ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 364
The Times of Israel liveblogged Wednesday’s events as they happened.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says the Middle East is facing a “full-scale catastrophe” and warns Tehran will back Lebanon by “all means” if fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah escalates.
“The region is on the brink of a full-scale catastrophe. If unchecked, the world will face catastrophic consequences,” he tells reporters at the United Nations, adding that Iran would “stand with the people of Lebanon with all means.”
Araqchi also claims Israel has crossed “all red lines” and says the UN Security Council must intervene to restore peace and stability.
UNITED NATIONS — US President Joe Biden met French President Emmanuel Macron at the UN General Assembly in New York for talks on negotiating a truce between Israel and Hezbollah, the White House saiys.
The leaders met on the sidelines of the gathering in New York “to discuss efforts to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah and prevent a wider war,” it says in a statement.
The Lebanese health ministry says 72 people were killed and another 392 were wounded in IDF airstrikes strikes across Lebanon today.
The IDF says it targeted Hezbollah sites, including homes where the terror group stored munitions. It warned civilians ahead of carrying out the strikes.
Eggs are thrown and insults are hurled toward the father of a Gaza hostage as he demonstrates outside a festive event in Netanya hosted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and attended by ministers and MKs.
As Eli Albag, father of Liri who has been held by terrorists in the Strip for almost a year, continues his campaign pressuring the government to release his daughter, unknown assailants throw the eggs, hitting Albag and a nearby police officer.
Hebrew media reports add that apparent Likud activists also berated Albag and other activists on behalf of the hostages, who have been urging the government to sign a hostage deal with Hamas.
“[Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar is funding you,” one reportedly says.
“You are cancer in the country,” another is said to shout.
Albag then tells reporters that he regularly gets threatening messages, is cursed and even beaten due to his struggle to reunite with his daughter.
“It’s one thing to throw at me, I’m used to it… I have very thick skin. But why throw eggs at the police? That disturbed me more,” Albag tells the Kan public broadcaster, before right-wing counterprotesters start berating him again on live television and disrupting the broadcast.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s flight to the US is now scheduled for 3 a.m. Israel time.
As has been the case throughout the week, that time is subject to change.
The IDF releases footage showing the interception of a drone launched from Iraq at the southernmost city of Eilat by a Navy Sa’ar 5-class corvette.
A second drone launched in the attack hit the Eilat port, causing damage and lightly wounding two civilians.
תיעוד מיירוט כלי הטיס הבלתי מאויש שהגיע מכיוון עיראק על ידי ספינת טילים מסוג "סער 5" של חיל הים בזירת ים סוף: pic.twitter.com/tJz4L1c35H
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) September 25, 2024
Donald Trump says Iran should be blown “to smithereens” if the Islamic Republic is involved in the harming of a US White House candidate or ex-president.
The provocative remarks come after American intelligence warned of threats from Tehran against the Republican’s life after two apparent assassination bids in recent months.
“As you know, there have been two assassination attempts on my life that we know of, and they may or may not involve — but possibly do — Iran,” Trump says at a campaign event in North Carolina.
“If I were the president, I would inform the threatening country, in this case Iran, that if you do anything to harm this person, we are going to blow your largest cities and the country itself to smithereens,” he adds.
Trump goes on to say he and the United States have been “threatened very directly by Iran” and that a firm message needs to reach Tehran that there would be the most severe consequences should it be involved in plots to kill or hurt an American president or candidate.
“The best way to do it is through the office of the president, that [if] you do any attacks on former presidents or candidates for president, your country gets blown to smithereens, as we say.”
Trump also says it is “strange” that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is in New York this week and is accorded substantial protection as he attends the United Nations General Assembly even as news of the threats emerge.
“We have large security forces guarding him, and yet they’re threatening our former president and the leading candidate to become the next president of the United States,” Trump says.
The US military is not providing intelligence support to Israel for its operations in Lebanon, the Pentagon says, adding the United States is making “a full-court press” for a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh also says no Israeli ground incursion into Lebanon appears imminent, but refers reporters to Israel for questions about its operations and plans.
French President Emmanuel Macron says he is dispatching his foreign minister to Lebanon as part of efforts to stop war from breaking out, calling on Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah terror group to immediately stop hostilities.
“There cannot be, must not be war in Lebanon,” he says in a speech at the UN General Assembly in New York.
“We urge Israel to cease this escalation in Lebanon, and to Hezbollah to cease these missile launches to Israel. We urge all of those who provide [Hezbollah] with the means to do so to stop doing so,” he adds.
Macron also demands a ceasefire “as soon as possible” in Gaza, saying the Israel-Hamas war has lasted too long, adding that “there is no explanation possible” for the thousands of alleged civilian deaths.
Footage shows the explosive-laden drone impact in Israel’s southernmost city of Eilat this evening.
The Iran-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq launched two drones in the attack, one of which was intercepted by an Israeli Navy Sa’ar 5-class corvette.
The second drone hit the Eilat port, causing damage and lightly injuring two civilians who did not require hospitalization.
Footage shows the explosive-laden drone impact in Eilat this evening.
The Iran-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq launched two drones in the attack, one which was intercepted by an Israeli Navy Sa'ar 5-class corvette .
The second drone hit the Eilat port, causing damage and… pic.twitter.com/xibNeclCoO
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) September 25, 2024
Israel officials are highly pessimistic that efforts for a temporary halt to fighting in Lebanon to facilitate ceasefire talks will work, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told ministers that any negotiations will only be held under fire, according to several reports.
Reports by The Wall Street Journal and Channel 12 news say the basic idea being negotiated is a halt of up to four weeks, during which negotiations would be held for a ceasefire in Lebanon and in Gaza. Channel 12 says Hamas would also announce it is holding fire, while IDF forces would remain in Gaza but not invade Lebanon. The network says talks would then focus on upgrading Security Council Resolution 1701 to better enforce a ceasefire and guarantee Hezbollah move away from the border.
However, Channel 13 news quotes an unnamed senior Israel official as saying there is “no feasibility for a settlement right now,” and that “Israel is prepared to hear suggestions, but the chances for an agreement are slim.”
