Middle East: IDF prepares for 'possibility' of Lebanon entry

France and the US are working to bring about an urgent temporary cease-fire in Lebanon, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Wednesday after Presidents Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron held talks.

"A diplomatic solution is indeed possible. In recent days, we've worked with our American partners on a temporary ceasefire platform of 21 days to allow for negotiations," Barrot told a session of the 15-member UN Security Council.

"We are counting on both parties to accept it without delay, in order to protect civilian populations and allow for diplomatic negotiations to begin," he said.

The push comes amid fears that Israel's strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon may drag the group's backer, Iran, into an all-out regional war which would likely in turn drag in the US and potentially other countries.

Israel's envoy to the UN, Danny Danon, said that Israel was open to a diplomatic solution in Lebanon, but would use "all means" to achieve its goals against Hezbollah.

"We are grateful for all those who are making a sincere effort with diplomacy to avoid escalation, to avoid a full war," Danon said, but added that if talks failed: "We will use all means at our disposal, in accordance with international law, to achieve our aims."

Israel has been repeatedly accused of breaking international law while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are under investigation by prosecutors at the International Criminal Court over allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has held a call with Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, in which he called for a "diplomatic solution" to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, according to a government statement.

Government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit in Berlin said that Scholz had expressed "great concern" over the conflict and the risk of it becoming a "regional conflagration."

"The chancellor stressed that a diplomatic solution to the conflict was possible," the statement said.

Scholz reportedly brought up the UN Security Council Resolution 1701 from almost two decades ago which called for an end to hostilities between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel, as well as for the militant group to withdraw from the border area.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said he is "very worried" about the escalation in Lebanon.

"I'm calling for all parties to step back from the brink, to de-escalate," he said ahead of his appearance at the UN in New York. "We need a cease-fire so this can be sorted out diplomatically."

Starmer also urged British citizens to leave Lebanon immediately.

"The time to leave is now. The contingency plans are being ramped up but don't wait for those, there are still commercial flights," he said. "It's very important that they hear my message, which is to leave and to leave immediately."

The UK has deployed 700 troops to Cyprus to prepare to evacuate Britons trapped in Lebanon.

Starmer also called on Israel to do more to alleviate the suffering of people in the Gaza Strip.

"We must face up to the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza that continues to deepen by the day," he said. "Israel must grant humanitarian access to civilians in line with its obligations under international humanitarian law. There can be no more excuses."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would not stop fighting Hezbollah until displaced Israelis can safely return to their homes in the north of the country.

"We are striking Hezbollah with blows it never imagined. We are doing this with full force, we are doing this with guile," Netanyahu said in a brief video message.

Israel has carried out airstrikes across Lebanon to attack what it says are Hezbollah targets. More than 600 people have been killed in the strikes over the past three days, according to Lebanese health authorities. The UN says some 90,000 have been displaced this week alone. 

Hezbollah, meanwhile, has been firing rockets at Israel, forcing tens of thousands of Israelis to evacuate from northern border areas.

In his message, Netanyahu said the Israeli bombing was aimed at facilitating their return.

"One thing I promise you: we will not rest until they return home."

French President Emmanuel Macron has told the UN General Assembly that there "cannot be, must not be war in Lebanon."

"We urge Israel to cease this escalation in Lebanon, and (for) Hezbollah to cease these missile launches to Israel," he said. "We urge all of those who provide (Hezbollah) with the means to do so to stop doing so."

Hezbollah on Wednesday launched a surface-to-surface missile from Lebanon in the direction of Tel Aviv, setting off air-raid sirens across the city and central Israel. The missile was intercepted by Israel, which has vowed to push on with airstrikes against the Iran-backed militant group.

The French president said he would be sending his foreign minister to Lebanon as part of an effort to stop an all-out war from breaking out.

Macron also called for a cease-fire in Gaza "as soon as possible," saying the conflict there, which began almost a year ago, has gone on for too long.

US President Joe Biden said urged a cease-fire between Israel and the Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, while warning of the possibility of further escalation.

"An all-out war is possible," Biden said in comments carried by the US-based broadcaster ABC. "What I think is, also, the opportunity is still in play to have a settlement that could fundamentally change the whole region."

Biden said that he also hoped for a decrease in tensions in the occupied West Bank, where Israel has been carrying out deadly raids since late last month.

"There's a possibility if we can deal with a cease-fire in Lebanon that it can move into dealing with the West Bank as well," he said.

