Israel-Iran latest: Israel bans UN chief from entering country

Speaking at the European Convention headquarters in Brussels, prime minister Keir Starmer called on all sides involved in the Middle East conflict to show restraint.

"We agreed on the importance of Israel's right to defend itself," he said, adding "We call on all sides to show restraint and avoid escalating further.

"No one wants a regional war."

Israel said Wednesday that seven of its solders were killed in southern Lebanon as troops battle Hezbollah militants on the ground after the start of an Israeli incursion into that country. The region braced for further escalation as Israel vowed to retaliate for Iran's ballistic missile attack a day earlier.

The soldiers were killed in two separate events, military officials said.

Read the full story from the Canadian Press.

Israel's "super aggression" and "fighting on four fronts" could result in its operations falling flat as it risks overstretching its resources, one academic has warned.

Emeritus Professor Paul Whiteley from the University of Essex's Institute of Government said Israel's response to ongoing conflict with Hamas and Hezbollah is "leaving people sceptical" and is "growing increasingly unpopular."

"I think overreach is a real issue," Whiteley told Yahoo News UK. "The success of taking out the leader of Hezbollah may have created a sense of ‘we can do it and we’re not listening to you.’ But at some stage, that could crack."

Israel's pledge to respond to a massive missile strike from Iran has sent diplomats scrambling for ways to avert a full-blown regional war.

AFP spoke with five experts about Iran's calculations, Israel's choices and fears of escalation.

Read the full story from AFP.

The United Nations Security Council is holding discussions about the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, as it continues to escalate.

The Ministry of Defence said two Typhoon jets and a tanker were involved in the operation on Tuesday night as Iran launched a missile barrage against Israel but “due to the nature of this attack, they did not engage any targets”.

In a statement, the Ministry of Defence said: “Last night two Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter jets and a Voyager air-to-air refuelling tanker played their part in attempts to prevent further escalation in the Middle East, demonstrating the UK’s unwavering commitment to Israel’s security.

“Due to the nature of this attack, they did not engage any targets, but they played an important part in wider deterrence and efforts to prevent further escalation.

“The Defence Secretary has thanked our personnel involved in the response.”

Foreign secretary David Lammy said the first charter flight taking British nationals out of Lebanon has now departed.

“We have arranged another flight for tomorrow, and further flights over the coming days for as long as there is demand and it is safe to do so,” he added.

He urged British nationals still in Lebanon to register with the Foreign Office and leave the country immediately.

Almost a year after Israel launched its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the Iran-backed group's Oct. 7 terrorist rampage, it announced the beginning of what the Israel Defense Forces said would be "limited, localised, and targeted ground raids" against Iran's much larger, better-armed proxy group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israel confirmed Wednesday that at least one soldier had been killed in the "intense" ground operations, as Hezbollah claimed to be inflicting multiple casualties.

Read the full story from CBS News.

Hezbollah said its fighters were engaging Israeli forces inside Lebanon on Wednesday, reporting ground clashes for the first time since Israel began pushing into its northern neighbour in a campaign to hammer the Iran-backed armed group.

The Israeli military said regular infantry and armoured units were joining its ground operations in Lebanon, a day after Israel was attacked by Iran in a strike that raised fears the oil-producing Middle East could be engulfed in a wider conflict.

Read the full story from Reuters.

Yesterday evening, as Iranian missiles rained down on Israel, there was an interesting maritime development. Three US Navy Arleigh Burke class destroyers closed the coast of Israel and fired interceptor missiles, over land, to help defeat the incoming Iranian threat, writes Tom Sharpe for The Telegraph.

The Pentagon statement simply said that 12 missiles were fired from two destroyers, USS Cole and USS Bulkeley. USS Arleigh Burke, name ship of her class, was also there but not named in the initial press release. As tends to be the way, this has led to a raft of speculation as to what weapons fired and how successful they were. I have to admit to an intense interest in the matter, as a former anti-air warfare specialist in the Royal Navy.

Read the full story from The Telegraph.

Iran's ballistic missile attack on Israel caused few casualties and little damage, but it marked a further escalation of tensions in the Middle East as Israeli forces battle Tehran's militant allies in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.

Israel has vowed to retaliate against Iran.