The Ynet news site quotes an associate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as saying that in practice, “there are no negotiations,” and adding that the “red line for the prime minister and [Strategic Affairs] Minister [Ron] Dermer is pushing Hezbollah across the Litani [River].”
Ynet further reports, without citing sources, that Netanyahu told ministers in a security consultation that “any negotiations will only be held under fire; we are continuing to strike Hezbollah with full force.”
The Iran-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq takes responsibility for the drone attack on Eilat.
The group claims to have launched drones at a “vital target” in Israel’s southernmost city.
One drone was intercepted by a Navy warship, while the second struck Eilat’s port, injuring a 68-year-old and a 28-year-old.
Both men are listed in good condition and did not require hospitalization, Magen David Adom says.
The IDF releases images showing homes in Lebanon before and after Israeli airstrikes in recent days, which expose that Hezbollah was storing munitions and rocket launchers in them.
The images are from the villages of Maifadoun, Houmayri, Baraachit and Tayr Debba, according to the military.
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says that more than 2,000 Hezbollah targets have been struck by the Israeli Air Force in Lebanon in the past three days.
“Today, we continued to strike in Lebanon. Fighter jets struck hundreds of targets, to destroy Hezbollah capabilities,” Hagari says in a press conference.
A drone, apparently launched from Iraq, impacted the Eilat port a short while ago, causing damage and lightly wounding two people, the military says.
The IDF says that a second drone launched in the attack was intercepted by a Sa’ar 5-class corvette over the sea.
Damage was caused to the port area in the attack.
A 68-year-old man has been lightly hurt in the apparent drone attack on Eilat, medics say.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service says the man sustained minor injuries as a result of glass shards.
Amid the attack, a drone apparently hit the Eilat port area, causing damage.
An impact is reported at the Eilat port after sirens warning of a drone infiltration sounded in Israel’s southernmost city.
Footage from the scene shows smoke rising from the port area and damage to a hangar, apparently after it was hit by a drone.
There is no immediate comment from the IDF on the attack.
Footage purportedly from the scene of an apparent drone impact in Eilat pic.twitter.com/CYnYEJLHNl
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) September 25, 2024
Sirens warning of a suspected drone infiltration are sounding in Israel’s southernmost city of Eilat.
Shortly before the sirens sounded, interceptor missiles were launched in the area, eyewitnesses say.
The IDF is looking into the incident.
Heavy damage has been caused to the Mount Hermon tourist site, as a Hezbollah rocket from Lebanon hit the cable car in the ski resort.
The Hermon site says it has been closed for an entire year now in the shadow of the war, with its CEO Refael Nave saying in a statement that the hit necessitates a “massive and swift fix so we will be able to provide the security needs on the mount.”
The site publishes video footage of the rocket impact.
נזק כבד נגרם לרכבל באתר החרמון מפגיעת רקטה שנורתה מלבנון. מראשית המלחמה ההר ומוצביו מותקפים על בסיס יום יומי@rubih67
(צילום: אתר החרמון) pic.twitter.com/UXzUt9Msgb— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) September 25, 2024
US-led talks for a potential de-escalation of the Israel-Hezbollah flare-up with an eye to a possible ceasefire have seen “significant progress” and have reached “a serious and advanced stage,” Lebanese news site LBCI reports, citing unnamed sources.
The outlet claims “operational results” may emerge as early as tomorrow morning, but qualifies that the outcome depends on decisions made by both sides in the coming hours and on other developments in the conflict.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz will serve as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s stand-in during the premier’s trip to the United Nations in New York, ministers decide.
Katz will also have the power to convene the security cabinet.
The ministers vote by WhatsApp to approve a proposal by Netanyahu to his cabinet on the matter. The trip is listed on the proposal as running from Thursday until Sunday.
Amid reports that he has given a “green light” to talks with the US over a temporary halt in the conflict with Hezbollah to allow negotiations for a ceasefire, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again pledges to get Israelis back to their homes in the north.
“I can’t lay out everything we’re doing,” he says in a video statement, “but I can tell you one thing — we are determined to return our residents home safely.”
“We are landing blows on Hezbollah that it never imagined,” he continues. “We are doing it with strength, we are doing it with ruses. I can promise you one thing — we will not rest until they return home.”
Israel won’t be allowed to participate as a competing nation in the 2025 International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI), a prestigious international competition for high school students, in the first such decision by a global tournament organizer.
The IOI General Assembly voted by a two-thirds majority to “sanction Israel for its role” in the ongoing “humanitarian crisis in Gaza caused by the ongoing conflict,” according to a Tuesday announcement by the IOI.
“Beginning in 2025, Israel will not be recognized as a participating delegation at IOI, but four contestants from Israel may still participate under the IOI flag,” the statement said.
In the 2024 competition, held in Alexandria, Egypt, four Israeli students participated remotely due to security concerns and won three gold medals and a bronze. The Israeli team placed second overall out of 94 participating countries and more than 350 student competitors.
Today, the Education Ministry says that Israeli students competing in the olympiad under the IOI flag is “not going to happen.”
“The Israeli team will carry the Israeli flag proudly on the way to many more victories and international achievements… The ministry is examining, in cooperation with the Foreign Ministry, decisive measures on the issue,” the statement says.
US President Joe Biden acknowledges that an “all-out war” in the Middle East is possible, while insisting that a ceasefire is still possible in Lebanon.
“An all-out war is possible, but I think there’s also the opportunity that’s still in play to have a settlement that can fundamentally change the whole region,” he says during an appearance on ABC’s “The View” talk show, apparently referring to the administration’s vision that sees Arab allies taking part in the postwar management of Gaza and Saudi Arabia agreeing to normalize relations with Israel if Jerusalem agrees to establish a pathway to a Palestinian state.
This vision appeared to take a further hit in recent weeks as Arab leaders staked out further-reaching positions conditioning their cooperation with Israel on the need for the establishment of a Palestinian state, as opposed to previous foggier comments about the need for a “political horizon” or a “pathway to statehood.” But even those ideas have been rejected by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“One of the things that I found is that the Arab world very much wants to have a settlement [with Israel] because they know what it does for them,” Biden continues. “They’re willing to make alliance with Israel if Israel changes some policies.”