Biden said that the US was still working to achieve a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, where an Israeli offensive has been ongoing for almost a year.

"I'm using every bit of energy with my team to get this done," Biden said.

He reiterated Washington's support for a two-state solution in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

"I don't agree with [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's] position. There needs to be a two-state solution," Biden said.

Israel's military chief has told soldiers that airstrikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon were preparing the way for a possible ground operation.

"You can hear the planes here; we are attacking all day. Both to prepare the ground for the possibility of your entry, but also to continue striking Hezbollah," Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi told a tank brigade, according to a statement issued by the military.

Israel has been conducting waves of strikes across Lebanon this week, while Hezbollah has fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel.

The Israeli military has previously said there were no immediate plans for a ground incursion into Lebanon. 

Some 51 people were killed and 223 wounded in Israeli strikes on Wednesday, Lebanon's health minister said.

That toll is in addition to the more than 560 people killed in the previous two days.

Israel's military said it was carrying out "extensive" airstrikes in Lebanon after Hezbollah fired a ballistic missile that reached the surrounding areas of Tel Aviv for the first time. The missile was intercepted and destroyed.

Israeli air raids on Wednesday included strikes on the village of Joun in the Chouf mountains southeast of Beirut; Maaysra, a Shiite-majority village in a mostly Christian mountain area north of Beirut; and Jiyyeh, a beach resort town south of the capital.

The UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) said at least 90,530 people have been "newly displaced" in Lebanon since Monday.

The estimate comes as Israel carries out airstrikes against what it describes as Hezbollah targets across Lebanon.

More than 550 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Monday, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Hezbollah militants on Wednesday fired a missile at Tel Aviv in Israel, in another sign of escalating hostilities.

The IOM said many of the newly displaced individuals were already among the more than 111,000 people who had previously fled their homes since the war in Gaza began in October.

The Israeli military said it was calling up reserve troops to the northern border in response to rising tensions with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The military said in a statement that two additional reserve brigades were being activated "for operational missions in the northern arena."

"This will enable the continuation of combat against the Hezbollah terrorist organization, the defense of the State of Israel, and create the conditions to enable the residents of northern Israel to return to their homes," it said.

The announcement came hours after the Iran-backed group fired a missile toward Tel Aviv for the first time.

The launch followed waves of Israeli strikes on targets in Lebanon on Monday and Tuesday, which have killed more than 500 people, according to Lebanese authorities.

Hezbollah and Israel have traded frequent fire since the Israel-Hamas war began almost a year ago. Several countries, including the United States and Germany, have designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, whereas the EU deems the military wing of the group as a terrorist entity.

Lebanon said the Israeli army struck a village in a mostly Christian mountain area north of Beirut on Wednesday. It was the first time this village had been hit in nearly a year of cross-border clashes between Israel and Hezbollah.

Lebanon's health ministry said an Israeli strike on the village of Maaysrah in the Keserwan district killed three people and injured nine.

The village that was targeted is a Shiite-majority village located in a mostly Christian mountain area about 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the Lebanese capital.

Israel has expanded the areas in Lebanon where it carries out its strikes, with attacks for the first time on Jiyeh, a beach resort town just south of Beirut, and now Maaysrah.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader,  said Wednesday that the killing of top Hezbollah commanders couldn't destroy the Tehran-backed militant group.

"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 said in a meeting with military personnel and veterans of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

"The organizational and human strength of Hezbollah is much more than that. Their authority, capabilities and strength are much more than that and cannot be seriously affected by these martyrdoms," Khamenei said. 

The foreign ministers of Jordan, Egypt and Iraq discussed the situation in Lebanon on the sidelines of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

In a joint statement on Wednesday, the three countries condemned Israel's "aggression" against Lebanon, warning that it is "pushing the region towards all-out war."

The ministers said that stopping the "dangerous escalation underway in the region ... begins by halting Israel's aggression in Gaza."

They called on the international community and the Security Council to intervene to stop the war and attributed Israel full responsibility for the current state in the conflict, warning that it has serious consequences for the entire region.

Israeli airstrikes targeted Hezbollah facilities in Lebanon overnight, including weapons depots, missile launchpads and groups of fighters, the Israeli military said on Wednesday morning.

The Israel Defense Forces said that upon attack, subsequent explosions indicated large quantities of stored weapons.

The attacks follow the confirmed death of one of Hezbollah's 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.

Several countries, including the United States in 1997 and Germany in 2020, have designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. The European Union designated its armed wing as a terrorist group in 2013.