Israeli military says it killed Hezbollah commanders in southern Lebanon

Israel’s military says it killed several Hezbollah commanders in a strike on a military structure in southern Lebanon.

The commanders of the combat area, engineering forces and fire coordination were among those killed, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.

The strike was carried out during a joint operation between the Israeli Air Force and the Golani Brigade, which has been conducting ground raids in southern Lebanon over the past day, it added.

The IDF also said it destroyed another military structure in a different strike and seized weapons and other equipment during the raids 

About 100 projectiles launched from Lebanon in past few hours, IDF says 

About 100 projectiles have been launched from Lebanon into Israel in the last several hours, the Israeli military said.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, the launches have been happening since 4 p.m. local time (9 a.m. ET).

Most were directed at the town of Metula along the Israel-Lebanon border.

At least 160,000 people have left Lebanon for Syria since Israel’s aerial campaign began, UN says

Around 160,000 people have crossed the border from Lebanon to Syria since the escalation of hostilities in Lebanon last month, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said Thursday.

The rate of those crossing into Syria slowed on Wednesday after a steady stream of arrivals since Israel launched its air campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon on September 23, UNHCR said in an update.

UNHCR spokesperson Matthew Saltmarsh previously told CNN on Monday that around 100,000 people had crossed the border.

Of the thousands now believed to have made the journey, about 70% — around 112,000 people — are Syrians. The remainder are Lebanese nationals.

The vast majority of people are leaving Lebanon in the east, toward the Syrian capital of Damascus.

Nearly 100 people killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza in past day, health ministry says

As Israel’s strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon continue, elsewhere, the Ministry of Health in Gaza has reported 99 new deaths and 169 injuries in the past 24 hours due to Israeli airstrikes on the territory.

With today’s numbers, the total death toll since October 7 of last year has risen to 41,788, with 96,794 injured, the ministry said in a Thursday statement.

Additionally, it noted that many victims remain trapped under rubble, with emergency teams unable to reach them. The ministry does not distinguish between combatant and civilian deaths.

For context: Since October 8, 2023, the day after Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel, there has been regular cross-border fire between Hezbollah and the Israeli military, prior to the latest escalation. Hezbollah first fired at Israel to protest the war in Gaza, demanding a ceasefire there as a condition to end its attacks.

Israeli aerial attacks on Lebanon match ferocity of early Gaza campaign, monitoring group says

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon, on Wednesday, October 2.

Israel’s aerial campaign in Lebanon is being conducted at an intensity comparable only to the first weeks of its bombardment in Gaza last year, an air warfare expert told CNN.

Emily Tripp, the director of the UK-based aerial warfare monitoring group Airwars, told CNN’s Eleni Giokos that both the Lebanon and Gaza campaigns are occurring at “a level and intensity that Israel’s own allies just simply would not have carried out in the last 20 years.”

“It’s only really comparable to those first weeks in Gaza,” Tripp said of the campaign in Lebanon.

“The reality is war is messy and complicated and militants embed themselves in civilian neighborhoods that inherently endangers civilians. This is not an easy operating environment,” Tripp added.

“We’re no longer in a situation where the front lines are easily distinguishable, particularly in civilian populations. But that doesn’t mean that civilian protection and measures to protect civilians should go out the window.

“I think it’s quite easy to blame a fog of war and say that this is just a very complicated environment, but it’s not,” Tripp said.

Biden leaves door open to Israel striking Iran's oil reserves, but says no counterstrike planned for today

US President Joe Biden fielded questions on the ongoing Middle East conflict before departing the White House for Florida and Georgia Thursday.

Asked if he would support Israel striking Iran’s oil reserves in retaliation for the massive Tuesday missile strike against Israel, Biden left the door open, telling reporters, “We’re in discussions of that” but “there’s nothing going to happen today; we’ll talk about that later.”

Yesterday, Biden made clear he does not support an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites.

The president declined to outline what sanctions the US is considering against Iran, telling one reporter, “I’ll tell them before I tell you.”

He added that there was no update to share on the hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza.

40 firefighters and ambulance workers killed in Lebanon over past 3 days, health minister says

Forty ambulance and firefighting staff have been killed in the past three days across Lebanon, Health Minister Firass Abiad said Thursday.

Abiad said 97 paramedics and firefighters in the country have been killed by Israeli strikes since October 8 last year, as the death toll across the country from the same date climbed to 1,974, of whom 127 are children and 261 are women.

Overnight, seven medics working for Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Authority were killed by an Israeli strike on central Beirut.

“We know that there are international laws protecting medical institutions, ambulances and health care workers,” the health minister said.

Israel says it struck Hezbollah intelligence headquarters in Beirut

Israel’s military says its air force struck Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in Beirut on Thursday.

“The Intelligence Corps is Hezbollah’s primary intelligence body and is responsible for aggregating intelligence about the IDF and the State of Israel,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.

Earlier, Hezbollah told reporters its media office was targeted in strikes in southern Beirut.

3 Israeli airstrikes target southern Beirut, Lebanese state media reports

Three Israeli airstrikes struck the southern suburbs of Beirut Thursday afternoon local time, “one of which targeted (the neighborhood of) Haret Hreik,” Lebanese state media NNA reports.

Hezbollah announced shortly after the blasts that its media office was targeted, on a WhatsApp group it shares with reporters.

Several large blasts were heard by CNN teams in west Beirut.

CNN teams there saw large plumes of smoke rising from the southern suburbs of the city, and are hearing the sound of drones in the skies overhead.

Hezbollah says it repelled attempted Israeli advance into Lebanon

Hezbollah says it repelled an attempt by Israeli forces to advance at the Lebanese border on Thursday, where the two sides have been clashing since Israel launched a ground attack.

The militant group said they stopped an attempted advance by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) at the Fatima Gate border crossing by firing artillery at advancing soldiers. They also said they halted an Israeli attack near the town of Maroun Al-Ras.

Hezbollah also announced it had fired more rockets on Israel, targeting an Israeli settlement in the country’s north as well as a military outpost, saying the attacks were in support of Palestinians in Gaza and “in response to the brutal Israeli aggression.”