The president then stresses that he’s “a very strong supporter of Israel. I make no bones about it. I said years ago I was a Zionist. What a Zionist means is that there needs to be an Israel.”
He repeats a story that he frequently relies on when explaining his political differences with the current Israeli government. “I’ve known Bibi Netanyahu for a long, long time… Bibi has a picture I signed for him when he was a young member of the embassy here in the United States. It was an eight by 10 picture that he asked me to sign. I wrote, ‘Bibi. I love you, but don’t agree with the damn thing you say or do — Joe’. I do, and that was right.”
“I don’t agree with his position. There needs to be a two-state solution. Ultimately, it needs to happen,” Biden asserts.
“You have a possibility — I don’t want to exaggerate it — but a possibility, if we can deal with a ceasefire in Lebanon, that it can move into dealing with the West Bank. But we also have Gaza to deal with,” Biden says.
It’s unclear whether he is referring to a new framework for a deal involving the West Bank, which has seen an uptick in attacks by Palestinians and Israeli settlers along with deadly IDF counter-terror raids.
In the past, the Biden administration has talked about how the surest way to restore calm between Israel and Hezbollah is to first secure a ceasefire in Gaza. In recent days, however, the US has reportedly begun crafting a new plan to broker a pause in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in order to give additional time for Gaza hostage talks.
“It’s possible, and I’m using every bit of energy I have with my team… to get this done. There’s a desire to see change in the region, and… peace,” Biden says, regarding the vision he laid out.
Pres. Biden said that "there needs to be a two-state solution" when speaking on the conflict in the Middle East: "An all-out war is possible, but I think there's also the opportunity still in play to have a settlement that could fundamentally change the whole region." #theview pic.twitter.com/NIByd8l9Z6
— The View (@TheView) September 25, 2024
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given a “green light” to talks with the US over a potential temporary halt in the stepped-up conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon, which would enable negotiations for a ceasefire, according to an unsourced report by the Ynet news site.
The report says Netanyahu and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer are holding the talks with Washington, which is holding talks with Lebanon’s government and other official acting as intermediaries with Hezbollah.
Iran is said to be involved in the talks, preferring to avoid an all-out war.
“We are nearing a fork in the road for decisions on where the war is going,” an unnamed Israeli official is quoted as saying.
The National Security Council issues a lengthy travel advisory to Israelis planning to go abroad over the upcoming Jewish holiday period, warning of stepped-up attempts by Iran and its proxy terror groups to commit attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets.
Citing many public remarks by Iran and Hezbollah about plans for attacks in response for Israeli actions and alleged actions, the advisory assesses that attempts will intensify as the anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 onslaught nears.
It says many attempted attacks have been foiled over the past year, while some terror attacks have succeeded such as the murders of Israelis in October 2023 and May 2024.
The NSC tells Israelis to follow its advisories and act accordingly, to avoid posting about their affiliation with security forces on social media, and to be wary of kidnapping attempts.
It stresses the danger of traveling to the Sinai Peninsula; reminds the public that travel is barred to Iraq, Yemen, Iran, Syria and Lebanon; and reiterated mortal danger to those who go to Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Somalia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Libya, Algeria, Jordan, Egypt and Turkey.
The advisory says if travelers encounter a perceived terror threat while abroad, they should first notify local security authorities and then the NSC’s 24/7 hotline at 972-26667444.
The United States and France are currently working on ceasefire proposals to resolve the escalating fighting in Lebanon linked to the war in Gaza, three Israeli sources say, adding that no significant progress has been made so far.
The American proposal includes a truce in the north to allow for a diplomatic solution, one of the officials says.
The United States is spearheading a new diplomatic effort to end hostilities in both Gaza and Lebanon, linking the two conflicts as part of a single initiative, six sources familiar with the initiative tell Reuters.
Details are being hammered out at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, according to two Lebanese officials, two Western diplomats, a source familiar with Hezbollah’s thinking and a source briefed on the talks.
Visiting the site of a rocket strike in the northern city of Safed, Housing and Construction Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the security establishment “not to stop crushing the enemy” until they are defeated.
“We must end and eradicate terrorism both here in the north and in the south,” the leader of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party states.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi says the military is preparing for a ground offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon, telling a group of soldiers that their “military boots will enter enemy territory.”
“You can hear the planes above, we are attacking all day. Both to prepare the area for the possibility of your entry [into Lebanon], and also to continue causing blows to Hezbollah,” Halevi tells troops of the 7th Armored Brigade during a drill simulating a ground offensive in Lebanon.
“Hezbollah today expanded its [range] of fire. Later today, it will receive a very strong response,” he vows, after the terror group fired a missile at central Israel this morning.
“Today we will continue, we do not stop, we continue to attack and continue to strike them everywhere. The goal is a very clear goal, to return the [displaced] residents of the north safely,” Halevi continues.
“To do this, we are preparing the [ground] maneuver,” he says to the soldiers.
“Your military boots,” Halevi says, “will enter enemy territory, enter villages that Hezbollah has prepared as large military outposts, with underground infrastructure, staging points, and launchpads into our territory [from which Hezbollah intends] to carry out attacks on Israeli civilians.
“Your entry into those areas with force, your encounter with Hezbollah operatives, will show them what it means to face a professional, highly skilled, and battle-experienced force,” he goes on. “You are coming in much stronger and far more experienced than they are. You will go in, destroy the enemy there, and decisively destroy their infrastructure. These are the things that will enable us to safely return the residents of the north afterward.”
Lawmakers on the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee begin preparing a quasi-constitutional Basic Law enshrining reserve duty as a “fundamental value” of the state for the first of three readings necessary to become law.
The proposal would give preferential treatment to reservists in land purchases, academic admissions and civil service employment.
The bill, sponsored by Religious Zionism MK Ohad Tal, enjoys the backing of the Defense Ministry and over 40 MKs from different factions. However, the Justice Ministry has questioned whether it ought to be passed as a Basic Law or as regular legislation.
While there is a consensus regarding the bill’s contents, its format remains open to debate and “we will have to decide on the issue,” says committee chairman Yuli Edelstein.
