Summary
Hezbollah has confirmed the death of its leader Hassan Nasrallah after Israeli strikes on Beirut
Nasrallah, who had not been seen in public for years because of fears of being assassinated by Israel, was one of the best known and most influential figures in the Middle East
Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel has "settled the score" with Nasrallah's death, and it is a "historic turning point".
US President Joe Biden says his death is a "measure of justice for his many victims" - but Iran’s supreme leader declares five days of mourning and says his death "will not go unavenged"
Israel and Hezbollah are continuing to launch strikes across the border, while the Houthis in Yemen say they fired a missile at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport, which Israel intercepted
Lebanese officials say 11 people were killed and 108 injured in strikes on Friday in Beirut, with local officials saying that nearly 800 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon since Monday
Live Reporting
Edited by Jude Sheerin, with Orla Guerin, Nafiseh Kohnavard & Hugo Bachega reporting from Beirut
House and car hit in civilian area of Safed, IDF sayspublished at 20:48 British Summer Time 27 September
20:48 BST 27 September
The IDF has just issued an update on the recent barrage fired at Safed, saying a "direct hit from a Hezbollah rocket was identified" on a house and car.
It adds that the property struck was on Menahem Begin Street, describing this as a "civilian area that you can reach without IDF coordination".
There are no reports of casualties and firefighters are working to extinguish a fire caused by the attack, which you can see below:
Image source, IDFAir raid sirens sound after rockets target northern Israelpublished at 20:37 British Summer Time 27 September
20:37 BST 27 September
Air raid alerts have been sounding in multiple areas of northern Israel, the Israel Defense Forces say.
The IDF says among the areas attacked include Nahariya and surrounding areas, after earlier reporting alerts for the city of Safed.
Hezbollah says it targeted Safed with rockets "in defence of Lebanon and its people, and in response to the barbaric Israeli violation of cities, villages and civilians".
Israeli police say there have been no reports of casualties, but add there has been "heavy damage to property" in the city.
Israeli ambassador won't confirm whether Nasrallah targetedpublished at 20:21 British Summer Time 27 September
20:21 BST 27 September
Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, says a "meeting of bad people" was under way at the site of the air strikes in Beirut.
See AlsoHurricane Helene live updates: Storm brings 'devastation' and kills at least 38Seven men and teenager arrested over false imprisonment of woman in DublinShawn Seesahai: Two boys sentenced for Wolverhampton murderEight-time F1 race winner Daniel Ricciardo leaves RB, replaced by Liam Lawson | CNNDanon won't confirm whether Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was at the meeting, or whether he was targeted, although he calls him a "bad actor" and a "terrorist".
Nasrallah has "blood on his hands", Danon says.
British citizens 'should leave now', says foreign officepublished at 20:06 British Summer Time 27 September
20:06 BST 27 September
In the past hour, the UK's Foreign Office has released a statement, urging all British citizens in Lebanon to "leave now".
"You should take the next available flight," the office says, adding that it is working to "increase capacity and secure seats" on commercial flights out of Lebanon.
The foreign office also requested British citizens living in Lebanon to register with them so the latest information can be shared.
Concerns about a wider Middle East war spread across the worldpublished at 19:54 British Summer Time 27 September
19:54 BST 27 September
Jeremy Bowen
International Editor, in JerusalemBig decisions lie ahead.
First of all from the point of viewof Hezbollah and its leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was presumably the targettoday and who has lost nearly all of his top lieutenants.
He’s going to have todecide what he does with his organisation’s remaining arsenal. Do they use itagainst Israel in the way that many people in Israel fear?
And the Israelishave to decide what happens next. They have already talked about a groundoperation against Lebanon, and while they haven’t yet mobilised all thereserves they might need, that is something that is absolutely on their agenda.
So those diplomats in the West among Israel’s allies, who are hoping to try to calm things, I think will now be looking at events with a lot of dismay andalso a sense of powerlessness.
And all those concerns about the prospects ofthis war spreading throughout the Middle East will be in foreign ministries notjust here but across the world. Israel believes it has the upper hand and itwants to push home its advantage.
Israeli defence minister watched latest strike from air force HQpublished at 19:47 British Summer Time 27 September
19:47 BST 27 September
The Israeli defence minister says he "closely followed" the latest strike on Beirut from Israel's air force headquarters.
Yoav Gallant says Israel will "continue to hit Hezbollah, everywhere, at any time until the residents of the north return home safely".
Gallant watched the strike as it was carried out in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahieh, alongside senior members of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
An IDF statement says Gallant will receive "ongoing operational updates".
Image source, Ariel HermoniWatch: BBC correspondent records moment air strike hits Beirutpublished at 19:43 British Summer Time 27 September
19:43 BST 27 September
BBC Persian's Middle East correspondent Nafiseh Kohnavard was filming with her team in Beirut as the series of air strikes hit.
In the video below, she describes scenes of panic following the explosion.
Here's what we know so farpublished at 19:31 British Summer Time 27 September
19:31 BST 27 September
It's been three hours since a series of explosions rocked the southern suburbs of Beirut, sending huge plumes of smoke into the air.
Key details are still unclear, but here is what we know at this stage:
- At least two people have been killed and 76 injured in the strikes, Lebanese officials say
- Israel's military says it attacked Hezbollah's "central headquarters" in the Dahieh neighbourhood, a Hezbollah stronghold
- There are reports Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was the target of the attack, but that hasn't been confirmed by Israel
- Hezbollah sources are telling various news organisations Nasrallah is alive and safe, although we haven't received official word from the group
- Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is cutting short his US trip and returning home, following a defiant speech at the UN general Assembly
- The US had no advance warning, the Pentagon says
Here's a map showing the location of the strike this afternoon:
Israeli strike an escalation that 'changes the game', says Iranian embassypublished at 19:20 British Summer Time 27 September
19:20 BST 27 September
We're now getting the first reaction to today's strike from Hezbollah's sponsor, Iran.
