Middle East: Hezbollah confirms death of commander Kobeisi

Britain is sending around 700 troops to Cyprus in case an emergency evacuation from Lebanon is needed as fighting between Israel and Hezbollah continues to escalate.

Britain's Foreign Office said late Tuesday it was sending military teams to Cyprus as it prepares "contingency plans" for its citizens in Lebanon.

Britons have been urged to leave Lebanon, but with airlines suspending flights to and from the country because of the escalating violence, commercial escape routes could be cut off if the situation deteriorates.

The UK already has a significant diplomatic and military presence on or near the European island, including RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus and the British ships RFA Mounts Bay and HMS Duncan, which remained in the eastern Mediterranean over the summer.

Hezbollah has confirmed the death of one of its top commanders, Ibrahim Kobeisi. He was killed in an Israeli airstrike in a southern suburb of Beirut.

The strike hit three floors of a six-story building. It was Israel's third strike on Beirut in less than a week.

In a statement, the Iranian-backed group announced the death of "commander Ibrahim Mohammed Kobeisi," who was "martyred on the road to Jerusalem," the phrase Hezbollah uses to refer to fighters killed by Israeli forces.

Israel said Kobeisi was a top Hezbollah commander from the militant group's rocket and missile unit.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has slammed the UN for inaction in Gaza, which he said has turned into "the world's largest children's and women's cemetery."

"Not only children but also the UN system is dying in Gaza," Erdogan told the UN General Assembly in New York.

"The truth, the values that the West claims to defend are dying ... I ask openly: Hey human rights organizations, aren't those in Gaza and the West Bank human beings?"

The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza says at least 41,467 people have been killed in the war, now in its 12th month, between Israel and Palestinian militants.

The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but the UN and multiple humanitarian organizations consider the casualty numbers broadly reliable. The UN says the majority of civilians killed have been women and children. 

US President Joe Biden has called for a diplomatic solution as Israel conducts airstrikes in Lebanon, warning against a "full-scale war" there.

"Full-scale war is not in anyone's interest. Even though the situation has escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible," Biden said in an address to the UN General Assembly.

Israel says it is launching strikes on Hezbollah weapons facilities and warehouses. The Lebanese Health Ministry says the strikes have killed at least 558 people, including 50 children and 94 women since Monday.

In his speech at the UN, Biden also urged Israel and Hamas to finalize a months-old cease-fire proposal. He told the UN he was committed to ending the war in Gaza, which began almost a year ago.

"Now is the time for the parties to finalize its terms," he said of the agreement mediated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.

The deal would "bring the hostages home and secure security for Israel and Gaza free from Hamas' grip, ease the suffering in Gaza and end this war," Biden told delegates.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Tuesday that the Israeli military would press on with its aerial bombing campaign against the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon.

"The one who has a missile in his living room and a rocket in his home will not have a home," Netanyahu said in a video statement.

Israel's ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said his country was open to ideas to end the conflict with Lebanon's Hezbollah diplomatically and that Israel was not looking to launch a ground invasion.

"As we speak, there are important forces trying to come up with ideas and we are open-minded for that," he told reporters.

"We are not eager to start any ground invasion anywhere ... We prefer a diplomatic solution," he added.

"We still think it's not too late for the Lebanese government, for the Lebanese people, to put pressure on Hezbollah to stop their aggression. If they will not fire rockets into Israel, then we will be able to bring back our residents, back to their communities, that's it," he said.

Tens of thousands of Israelis from the north of the country have had to leave their homes due to rockets fired by Hezbollah from southern Lebanon.

One of those who fled, Jonathan Cohen, spoke to DW correspondent Tania Krämer about his experience.

"I think we've had enough. I'm living in the same place I was born for 40 years. It's the place where my father was born and my grandfather was the first one to come there and build our home, the kibbutz," he told DW in Haifa.

He said Hezbollah has "one goal" and that is to "make me leave my home and leave Israel."

Even though the war is preventing him from returning home, Cohen says he supports a wider conflict to kick Hezbollah out of Lebanon or at least push them a couple of hundred kilometers north.

"I am aware of the fact that there could be a bigger war, a much more devastating war," Cohen said. "I do support a wider operation. I'm afraid. I have many friends, I have family, I have a lot of people that I know that could be going into Lebanon or Gaza, but we have to solve it, once and for all."

Israel has stated that its new war goal is to enable those Israelis who have fled the north to be able to return home.

The Israeli military said that it killed Ibrahim Kobeisi, a commander in Hezbollah's rocket division, in a "targeted" strike on a Beirut suburb on Tuesday.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said that the strike in the Ghobeiri neighborhood killed a total of six people and injured 15 others.