The IDF is suffering manpower shortages caused by the hostilities on the northern border and the ongoing war in Gaza.
Last month, in a bid to mitigate the issue, the defense establishment started recalling to duty some 15,000 previously exempted reservists.
In June, Edelstein halted efforts to extend a temporary measure raising the exemption age for reserve military service from 40 to 41 for soldiers and from 45 to 46 for officers for several additional months, stating that he would not allow it to pass without “broad consensus.”
Relatives of the six Israeli hostages executed by their terrorist captors on August 29 pen an article in Time magazine, revealing previously unaired details about the extent of starvation endured by their loved ones and about meetings with international officials who let them down during months of advocacy.
The piece is written by the father of Carmel Gat and the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Eden Yerushalmi, Almog Sarusi and Alexander Lobanov, plus the latter’s wife. The bodies of all six abductees were located by IDF troops and brought to Israel two days after their murders.
The families reveal that during his time in captivity, Lobanov’s weight dropped from 86 kilograms (190 pounds) to 60 (132 pounds).
They say that Goldberg-Polin, who was around 1.8 meters (6 feet) tall, had weighed just 52 kilograms when he was murdered.
And the body of Eden Yerushalmi, who was 1.65 meters (5 foot 5) tall, weighed just 36 kilos (79 pounds).
The families say Israeli leaders did not secure the release of their loved ones and and the other hostages “for calculations they deemed strategic.”
“But there are so many other people who could have done so much more to save them,” they add. “For 328 days, many of us traveled the world and met politicians, diplomats, business titans, celebrities—people with power. They made promises, nodded, held our hands, cried with us, hugged us tightly…and then failed to deliver results.
“Celebrities met us in secluded rooms but asked that we never acknowledge publicly that they did so; they feared losing followers. Leaders of humanitarian aid organizations, including the International Red Cross and the World Health Organization, claimed they would like to intervene but could not figure out how. Two Muslim clerics confidentially assured us, wrongly, that our loved ones would be okay because harming hostages violated Islam; but they and too many other religious leaders were publicly silent,” they continue.
“More than one of these many people with power assured us that the hostages would survive, that their return was only a matter of time. Some said our loved ones were suffering but surely not dying.”
They end their column with a plea to international actors: “Take action now to bring home their 101 brothers and sisters still in Gaza. As Rabbi Hillel famously asked in ancient Jewish law, ‘If not now, WHEN?'”
More than 40 Hamas operatives were killed by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip over the past day, the IDF says.
The military says the operatives who were killed are field commanders and members of other arrays in the terror group, including its rocket division and propaganda unit.
In the northern Gaza Strip, the IDF says, it has launched a new pinpoint operation in Beit Lahiya, aimed at destroying Hamas infrastructure there.
Troops with the Gaza Division located three rocket launchers in the Beit Lahiya area, one of which was loaded with at least three rockets, the army says.
In central Gaza, the IDF says reservists with the 252nd Division have launched several raids in Gaza City’s Sabra and Zeitoun neighborhoods, as well as on the outskirts of Nuseirat. The military says that the reservists located and destroyed several tunnels in the area.
In the southern Gaza Strip, the IDF’s 162nd Division continues to operate in Rafah and the so-called Philadelphi Corridor, the Egypt-Gaza border area. In Rafah, the IDF says troops killed several gunmen spotted in a tunnel shaft, and located many weapons.
The total population living in Israel is estimated at a shade under 10 million, the Central Bureau of Statistics says in a report released ahead of next week’s Rosh Hashanah festival marking the Jewish new year.
No exact figure is given for the current population, but the report says that at the end of 2023, the estimated figure stood at 9,915,000, including foreign nationals currently living in the country.
It marks an increase of 118,000 people over the previous year, or about 1.2%.
During 2023, 183,000 babies were born in Israel, while 55,000 people died.
There were also 33,000 new immigrants. However, there was a negative overall migration of 10,000 people, the CBS says.
Israeli Air Force fighter jets have struck some 280 Hezbollah sites across Lebanon today so far, the IDF says.
The military says the targets included rocket launchers used in attacks today on Safed, Nahariya and towns east of Haifa.
Also among the targets were Hezbollah operatives, dozens of weapon depots, and primed rocket launchers, according to the IDF.
The military says it is continuing to strike Hezbollah, to destroy its rocket and missile capabilities.
מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר, בשיתוף פיקוד הצפון תקפו במהלך היום כ-280 מטרות של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בשטח לבנון, בהם המשגרים מהם בוצעו השיגורים לעבר מרחב צפת, נהריה והעמקים הבוקר, מחבלים, מחסני אמל״ח, משגרים מוכנים לשיגור ותשתיות צבאיות של הארגון.
צה״ל ממשיך לתקוף כעת בשטח לבנון>> pic.twitter.com/fXtJrqWb8D— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) September 25, 2024
Some 60 sites belonging to Hezbollah’s intelligence division have been struck across Lebanon today, the IDF says.
The military says that the strikes carried out by fighter jets destroyed surveillance equipment, command rooms and other infrastructure used by Hezbollah to build an intelligence picture.
The United States is deeply concerned by Hezbollah’s rocket attack on Tel Aviv — allegedly aimed at the Mossad headquarters — but still believes a diplomatic solution can deescalate tensions on the Israel-Lebanon border, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby says.
“Deeply concerning,” Kirby says in a CNN interview. “Evidence again… that Israel is facing a legitimate threat from a terrorist group backed by Iran.”
The United States continues to support Israel’s right to defend itself, he says. “No nation should have to live with these threats right across their border, right next door.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene the security cabinet tonight at 8 p.m. in Tel Aviv, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.
Netanyahu is currently scheduled to head for New York later tonight or tomorrow morning.
The IDF says it is calling up two reserve brigades to be deployed to northern Israel.
The military says the move, made following a fresh assessment, “will allow the continuation of the fighting effort against the Hezbollah terror organization, the protection of the citizens of the State of Israel, and the creation of the conditions for the safe return of the [displaced] residents of the north to their homes.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says that while Israel has a “real and legitimate problem” with the Hezbollah terror organization, the issue needs to be solved through diplomacy rather than war.
