UN mission in Lebanon rejects Israeli request to leave

Israel's Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, shared a message on social media Saturday morning warning residents of villages that had previously been evacuated not to return.

Adraee said, in Arabic, that the Israeli military was continuing its attacks and warned people not to return to their homes until further notice.

Israel has been striking villages across southern Lebanon for several weeks, forcing more than a million people to flee their homes.

Israel has said it is targeting Hezbollah positions, but Lebanese authorities have accused Israel of targeting civilians, pointing to the dozens of women and children who have been killed.

An Israeli strike hit the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli for the first time on Saturday, as strikes in the south and in Beirut continued.

Palestinian militant group Hamas said one of its commanders was killed in the Tripoli attack.

Saeed Attallah Ali, his wife and two daughters were killed in the "Zionist bombardment of his house in the Beddawi camp," a Palestinian refugee camp close to the city of Tripoli.

Israel did not immediately comment on the strike, but it has killed numerous Hamas officials in Lebanon over the past year.

Lebanon is home to thousands of Palestinians who fled their homes during the 1948 war, an event known in Arabic as the Nakba, which accompanied the creation of the state of Israel.

US President Joe Biden on Friday cautioned Israel against targeting Iran's oil facilities and said he was trying to rally the world to stick with plans that prevent a full-fledged war in the Middle East.

In a surprise visit to the White House briefing room, Biden said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "should remember" US support for Israel when considering next steps.

"If I were in their shoes, I'd be thinking about other alternatives than striking oil fields," Biden told reporters, when asked about his comments a day earlier that Washington was discussing the possibility of such strikes with its ally.

Biden added that the Israelis "have not concluded how they're, what they're going to do" as Middle Eastern nations brace for Israel’s response to an Iranian ballistic missile attack earlier this week. 

The United Nationsrefused a request from Israel to move some of its peacekeepers near the Lebanese border, just days before Israel began its ground operation earlier this week.

"On September 30, the IDF [Israeli military] notified UNIFIL of their intention to undertake limited ground incursions into Lebanon. They also requested we relocate from some of our positions," the UN Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said in a statement, adding that "peacekeepers remain in all positions and the UN flag continues to fly."

South Korea has evacuated 97 citizens from Lebanon amid rising tensions in the Middle East, the Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

South Koreans, along with Lebanese family members, were evacuated in a KC-330 aircraft which landed in a military airfield south of Seoul on Friday, the ministry said.

The evacuation order came from President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday as tensions between Israel and Hezbollahescalate.

South Korea's Defense Ministry said it also flew a C130J transport plane, which is capable of operating on shorter runways and under fire, as a precaution.

South Korean diplomats stationed in Lebanon remain in the country, Yonhap news agency reported.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has arrived in Syria's capital, Damascus, to discuss regional developments and bilateral relations with Syrian officials, said a spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

Since the Israel-Hamas war began nearly a year ago, Israel has conducted dozens of airstrikes in different parts of Syria.

Israel has vowed to stop Iranian entrenchment in Syria, where thousands of Iran-backed fighters are deployed. Syria is a key route for Iran to send weapons to Lebanon’s Hezbollah group.

The United States will provide nearly $157 million (€142.9 million) in new humanitarian assistance to support people affected by conflict in Lebanon and the region, the US State Department has said.

"This funding will address new and existing needs of internally displaced persons and refugee populations inside Lebanon and the communities that host them. The assistance will also support those fleeing to neighboring Syria," said the statement on Friday.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US is "at the forefront" of the humanitarian response to the situation in Lebanon.

"We are committed to supporting those in need and delivering essential aid to displaced civilians, refugees and the communities hosting them," he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said he believes Israel should strike Iran's nuclear facilities in response to the Islamic republic's recent missile barrage.

The former president made the remarks while speaking at a campaign event in North Carolina.

He referred to a question posed to US President Joe Biden this week about the possibility of Israel targeting Iran's nuclear installations.

Biden was asked on Wednesday whether he would support strikes against Iranian nuclear sites, and the US president told reporters: "The answer is no."

"I think he's got that one wrong," Trump said, in response to a participant's question about the issue, the AFP news agency reported. "Isn't that what you're supposed to hit? I mean, it's the biggest risk we have, nuclear weapons," he said.

"When they asked him that question, the answer should have been, hit the nuclear first, and worry about the rest later," Trump added.

"If they're going to do it, they're going to do it. But we'll find out whatever their plans are."

Beirut's southern suburbs witnessed a series of explosions in the early hours of Saturday, news agencies Reuters and AFP reported.

The blasts occurred after the Israeli military ordered residents of the area to immediately evacuate.

The strikes on Beirut come amid ongoing fighting between the Lebanese Hezbollah group and the Israeli military.

Hezbollah is an Iran-backed Shiite political party and militant group in Lebanon.

They are considered a terrorist organization by the US, Germany and several Sunni Arab countries, while the EU lists its armed wing as a terrorist group.

Israel’s military said it targeted a Hamas command center from the air in the central area of Gaza.

The command center was located in a building that had formerly been a school, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.

The IDF added that this was another example of what it called the systematic misuse of the civilian infrastructure by Hamas, violating international law.

The IDF said it had taken measures before the attack to reduce the risk to civilians.

The information could not be independently verified.

Hamas is a Palestinian Islamist group, classified as a terrorist organization by the European Union as well as the United States, Germany and several other countries.

sri/kb (dpa, AP, Reuters AFP)