Israel has conducted waves of strikes against what it calls Hezbollah positions in Lebanon. It has killed several senior Hezbollah members in recent weeks.

Former Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Hezbollah and its allies were to blame for the recent escalation in Lebanon.

"Everybody looks at Israel and expects it to solve this problem. Well, Israel didn't start this problem — it's Hamas who did [and] it's Hezbollah who joined Hamas," Gantz said in response to a question from DW correspondent Tania Krämer in the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Bialik.

He said that the day before the Hamas attacks on October 7, the region was "peaceful."

"On October 6, 20,000 Palestinian workers were working in Israel. Children of Gaza were treated in Israeli hospitals," Gantz said. "They started this horrific offensive on October 7. Hezbollah joined them."

"We have no choice but to defend ourselves," he said, acknowledging that Israel is stronger than its enemies, "but it doesn't mean we are not right. We are right. Our cause is right."

He added that Hezbollah is serving Iranian interests and "if Hezbollah wants to destabilize this area" then it will pay, but "the government of Lebanon, unfortunately will pay as well."

"Unfortunately, the others will pay for it … but it seems like we have no choice," Gantz said.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they had launched a new wave of strikes against Hezbollah positions in Lebanon on Tuesday evening.

"The IDF is currently conducting extensive strikes on Hezbollah terror targets in Lebanon. Details to follow," a military statement said on X, formerly Twitter.

The announcement comes a day after Israeli airstrikes killed at least 558 people, including 50 children, according to Lebanese authorities.

Filippo Grandi, the head of the UN's High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), said two of the agency's workers were killed by Israeli strikes — which he described as "relentless" — in Lebanon on Monday.

"I am very saddened to confirm that two UNHCR colleagues were also killed yesterday," he said on X, formerly Twitter. "On behalf of all us at UNHCR, heartfelt condolences to their families, friends and colleagues."

Numerous UN staff have been killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza, including six UNRWA employees who were killed in early September in an Israeli strike on a school that was being used as a shelter.

UNRWA is the UN agency set up to provide services to Palestinian refugees specifically. Israel accused the organization — without providing evidence — of having been involved in the October 7 attacks which led a number of key donors to suspend funding.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has called for "restraint and de-escalation" between Hezbollah and Israel.

"I call again for restraint and de-escalation at the border between Israel and Lebanon in the Middle East today. I call again for all parties to step back from the brink," Starmer said in a speech at the Labour Party's conference in Liverpool.

While speaking, Starmer was interrupted by an apparent pro-Palestinian protester. Finance Minister Rachel Reeves was also interrupted during her conference speech on Monday when someone stood up to protest UK weapons sales to Israel.

The UK has been a major supporter of Israel, and Starmer has repeatedly said that Israel has the right to self-defense following the October 7 Hamas attacks.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opened the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly by warning that Lebanon was "at the brink" following Israel's escalation of attacks against Hezbollah.

"We should all be alarmed by the escalation. Lebanon is at the brink. The people of Lebanon, the people of Israel, and the people of the world cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza," he said. "Gaza is a non-stop nightmare that threatens to take the entire region with it."

He went on to reiterate his condemnation of the Hamas terror attacks against Israel on October 7, but added that "nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people."

An Israeli airstrike on Tuesday once again targeted a suburb of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, the Israeli military said.

Eyewitnesses reported that two floors of a building were destroyed, while videos showed smoke rising from the Ghobeiri neighborhood, which lies in the south of the city and is home to mainly Shiites.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said the Israeli strike killed six people and injured another 15.

The Israeli military said it had carried out a "targeted attack" but gave no further information.

It was not immediately clear who was being targeted with the strike. Reuters news agency cited Lebanese security sources who said it was a Hezbollah commander, while German news agency DPA pointed to the Amal movement — allied with Hezbollah — who are particularly active in Ghobeiri.

On Monday, an Israeli strike on another suburb of Beirut reportedly targeted senior Hezbollah commander Ali Karaki, although the group later said he had not been harmed and had been taken to safety.

Several other leading Hezbollah members have been killed by Israeli strikes in recent weeks.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday that Americans in Lebanon should try to leave now while flights are still available.

"We want to make sure that there are still commercial options available for Americans to leave, and they should be leaving now while those options are available," Kirby told US broadcaster ABC News' "Good Morning America" program.

He added that US officials have been in constant communication with Israeli counterparts regarding the conflict.

"We don't believe it is in Israel's interest for this to escalate," Kirby said. "They do have a right to defend themselves, but what we're going to keep doing is talking to them about finding a diplomatic solution here, a way to descalate the tensions."