“Israel has a real and legitimate problem,” Blinken tells NBC. “After the horrific events of October 7 by Hamas in Israel’s south, Hezbollah from Lebanon joined in and started firing rockets at Israel.
“People who lived in northern Israel had to evacuate their homes. Villages were destroyed, homes were destroyed and 70,000 Israelis were forced from their homes, and Israel started firing back,” he tells the “Today” show.
“There was a tit for tat going back and forth, people in southern Lebanon had to leave their homes too,” he says. “And what everyone wants is a secure environment in which people can simply return to their homes, kids can go back to school. That’s what Israel is after.”
“The best way to get that is not through war, not through escalation. It would be through a diplomatic agreement. While there is a very legitimate issue here, we don’t think war is the solution,” he says.
Blinken says the US is working with international partners at the UN General Assembly on a plan to deescalate the situation.
“If there were to be a full-scale war, that’s not going to solve the problem,” he says. “We support solving the problem through diplomacy, not through war.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to @SavannahGuthrie live on TODAY about the crisis in the Middle East and where the United States stands: “While there’s a very legitimate issue here, we don’t think that war is the solution.” pic.twitter.com/db3FQlgL5G
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) September 25, 2024
Rocket sirens sound in communities close to the northern border.
Hezbollah has taken responsibility for the rocket barrages on northern Israel today, saying it targeted both Israeli towns and army bases.
So far, Hezbollah says it launched rockets at an army base near Ilaniya in the Lower Galilee; the northern town of Hatzor near Safed; the IDF’s Northern Command in Safed; Kibbutz Sa’ar near Nahariya; and Kiryat Motzkin near Haifa.
Hezbollah also claimed a missile launched at central Israel this morning, which it says targeted the Mossad HQ. The missile was intercepted by air defenses.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah announces the deaths of two more members killed in Israel strikes, bringing the terror group’s toll during the fighting since October to at least 510. The IDF believes this toll to be much higher.
The chief of the IDF Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, says the military needs to be “strongly prepared” for a ground offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“We have entered another phase of the campaign… The operation began with a very significant blow to Hezbollah’s capabilities, with an emphasis on [rocket] capabilities, and a very significant blow to the commanders and members of the organization,” Gordin says while visiting a drill simulating a ground operation in Lebanon yesterday.
“We need to change the security situation. We need to be very strongly prepared to enter [Lebanon] in a [ground] maneuver,” he adds.
The two individuals injured in a rocket strike in Kibbutz Sa’ar were trying to reach cover when the projectile hit, Channel 12 reports.
According to the outlet, the two were working to renovate a building in the community when the sirens began.
The building did not have a protected area so the two tried to run to a nearby building.
Moshe Davidovich, head of the local council, tells the outlet that residents of the border communities have “basically zero seconds” to take cover when the sirens start.
The IDF says that 30 rockets were launched in Hezbollah’s latest barrage on the Western Galilee and towns east of Haifa.
Two people were wounded, one seriously and one moderately, as a result of a rocket impact in Kibbutz Sa’ar.
A pharmacist from East Jerusalem is released after being arrested on suspicion of identifying with the Islamic State terror organization due to a ring he was wearing that was thought to resemble the ISIS flag, but without the police checking what the ISIS flag looks like.
Following a complaint from a member of the public that the ring the pharmacist was wearing bore the ISIS symbol, the police arrested the man at the pharmacy he was working at Petah Tivka on Monday night.
During a Petah Tikva Magistrate Court hearing on the police request to extend his detention yesterday, the police representative admitted that the Arabic writing on the ring had not been translated and that the police had not received a professional statement from the relevant department on the ring and its alleged connection to ISIS before acting on the complaint.
The police also failed to obtain the necessary written authorization from the State Attorney’s Office to open an investigation into the pharmacist on suspicion of identifying with a terrorist organization.
“This suspect has no criminal record, he has a doctorate in pharmacology… he has a family, and doesn’t need to be arrested because of the police’s Islamophobia,” attorney Alla Tilawi, representing the pharmacist, told the court.
Despite acknowledging the problems with the case the judge insisted there was a resemblance between the ring and the ISIS flag and ruled that the man be held until tomorrow.
Last night, however, a judge at the Central-Lod District Court said there was nothing on the ring that indicated an association with ISIS, pointing out that the police had not included an image of the ISIS flag in the case file.
“If the police did not check to compare the ring and the logo of the terror organization, it cannot be said that there is even the beginnings of a basis of suspicion against the appellant,” writes Judge Ido Druyan-Gamlielle.
The ring itself has the image of the Seal of Mohammed depicted with white letters on a black background declaring that Mohammed is God’s messenger. The ISIS flag also bears the image of the Seal of Mohammed but with black letters on a white background that is itself on a black standard with a separate Islamic phrase above the seal.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service says one of the victims of the Hezbollah rocket attack in Kibbutz Sa’ar near Nahariya is listed in serious condition.
The 35-year-old man is being taken to Galilee Medical Center in Nahriya along with a 52-year-old man who was moderately hurt in the attack.
Both victims were hit by shrapnel as a result of a direct rocket impact, MDA says.
At least two people are wounded by rocket impacts in Kibbutz Sa’ar, close to Nahariya, following Hezbollah’s latest barrage at northern Israel, medics say.
Both are listed in moderate condition after sustaining shrapnel wounds, Magen David Adom says.
Rocket sirens sound in multiple northern communities, warning residents to take cover amid a rocket attack.
In addition to the central Galilee, alerts are heard in Nahariya and communities east of Haifa during an apparently heavy barrage.
The IDF announces that it is carrying out airstrikes in southern Lebanon’s Nabatieh.
It says further details will be provided later.
Lebanon says 10 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets today, including two rare strikes in mountain areas outside Hezbollah’s traditional strongholds in the south and east.
The toll does not distinguish between Hezbollah fighters and civilians.
The health ministry says that an Israeli strike on the village of Joun in the Chouf mountains, southeast of Beirut, killed four people. It said two other strikes killed three people in the village of Maaysra, north of Beirut, and three in Ain Qana in the south.
