Middle East: Israeli strikes in Lebanon kill hundreds

France on Monday "requested an emergency" UN Security Council meeting after Israel launched its deadliest series of airstrikes in Lebanon in its bid to target Iran-backed Hezbollah.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot urged all sides to "avoid a regional conflagration that would be devastating for everyone," especially civilians. 

The escalation between Israel and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah is almost a full-fledged war, EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said.

"I can say we are almost in a full-fledged war," Borrell said ahead of a gathering of world leaders at the United Nations.

"If this is not a war situation, I don't know what you would call it," Borrell told reporters, citing the high number of civilian casualties.

A US official said the country is presenting "concrete ideas" at the UN, in a bid to ease tensions between Israel and Hezbollahin Lebanon.

The official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, said that Washington and several other nations were keen to present an "off-ramp" for both Israel and Hezbollah to reduce tensions.

The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah is a key focus for Secretary of State Antony Blinken as the UN General Assembly takes place next week, the official said. 

The Lebenese health ministry said the death toll in the country after the barrage of Israeli strikes had risen to 492, with 1,645 injured.

According to the ministry, 35 children and 58 women are among the casualties.

This was the deadliest Israeli bombardment in Lebanon since the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Ali Karaki, the senior Hezbollah figure who was believed to be the target of Israel's strike on the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on Monday, was reportedly unharmed by the attack and had been moved to a safe place, the militant group said.

Karaki is the head of Hezbollah's southern front and is now one of the most senior figures in the group after several top commanders were killed by Israeli strikes in recent weeks.

The update on Karaki's status was reported by several news agencies citing security sources and could not be independently verified.

At least 356 people have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli strikes since Monday morning, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Of those, 24 were children. Another 1,246 people were injured.

The death toll has risen several times throughout the day. It was not clear if the new figures included those who had been killed in later Israeli strikes, such as the strike on the suburbs of Beirut.

Iran's recently elected President Masoud Pezeshkian said Israel was seeking to expand the regional conflict by provoking Iran to join its allies Hezbollah and Hamas.

"We do not wish to be the cause of instability in the Middle East as its consequences would be irreversible," he said in New York, where he was set to attend the UN General Assembly.

"It is Israel that seeks to create this wider conflict," he said. "They are dragging us to a point where we do not wish to go."

Pezeshkian also pointed to US appeals for Iran not to retaliate so that efforts for a peace deal could succeed.

"But we never reached that elusive peace. Every day Israel is committing more atrocities and killing more and more people — old, young, men, women, children, hospitals, other facilities," he said.

The Israeli government has declared a state of emergency across the whole country following an escalation in the conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

According to Israeli media, the emergency situation will stay in effect until September 30. Until now, an emergency situation was only in effect in the country's north. 

This means the size of gatherings can be restricted, amongst other things. So far, however, the Israeli army has not issued any new instructions. 

Following a day of intensified strikes in Lebanon, as well as a targeted attack in the capital, Beirut, the Israeli military said that it was preparing for the next stages of its operations in the country.

"Essentially, we are targeting combat infrastructure that Hezbollah has been building for the past 20 years. This is very significant. We are striking targets and preparing for the next phases," military chief of the general staff Herzi Halevi said.

Earlier, the Israeli military accused Hezbollah of hiding its military capabilities in civilian neighborhoods. The claim — for which no immediate evidence was provided — was also made against Hamas in Gaza where Israeli operations have killed more than 41,000 people.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have said they conducted a targeted strike in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

The announcement was made in Hebrew on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz and news agency Reuters both reported that the target of the Beirut strike was Ali Karaki, Hezbollah's commander of the southern front.

It comes after a wave of strikes in other parts of Lebanon killed more than 270, leading Lebanese leaders to call it the deadliest day since the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) issued a statement on Monday expressing "grave concern for the safety of civilians in southern Lebanon amid the most intense Israeli bombing campaign since last October."

It warned that "attacks on civilians are not only violations of international law but may amount to war crimes."

More than 270 people were killed by mass Israeli strikes in Lebanon on Monday, of which at least 21 were children, according to Lebanese authorities.

UNIFIL said the head of the mission, Aroldo Lazaro, was in discussion with both sides to end the strikes.

"Any further escalation of this dangerous situation could have far-reaching and devastating consequences," the statement added.

UNIFIL has been present in Lebanon since the end of the civil war that lasted from 1975 to 1990.

Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, one of the most highly revered figures in Shiite Islam, made a rare foray into the world of geopolitics on Monday, calling for "every possible effort" to end Israel's "aggression" in Lebanon.

The 94-year-old is considered by many Shiites to be a major source of emulation on religious matters. Unlike Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Sistani rarely speaks on political issues. 

In his comment on Monday, he expressed solidarity with the people of Lebanon and urged "believers to contribute towards alleviating the suffering [of the Lebanese people] and securing their humanitarian needs."

In August, he called for an end to "the genocidal war" in Gaza.

Born in Iran, Sistani has lived for many years in the Iraqi city of Najaf, one of the holiest cities in Shiite Islam.

The number of people killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon on Monday has been revised up to 274, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

The ministry said that 21 children were among the dead and that 1,024 people had been injured.

The health minister said that some 5,000 people had been wounded by Israeli strikes in less than a week.

One Lebanese official, cited by Reuters, said the death toll from Monday's strikes was the highest since the Lebanese civil war that ended in 1990.

Following the recent escalations between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, DW spoke with Makram Rabah, lecturer in history at the American University in Beirut.

Rabah said that Israeli bombings have taken on a "larger scale" in an attempt to force Hezbollah to accept defeat, but he added that in his opinion the militant group "does not understand the gravity of the situation."

"They still believe that the international community will put an end to the Israeli attack, while at the same time simply they're hoping to run out the clock," he said.

"Hezbollah is definitely capable of driving the inhabitants of the northern cities of Israel down to the shelters," Rabah told DW, but he said he doubted whether they could live up to their promise of protecting Lebanon, especially the Shiites in the south.

Rabah rejected the idea that the Lebanese government could have a role to play, pointing out that it is a caretaker government with no elected president.

"Prime Minister Najib Mikati, is simply a kind of a puppet … he acts as if he's a sovereign prime minister, yet at the end of the day the decision for war and peace comes from Iran and doesn't even come from Hezbollah," he said.

Regarding the future of the conflict, Rabah said he thinks Israel is "trying to drag Iran into the war, which doesn't bode well for the entire region and for global security and stability."

At least 182 people were killed by Israeli airstrikes on Monday, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. A further 727 were injured.

The ministry also said that children and medical personnel were among the dead. An earlier toll had said at least 100 people had been killed and more than 400 injured.

The toll is the highest for a single day since fighting once again broke out between Israel and Hezbollah after the October 7 terror attacks carried out by Hamas in southern Israel.

The attacks were also the deadliest since the major war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.