At the heart of the recent escalation is the the nearly yearlong war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Palestinian officials say Israel launched air and ground operations in the territory's southern city of Khan Younis early Wednesday, killing more than 50 people.

Read the full story from AP.

Images have emerged showing people standing on top of the remains of an Iranian missile in the Negev desert in Israel.

A 37-year-old man whose wife arrived at Heathrow Airport on Wednesday on a flight from Beirut said he is “very relieved” she is now out of Lebanon.

Ali, a barber from London, said his wife Hanan, 32, had been living in the city of Tyre where missile strikes have intensified in recent days.

Hanan, said she was “very relieved” to be back home, but was too emotional to talk about her experience.

Ali, who did not want to give his surname, said they paid £2,000 for the flight.

Israel's multilayered air-defence system appears to have passed another test after fending off Iran's latest missile barrage.

In Tuesday's night's strike, Iran fired over 180 missiles toward Israel. The attack set off air raid sirens across the country and sent residents scrambling for shelter, but caused only a handful of minor injuries and limited damage, in large part because many were intercepted or landed in open areas.

Read the full story from AP.

Iran confirmed that its missile attack against Iran was over, however Israel has promised retaliation for the barrage of rockets.

The Middle East moved closer to a long-feared regional war the day after Iran fired a barrage of missiles at Israel and Israel said it began limited ground incursions into Lebanon targeting the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia.

Israel said it intercepted many of the missiles, and officials in Washington said U.S. destroyers assisted in Israel's defense. Iran said most of its missiles hit their targets. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Read the full story from Reuters.

Israel has announced it has banned UN secretary general Antonio Guterres from entering the country.

In a statement, Israel's foreign affairs minister Israel Katz wrote on X (formerly Twitter): "Today, I have declared UN secretary-general António Guterres persona non grata in Israel and banned him from entering the country. Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran’s heinous attack on Israel, as almost every country in the world has done, does not deserve to step foot on Israeli soil.

"This is a secretary-general who has yet to denounce the massacre and sexual atrocities committed by Hamas murderers on 7 October, nor has he led any efforts to declare them a terrorist organization.

"A secretary-general who gives backing to terrorists, rapists, and murderers from Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and now Iran – the mothership of global terror – will be remembered as a stain on the history of the UN.

"Israel will continue to defend its citizens and uphold its national dignity, with or without António Guterres."

When Israel bombed buildings outside the southern Lebanese city of Sidon, Mohamed Arkadan and his team rushed to an emergency unlike anything they had ever seen.

About a dozen apartments had collapsed onto the hillside they once overlooked, burying more than 100 people. Even after 17 years with the civil defense forces of one of the world's most war-torn nations, Arkadan was shocked at the destruction. By Monday afternoon — about 24 hours after the bombing — his team had pulled more than 40 bodies, including children's, from the rubble, along with 60 survivors.

Read the full story from the Canadian Press.

On the streets of Tehran, a small crowd celebrated Iran's missile attack on Israel while others are worried about the consequences of the Islamic Republic's boldest move yet in a year of escalating Middle East conflict.

Local media carried footage of what Iran said were 200 missiles as they were fired towards Israel on Tuesday evening, while state television played upbeat music over the images and showed crowds of a few hundred people celebrating the attacks in the capital and other cities across the country.

Read the full story from AFP.

A former British Army colonel has said Iran is "not in a place to affect Israel at all".

The Tories’ chief whip in the House of Commons has vowed to work “constructively and responsibly” with the government on its response to conflict in the Middle East.

Speaking on stage before the leadership candidates made their pitches to activists and delegates at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, Stuart Andrew said: “Overnight, we saw horrific scenes in Israel and we stand wholeheartedly by Israel’s right to defend itself.

“As His Majesty’s official opposition, at times like this, we will work constructively and responsibly with the Government because that is the right thing to do in the national interest.”

UK forces were involved in supporting Israel after Iran launched a missile attack on the country.

Defence Secretary John Healey, who will be in Cyprus on Wednesday to visit personnel, said British forces had "this evening played their part in attempts to prevent further escalation”, without giving more details.

It is understood RAF jets were involved in the efforts to intercept the Iranian missiles targeted at Israel.

Read the full story from The National.