Benny Gantz, the chairman of the opposition National Unity party, will leave this evening on what his spokesman describes as a “high-level political visit in Berlin” where he is slated to meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Over the course of Thursday, Gantz will meet with Scholz as well as President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Foreign Policy and Security Advisor Jens Plotner and Opposition Leader Friedrich Merz of the CDU party. He is set to return tomorrow evening.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says that Israel’s killing of top Hezbollah commanders will not vanquish the Iran-backed Lebanese terror group.
“The organizational strength and human resources of Hezbollah is very strong and will not be critically hit by the killing of a senior commander, even if that is clearly a loss,” Khamenei says.
“Some of the effective and valuable forces of Hezbollah were martyred, which undoubtedly caused damage to Hezbollah, but this was not the sort of damage that could bring the group to its knees,” he says in a meeting with military personnel and veterans of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.
The “Palestinian and Lebanese resistance will have the final victory,” Khamenei says.
Khamenei says that despite assertions by Washington that it did not know in advance of Israel’s alleged plans to blow up Hezbollah’s communication devices, “the US both knows and interferes,” Khamenei says, adding that US President Joe Biden’s administration “needs a victory for the Zionist regime” before the presidential election in November.
The family members of hostages joining Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his flight to New York for his speech to the United Nations are: Sharon Sharabi, brother of Yossi and Eli Sharabi; Eli Shtivi, whose son Idan was kidnapped from the Supernova festival; Yifat Haiman, whose 27-year-old daughter Inbar was murdered after being abducted from the party; Danny Miran, father of Omri, who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nahal Oz, and Yizhar Lifschitz, whose 83-year-old father Oded was snatched from Kibbutz Nir Oz along with his wife, who was later freed.
The flight is slated to take off tomorrow but sources tell The Times of Israel that the chances of cancellation amid intensified fighting against Hezbollah in Lebanon are “50-50.”
Since this morning, Israeli Air Force fighter jets have struck more than 100 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, the IDF says.
Dozens of fighter jets participated in the strikes, it adds.
An unnamed Hezbollah official tells Reuters that the recent attack on the terror group’s communication devices — widely blamed on Israel — put 1,500 fighters out of commission because of their injuries, with many having been blinded or had their hands blown off.
While that is a major blow, it represents a small fraction of Hezbollah’s strength, which a report for the US Congress on Friday put at 40,000-50,000 fighters.
The terror group’s chief Hassan Nasrallah has claimed the group has 100,000 fighters.
In an apparently coordinated attack, the Gold Apollo branded devices detonated last week across Hezbollah’s strongholds of south Lebanon, Beirut’s suburbs and the eastern Bekaa valley.
A day later, walkie-talkies carried by members of the terror group also exploded.
Three people were killed and nine others injured in an Israeli strike on the Lebanese Shi’ite town of Maaysrah in the Christian-majority Keserwan region, the country’s health ministry says.
The village is north of Beirut and it was the first time the area was struck in intensified hostilities between the Israeli military and Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.
الصورة للدمار الذي خلفته الغارة على قرية المعيصرة كسروان. pic.twitter.com/FJjtWYcUKW
— ضوميط القزي دريبي | Doumit Azzi Draiby (@Doumit_Azzi) September 25, 2024
A delegation of 20 family members of hostages held in Gaza sailed around the New York Harbor yesterday to raise awareness during the United Nations General Assembly’s week of meetings in New York.
The ship bore signs reading “Let them go now,” a different slogan from the one used by other hostage families, “Bring them home now.”
According to the organizers, some boats sailing by shouted words of support.
The delegation — organized in coordination with the IDF, Defense Ministry and Foreign Ministry — is slated to meet with the Czech and Bulgarian presidents, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, the World Health Organization, a representative of the Vatican, and the foreign ministers of Sweden, France, Canada, and the European Union.
The Kremlin urges Russian nationals to leave Lebanon on commercial flights as soon as possible for their own safety.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov makes the statement on a daily conference call with reporters after warning a day earlier that Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon had the potential to destabilize the Middle East and widen the conflict there.
Footage circulating on social media shows the immediate aftermath of a rocket barrage fired from Lebanon at the northern city of Safed.
The rocket hit a building, sparking a fire.
There were no injuries in the attack.
The IDF said some 40 rockets were fired at the city.
According to the IDF, some 40 rockets were launched from Lebanon at the Safed area in the latest barrage.
Some of the rockets were intercepted, while at least one impacted a home, causing damage.
No injuries were caused.
A rocket launched by Hezbollah from Lebanon impacted in the northern city of Safed, causing damage.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service says there are no injuries.
Pop star Noa Kirel cancels her concert in Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park tomorrow night after Hezbollah fired a ballistic missile at the coastal city this morning.
Kirel says that she made decision along with concert organizers because she does not want to endanger her fans, some 30,000 of whom were expected to attend the gig.
A new date for the concert will be announced soon, and all tickets for the original event will be honored.
Kirel placed 3rd in the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest with her performance of “Unicorn.”
The IDF announces that it is carrying out a “wide” wave of airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon and the Beqaa Valley.
It says further details will be provided later.
Rocket sirens sound in a number of towns in the Galilee, including Safed.
The area appears to be coming under heavy attack from the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum slams Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his upcoming visit to New York to speak at the UN General Assembly.
“While the country is burning and 101 hostages have been abandoned in the Hamas death tunnels for 355 days, the prime minister chooses another unnecessary show trip to the US,” the forum says in a statement.
Netanyahu is expected to fly to New York tomorrow with his wife Sara, and address the UNGA on Friday with a speech focusing on Iran. The prime minister will stay in New York until Saturday evening, when he will return to Israel at the conclusion of the Jewish Sabbath.
Israeli fighter jets struck a Hezbollah rocket launcher in southern Lebanon’s Tebnine, used to fire a barrage of five rockets at the Carmel and Wadi Ara region this morning, the IDF says.
The barrage triggered sirens in Zichron Yaakov for the first time.
The military releases footage of the strike.
