah units.

Israel claims that Husseini also played a crucial role in the operational planning for war, as well as managing the group’s budget and logistics for sensitive projects.

It came as the IDF said it is expanding its ground invasion in southern Lebanon, with more troops being sent across the border today.

Smoke rises from the Hezbollah stronghold of Dahieh following Israeli air strikes on October 6.

Hamas sends hostage message to Israel

The spokesperson for Hamas’s armed wing has marked the one-year anniversary of Israel’s war on Gaza with a defiant message directed at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Al Jazeera reports Abu Obeida has directly blamed Netanyahu for missing the opportunity to secure the hostages’ release and vowed to continue the conflict in what he described as a “long war of attrition.”

“You could have freed all the hostages alive a year ago,” he claimed, accusing Netanyahu of prioritising political ambitions over the captives’ welfare.

Obeida also insisted that Hamas is holding the captives in accordance with their “religion and the rules of humanity,” suggesting they would only be released as part of a prisoner swap deal.

“We are keeping them in a safe place,” he said, as the group reiterated its demands for a negotiated exchange.

The spokesperson for Hamas’s armed wing, Abu Obeida pictured here in 2015, has marked the one-year anniversary of Israel’s war on Gaza with a message directed at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Pictures: AFP

‘Panic’ as Israeli strikes sow confusion

Israel’s bombardment of Hezbollah’s south Beirut stronghold has forced tens of thousands to flee to the capital, but many in divided Lebanon view the newcomers with suspicion, worried they might also become targets.

For weeks, Israeli strikes have widened in pursuit of Hezbollah members, causing civilians from the Iran-backed group to be shunned, as people fear they could draw further attacks.

“Our neighbours found out we were housing people from Dahiyeh (a suburb in southern Beirut) and they panicked and started asking questions,” 30-year-old Christina, asking to be identified by only one name, told AFP.

She took in displaced people, but soon asked them to leave after neighbours, concerned the newcomers might be Hezbollah fighters, bombarded her with messages.

Hezbollah, the only side to retain its arsenal after Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war, has strong support within the country’s Shiite Muslim community.

But Lebanon remains split over the group’s decision to open a front against Israel in solidarity with Gaza, dragging the country into war.

“There are growing tensions and suspicions towards displaced people because they are from the same religious group as Hezbollah,” Christina said.

“Some people are scared that one of their family members might be a target and they don’t want to risk” it, she told AFP.

“People are looking at each other with suspicion on the streets,” another local, Souheir, said.

“They’re scared of each other.”

‘Iran stands exposed’: Former PM urges drastic action

The New York Times, citing American officials, has a new report suggesting it’s “likely” that Israel’s retaliation against Iran over its strikes a week ago with focus on “military bases” and “perhaps some intelligence or leadership sites”.

The Biden administration has been urging Israel to refrain from hitting Iran’s nuclear facilities. According to The Times, those higher value targets “seem to have been reserved” for later, if Iran escalates the situation again.

There is certainly a push, from some quarters in Israel, for more drastic action.

“Israel has now its greatest opportunity in 50 years, to change the face of the Middle East,” said former prime minister Naftali Bennett, a strident right-wing nationalist.

“We must act now to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, its central energy facilities, and to fatally cripple this terrorist regime.

“We have the justification. We have the tools. Now that Hezbollah and Hamas are paralysed, Iran stands exposed.”

Naftali Bennett. Picture: Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP

‘A nightmare’: Agony of hostage’s mother

The mother of Romi Gonen, one of the Israeli hostages who still remains in Gaza, has spoken to CNN about her year of torment.

Romi, who’s now 24 years old, was one of the people kidnapped from the Nova music festival during the Hamas attack on October 7.

“I cannot even explain how you feel when you wake up in the morning, and for the first moments you hope this is only a nightmare, a dream, a bad dream. But then you are waking up to a reality,” Meirav Gonen told CNN.

“This is so agonizing, it’s so difficult.”

Ms Gonen revealed that some other hostages who were with her daughter in Gaza have since been returned to Israel.

“They came back with stories. Funny stories, and some disturbing also stories. She’s holding up. She was saying she’s holding up for me. And I want her to see me and I want her to see that I’m strong. I’m strong for her. I’m strong for her brothers and sisters,” she said.

Romi’s hand was injured by a gunshot during the attack.

“The color in her fingers was changing, her hand is not functioning,” Ms Gonen said.

“Today I’m saying, it doesn’t matter if she lost her hand. We just have to bring her back alive.”

United States condemns ‘unspeakable brutality’

In the United States, President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump have all marked the anniversary of October 7.

In a solemn Jewish ceremony of mourning at the White House, Mr Biden lit a candle while a rabbi chanted a prayer for the victims. Ms Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee, planted a memorial tree at her residence in Washington. Meanwhile Mr Trump met Jewish leaders at a sacred gravesite in New York.

“Far too many civilians have suffered far too much during this year of conflict,” Mr Biden said in a statement.

The President lashed out at the “unspeakable brutality” of the Hamas attacks and said he and Ms Harris were “fully committed” to Israel’s security against Iran and its regional allies.

But he also described October 7 as a “dark day for the Palestinian people”, and said he and Ms Harris “will not stop working to achieve a ceasefire deal in Gaza.”

The Vice President told reporters that a Gaza ceasefire deal was the best hope to “bring any type of stability to the region”.

“We’re not giving up. We’re doing everything we can possibly do to get the ceasefire hostage deal done,” she said.

Mr Trump’s campaign issued a statement saying: “It’s imperative that President Trump is re-elected so he can end the bloodshed.”

Mr Biden, his wife Jill and Rabbi Aaron Alexander at the White House. Picture: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP

More strikes in suburbs of Beirut

Smoke can still be seen rising above the suburbs of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, as Israel continues to strike against Hezbollah targets.

Lebanese state media said late on Monday that a pair of strikes from “enemy war planes” had hit the city’s southern suburbs.

The IDF had given residents warning to clear the area ahead of time.

Those strikes followed the earlier flurry involving a hundred aircraft, which bombarded 120 different targets across southern Lebanon.

Israel warned against hitting airport

The United States has warned Israel not to attack Beirut’s airport or the roads leading to it.

“We think it’s very important that not only the airport be open, but that the roads to the airport be open, so that American citizens who want to leave can get out, but also citizens of other countries,” said Matthew Miller a spokesman for the US State Department.

For the past week, the United States has been chartering near-daily flights to get its citizens and their families out of the country as the conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Lebanese terror group Hezbollah escalates.

Some 900 people have taken the flights so far, Miller said, though he added that none of them were fully booked.

The US is also reserving seats on commercial flights that continue to operate. Some 8500 Americans have contacted the State Department to inquire about departure conditions, but this does not mean they all wish to leave, he added.

The spokesman refused to comment on Israeli strikes in Lebanon – Beirut in particular – and whether or not they respected international law.

“I don’t have a characterisation of them one way or the other,” he said.

“But of course, we expect them to target Hezbollah in a way that complies with international humanitarian law and minimises civilian casualties.”

Mr Miller stressed that, while the US supports Israel in its fight against Hezbollah, “we are very cognisant of the many times in the past where Israel has gone in on what looked like limited operations and has stayed for months or for years”.

“Ultimately, that is not the outcome that we want to see.”

– with AFP

Originally published as Israel-Hezbollah conflict live updates: Hamas sends hostage message to Israel PM, ‘Tragic absurdity’ as Syrian war refugees flee Lebanon