The attack was a "dangerous game-changing escalation" that would "bring its perpetrator an appropriate punishment", the country's Beirut embassy says in a statement, quoted by Reuters.
Hezbollah is part of the so-called "axis of resistance" of Iran-backed organisations across the Middle East which have targeted Israel in support of Hamas. The groups are armed, funded and trained by Tehran.
BBC team trying to get access to scene of attackspublished at 19:09 British Summer Time 27 September
19:09 BST 27 September
Our Middle East correspondent Hugo Bachega sent us this video a few minutes ago, as the BBC's Beirut team attempt to access the scene of the strikes in the south of the city.
He says a group of men stopped them from filming - indicative of the tense feeling in the Lebanese capital.
Watch his report:
US had no advance warning of strike, says Pentagonpublished at 19:03 British Summer Time 27 September
19:03 BST 27 September
The US was not involved and had no advance warning of Friday's strike on the Hezbollah HQ in Beirut, our partners CBS News are reporting, quoting Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh.
However, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke to his Israeli opposite number Yoav Gallant this morning by phone, Singh says.
She gave no further information on the operation, or on whether Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was dead or alive. Hezbollah sources are saying that he is alive and safe.
Watch: Excavators search rubble as fire burns at scenepublished at 18:51 British Summer Time 27 September
18:51 BST 27 September
We've just received this short clip from the scene in Beirut, showing excavators searching through the rubble in the dark:
Two killed and 76 injured so far, Lebanese health ministry sayspublished at 18:41 British Summer Time 27 September
18:41 BST 27 SeptemberBreaking
Lebanon's health ministry has just issued an update saying two people have been killed in the Israeli strike on Dahieh.
It adds that 76 people have been injured, with 15 of those needing hospital treatment.
But the ministry warns this is an initial death toll, with rescue operations and the removal of rubble at the site of the attack in southern Beirut ongoing - so it expects the number killed and wounded "will rise in the coming hours".
Netanyahu to cut short US trip and return to Israelpublished at 18:30 British Summer Time 27 September
18:30 BST 27 September
We've just heard from the office of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which says he is to cut his trip to the US short and return to Israel tonight.
As we've been reporting, he had been in New York to address the UN General Assembly earlier in a defiant speech which made no mention of a ceasefire.
Earlier this evening, Netanyahu's office also released this photo which they say shows him approving the strike in Beirut from his hotel room.
Image source, Prime Minister's OfficeHuge attack signals that a truce is not on Israel's agendapublished at 18:21 British Summer Time 27 September
18:21 BST 27 September
Jeremy Bowen
International Editor, in JerusalemBenjamin Netanyahu did not go to theUnited Nations to make new friends - or to offer concessions to Israel’s allieswho want a ceasefire in Gaza, as well as a 21-day truce in the war with LebaneseHezbollah to give diplomacy a chance.
The huge attack in Beirut thatoccurred as the Israeli prime minister finished his speech was an even more emphatic sign that a truceIn Lebanon was not on Israel’s agenda.
Israel, Netanyahu said, had nochoice but to fight savage enemies who sought its annihilation.
Hezbollah would be defeated andthere would be total victory over Hamas in Gaza, which would ensure the returnof Israeli hostages.
Far from being lambs led to theslaughter - a phrase sometimes used in Israel to refer to the Nazi holocaust -Israel was winning.
Iran, Netanyahu said, wanted tocurse the Middle East. Israel wanted the blessing of peace with Arab states - most of all peace with Saudi Arabia.
He did not mention that the SaudiCrown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has said firmly that peace with Israel wouldonly be possible if the Palestinians had a state with a capital in EastJerusalem.
Netanyahu and his government haveruled out Palestinian independence, the so-called two state solution to morethan a century of conflict between Arabs and Jews.
The speech will go down well with hishardline, ultra-nationalist allies who have threatened to topple his governmentif he makes deals with Hamas or Hezbollah.
Even many of his political opponentsin Israel believe they have no choice other than to fight.
Reports that Hezbollah leader was target of attackpublished at 18:11 British Summer Time 27 September
18:11 BST 27 September
Image source, ReutersIsraeli media has been reporting Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was the target of this attack on the group's stronghold in southern Beirut.
But Hezbollah sources are telling various news organisations - including AFP, Reuters and local media in Lebanon and Iran - that Nasrallah is alive and safe after the strikes in the Dahieh suburb.
There has been no confirmation by Israel that Nasrallah was the target of the attack, nor has Hezbollah made any official statement on their leader's status.
Watch: Explosions rock Beirutpublished at 17:53 British Summer Time 27 September
17:53 BST 27 September
Here's some footage of the massive plumes of smoke seen across Beirut after the air strikes:
Soldiers and civilians take part in ongoing search for survivorspublished at 17:43 British Summer Time 27 September
17:43 BST 27 September
The process of looking for survivors and victims in the rubble left by the Israeli air strikes is ongoing.
Soldiers, rescue workers and what look to be civilians are taking part in the rescue operations.
Image source, Getty ImagesImage source, Getty ImagesRescuers rush to help victims at the scenepublished at 17:37 British Summer Time 27 September
17:37 BST 27 September
More pictures now from the scene, where a building looks to have been left tilting heavily to one side and ambulance workers are assisting the wounded:
Image source, epaImage source, EPAImage source, reutersImage source, EPABuildings levelled and fires still burningpublished at 17:23 British Summer Time 27 September
17:23 BST 27 September
We've just received these pictures of the aftermath of the Israeli airstrike on the southern suburbs of Beirut:
Image source, Getty ImagesImage source, Getty ImagesImage source, Getty Images