בסגירת מעגל מהירה, מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר תקפו במרחב תבנין שבדרום לבנון את המשגר ממנו בוצע הירי למרחב ואדי ערה הבוקר>> pic.twitter.com/5QApxrfVHA
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) September 25, 2024
Meanwhile, the IDF says fighter jets are striking dozens of Hezbollah weapon depots in southern Lebanon in the past hour.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the United Nations is currently back to its original slot on Friday, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel, and as of now the premier is scheduled to fly home after the Jewish Sabbath.
It had been shifted to Thursday, but Netanyahu’s flight has now been delayed till Thursday amid intensified fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
However, the chances that the entire trip is canceled are “50-50,” says the official.
Netanyahu’s speech will mostly focus on the Iranian threat, the official says.
The foreign ministers of Egypt, Iraq and Jordan issue a rare joint statement condemning Israel’s “aggression” against Lebanon, warning that it is “pushing the region towards all-out war.”
The ministers say that stopping the “dangerous escalation under way in the region… begins by halting Israel’s aggression in Gaza,” in a statement issued after a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the terror group saying it is doing so in support of Palestinians in Gaza amid the war sparked by the Hamas onslaught on southern Israel.
The fighting has intensified in recent days as Israel takes military action with the aim of enabling the 60,000 Israelis who have been evacuated from northern Israel for almost a year to return to their homes.
Hezbollah has said it will stop firing only once the war in Gaza ends, though many Israelis fear the north will remain under threat as long as the Iran-backed terror group’s forces are able to operate along the border.
Two more drones launched from Iraq overnight struck open areas in the northern Golan Heights, according to the IDF.
Sirens had sounded in Ein Zivan and Merom Golan during the incident at around 3 a.m.
The drone impacts sparked fires in open areas, but no injuries were caused.
The Iran-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq took responsibility.
Britain is moving troops to Cyprus to help its nationals leave Lebanon, as Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned that the escalation in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah was pushing the region toward the brink.
The UK government says in a statement that 700 troops will travel to Cyprus, bolstering its presence in the area where it already has two Royal Navy ships, aircraft and transport helicopters.
“Events in the past hours and days have demonstrated how volatile this situation is, which is why our message is clear, British nationals should leave now,” says UK Defense Secretary John Healey.
Five rockets were launched from Lebanon at the Carmel and Wadi Ara area in northern Israel, south of Haifa, according to the IDF.
The military says some of the rockets were intercepted by air defenses, and at least one impact was reported.
The rockets triggered sirens in Zichron Yaakov and Yokne’am Illit, as well as surrounding communities.
There are no reports of injuries in the attack.
Sirens sound in Tiberias, warning of a suspected incoming drone attack on the Sea of Galilee town.
The alerts are heard shortly after the IDF says it shot down a UAV in the same area earlier today that had been launched from Iraq.
Israeli fighter jets shot down a drone that entered Israeli airspace this morning south of the Sea of Galilee, the IDF says.
Sirens had sounded in the Golan Heights community of Eliad during the incident.
According to the military, the drone had flown toward Israel from the east, possibly launched from Iraq, and entered Israeli airspace from Syria.
No damage or injuries were caused.
The Iran-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq takes responsibility for the drone attack, saying it launched it at a “target” in the Golan Heights.
Sirens are sounding in Zichron Yaakov and the surrounding communities, warning of incoming rocket fire.
It is the first time sirens have sounded in Zichron Yaakov in a number of years.
The alerts are also heard in Yokne’am Illit and nearby towns.
Hezbollah confirms that Ibrahim Qubaisi, the commander of the terror group’s rocket and missile division, was killed in an Israeli strike yesterday in Beirut.
The terror group announces Qubaisi’s death, along with another operative believed to have been killed alongside him.
Hezbollah refers to Qubaisi as a commander. Hezbollah rarely refers to its senior operatives slain in Israeli strikes as commanders and has only done so four times previously.
Since Israel escalated its attacks on the terror group in recent days, Hezbollah has not named any of the operatives killed in the strikes, making the announcement of Qubaisi’s death an exception.
Israeli fighter jets carried out another wave of strikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon overnight.
The IDF says the targets included Hezbollah operatives and dozens of weapon depots storing cruise missiles, launchers for precision missiles, and other infrastructure.
The military says that secondary blasts can be seen in footage following the strikes, “which indicate that many weapons were stored in the facilities.”
Israeli fighter jets carried out another wave of strikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon overnight.
The IDF says the targets included Hezbollah operatives, dozens of weapon depots including those storing cruise missiles, launchers for precision missiles, and other… pic.twitter.com/7R0XUTDfvO
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) September 25, 2024
Hezbollah takes responsibility for the missile attack on central Israel this morning, claiming to have targeted the Mossad headquarters near Tel Aviv with a “Qader 1” ballistic missile.
It says the attack is a response to the pager and walkie-talkie explosions and the assassinations of top commanders in the terror group.
Meanwhile, the IDF says it struck a Hezbollah launcher in Lebanon used to fire the surface-to-surface missile this morning.
The launcher was hit in southern Lebanon’s Nafakhiyeh, according to the IDF.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trip to New York for the UN General Assembly has again been delayed, his office says.
The premier will fly to the US tomorrow and will return to Israel on Saturday night. He will be accompanied on the trip by his wife Sara.
“The prime minister will hold consultations today with the security establishment to discuss the continuation of strikes in Lebanon,” the PMO’s statement reads, shortly after Hezbollah fired a surface-to-surface missile at Tel Aviv.
An unnamed senior official in the government sharply criticizes the prime minister’s decision to fly to the US during intensified fighting on Israel’s northern border, saying the speech could be delegated to the foreign minister or an envoy.
“This is reckless and irresponsible,” the anonymous official tells Channel 12 news.
It was unclear when Netanyahu was set to address the gathering of global leaders.
An Israeli official told The Times of Israel yesterday that Netanyahu was set to speak at the UN on Thursday after he was initially slated to speak on Friday and remain in New York for the Jewish Sabbath. By moving the speech to Thursday, he would have been able to return to Israel on Friday.
The Israel Defense Forces issues a message in Arabic to Lebanese civilians who have evacuated their homes due to the presence of Hezbollah weapons, warning them it is not yet safe to go back.
“For your safety, do not return to your homes until further notice,” the message reads, noting that the Israeli military is continuing to strike terror targets.
The message is issued after a surface-to-surface missile was fired at the Tel Aviv area from Lebanon.
The missile fired by Hezbollah toward the Tel Aviv area was intercepted by the David’s Sling defense system, Hebrew-language media reports.
The projectile triggered sirens in the coastal city as well as multiple other towns in central Israel.
There were no reports of injuries or damage.
Israel is carrying out airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in south and east Lebanon for a third day, Lebanese official media reports.
“Since 5:00 a.m. enemy warplanes have launched strikes” on several areas of southern Lebanon, the official National News Agency says, adding that “the air aggression continued overnight” on other parts of the south, reporting unspecified casualties.
It also reports that “enemy warplanes and drones” targeted multiple locations the Baalbek area in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley after midnight, also reporting casualties there.
The Home Front Command says there is no change in instructions for residents of central Israel, after the IDF intercepted a surface-to-surface missile fired from Lebanon at Tel Aviv.
The military says that educational institutions can operate as usual.
The military says that the projectile that set off sirens in the Gush Dan and Sharon regions of central Israel was a surface-to-surface missile fired from Lebanon, which was intercepted by air defenses.
There is no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
לאחר האזעקות בשרון: תיעוד יירוט בעמק חפר@Nov_reuveny pic.twitter.com/egbjJxRjxM
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) September 25, 2024
The Magen David Adom ambulance service says it hasn’t yet received any reports of injuries, after warning rocket sirens were set off in Tel Aviv and communities across central Israel.
Images show at least one interception of a projectile that appears to have been fired from Lebanon, which would mark the first time Hezbollah has targeted Tel Aviv since it began launching attacks on the north last year following Hamas’s October 7 onslaught.
Rocket sirens are activated in Tel Aviv and throughout central Israel, with the IDF Home Front Command instructing residents to enter bomb shelters.
There is no immediate claim of responsibility for the apparent attack, which comes amid intensive fighting between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
The Iran-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq claims responsibility for launching two drones that set off sirens in the Golan Heights overnight.
There were no reports of injuries in the attacks.
A Lebaneses security source says an Israeli strike several hours ago hit the Saadiyat area near Beirut.
“An Israeli strike hit Saadiyat” on the coast around 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Beirut, with a “warehouse” targeted, the security source says, requesting anonymity as they aren’t authorized to speak to the media. AFP journalists in the capital reported hearing an explosion
دمار في هنغار على الطريق العامة بين منطقتَي #الجية و #السعديات جرّاء غارات إسرائيلية عنيفة pic.twitter.com/u4aVeZ9OAx
— Annahar (@Annahar) September 24, 2024
WASHINGTON — US intelligence has warned Donald Trump of “real and specific” threats from Iran to assassinate him, his presidential campaign says in a statement Tuesday.
“President Trump was briefed earlier today by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence regarding real and specific threats from Iran to assassinate him in an effort to destabilize and sow chaos in the United States,” the statement says. Iran has previously rejected similar claims.
UNTED NATIONS — French President Emmanuel Macron calls on his Iranian counterpart in talks Tuesday to use his influence to reduce soaring tensions in Lebanon, the Elysee says.
Meeting President Masoud Pezeshkian, Macron “highlighted the responsibility of Iran to support a general deescalation and use its influence with destabilizing actors,” an Elysee statement says, in a clear reference to Iranian-backed Hezbollah.
Warning sirens blare in a pair of communities in the northern Golan Heights, with the IDF Home Front Command reporting a suspected hostile aircraft in the area.
UNITED NATIONS — UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi says he has sensed a greater willingness by Iranian officials to engage with the agency in a more meaningful way after talks in New York and that he hopes to travel to Tehran in October.
In an interview, Grossi tells Reuters that Iran’s nuclear program is continuing to advance at a regular pace, but that he wants to push ahead in the next few weeks with efforts to lay the groundwork for talks between Iran and the West over its nuclear program.
UNITED NATIONS — French President Emmanuel Macron will meet Tuesday with Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, the Elysee announces.
Hezbollah confirms the death of its senior commander Ibrahim Qubaisi, releasing a statement saying he was “martyred on the road to Jerusalem,” the Lebanese terror group’s term for operatives killed in Israeli strikes.
Sirens are activated in several Golan Heights communities due to suspected hostile aircraft.
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida — A man who authorities say staked out Donald Trump for 12 hours on his golf course in Florida and wrote of his desire to kill him is indicted on charges that he attempted to assassinate a major US presidential candidate.
Ryan Wesley Routh had been initially charged with two federal firearms offenses. The upgraded charges reflect the Justice Department’s assessment that he methodically plotted to kill the Republican nominee, aiming a rifle through the shrubbery surrounding Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course on an afternoon Trump was playing on it. Routh left behind a note in which he described his intention.
Britain says that its nationals should leave Lebanon and continues to advise against all travel to the country, according to the Foreign Office.
“Around 700 UK troops will move to Cyprus in the coming hours, as the government continues to prepare its contingency plans following significant escalation between Israel and Lebanon in recent days,” the office says in a statement.
A drone that entered Israeli airspace from the eastern direction impacted in the Arava desert, according to the IDF.
The military says there are no injuries in the attack. It does not detail if any damage was caused.
Sirens had sounded in the Jordan border community of Sapir amid the incident.
The Iran-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq takes responsibility for the drone attack, saying it launched it at a “target” in the Jordan Valley.
Lebanese media report an Israeli airstrike between the coastal towns of Jiyeh and Saadiyat, south of Beirut.
Footage shared by local media outlets purports to show the scene of the strike.
غارة اسرائيلية بين الجية والسعديات pic.twitter.com/Sq7SCSdLeN
— هنا لبنان (@thisislebnews) September 24, 2024
اثار الغارة العنيفة في السعديات pic.twitter.com/o0NtOkkuVQ
— Lebanon Trend (@LebanonTrend_) September 24, 2024
Sirens warning of a suspected drone infiltration are sounding in the southern community of Sapir, in the Arava desert, adjacent to the Jordan border.
No further details are immediately available from the IDF on the incident.