Western nations are ramping up contingency plans to evacuate citizens from Lebanon after a sharp escalation in the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese armed movement Hezbollah, coupled with Iran's missile attack on Israel on Tuesday.

No country has launched a large-scale military evacuation yet, though some are chartering aircraft as Beirut airport stays open. Plans to evacuate to Cyprus by sea will enable movement of larger groups.

Read the full details from Reuters.

Tanaiste Micheal Martin has said that Irish troops in Lebanon are safe and will remain in the country.

There are 379 Irish Defence Forces personnel serving with Unifil in Lebanon.

Ireland’s deputy premier told RTE: “Unifil troops will remain there, and Irish troops – along with the wider Unifil contingent – will remain in Lebanon.”

He added: “Right now movement across Lebanon would be highly dangerous.

“So our soldiers are safe. I just spoken to the chief of staff, who’s in constant contact with our commanders there, and they have bunkered down.”

Martin said force protection was the “number one priority”.

He said: “I think the fundamental point for those listening, and particularly the families listening, is that our soldiers are safe.

“They are professional. It is a very challenging environment. It is a very difficult environment.”

Danish police said on Wednesday they were investigating two blasts in the immediate vicinity of Israel's embassy in the northern outskirts of Copenhagen.

There were no injuries reported and it was too early to say how big the blasts had been, a police spokesperson told reporters at the scene.

"It is clear that the Israeli embassy is in the immediate vicinity and that is naturally also an angle that we look at," Deputy Assistant Commissioner Jakob Hansen of the Copenhagen police said.

Read the full story from Reuters.

Pictures taken in the wake of Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon's capital Beirut show crumbled buildings and smoke rising from bombed-out areas in the south of the city.

British citizens in Israel have described the missile strikes from Iran as “terrifying” and “harrowing” as they sought shelter in a safe rooms.

Gaby Young, 39, who is the sister of Nathanel Young who was killed on the Gaza border following the attacks of October 7, found shelter in a safe room with her husband and children after missiles from Iran hit Israel on Tuesday.

Young, who is originally from Southgate, London, but now lives in Ra’anana, central Israel, described hearing loud “booms” of explosions, but said the missile strikes have become a daily occurrence for Israelis.

Read the full story from PA.

Shares in European airlines and travel companies fell on Wednesday as airlines scrambled to divert flights after Iran fired more than 180 ballistic missiles at Israel.

Read the full story from Reuters.

Israeli ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely has said "all-out war will happen" in the region.

She was asked by Radio 4 whether she thought all-out war was on the table, and replied: "As much as we will not respond, all-out war will happen. If we want to prevent all-out war we must make sure the red line is clear to the Iranians, and when they cross it, they pay the price.

"So all Israeli actions are preventing all-out war, we are not creating it, because we are responding to the aggression of the Iranian regime."

She had earlier described Israel as being the only democracy in the region.

"We are surrounded by jihadi ideology terror organisations and we need to make sure they get the message," she said.

In an interview with Radio 4 on Wednesday morning, Israeli ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely was asked whether all-out was in the region was Israel's aim.

"Our intention is to protect our people," she said. "We didn't choose those wars, those wars were imposed on Israel by Iran and its proxies.

"It's Iran that is escalating, it's Iran that is attacking, it's Iran that is firing. We cannot mis-confuse here between the victims and the aggressors. The Iranians are the aggressors and Israelis are the victims in this attack."

Asked again whether there would be all-out war, she replied: "When Israel is eliminating those terror proxies of Iran, we are minimising the problems in the region - we are making Lebanon a better place, we are making Syria a better place.

"If we won't address this aggression, if we choose and appeasement, we will end up with this power that wants nuclear capabilities to take over the Middle East."

She refused to be drawn on whether Israel would target Iran's nuclear facilities.

Asked about potential retaliation for Iran over the rockets it fired at Israel, Israeli ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely said there had been a clear message of condemnation over the attack.

"The Iranians will pay a major price for what they did yesterday - it means they won't be able to fire on Israel again," she said.

"Iran was creating a circle of fire around Israel with its proxies, and we are eliminating the proxies one after the other. We eliminated Hamas, we are eliminating Hezbollah and we will make sure that Iran won't have capabilities to hurt Israeli people.

"Just like its been doing for the last 40 years - we are speaking about 40 years of aggression, terror attacks, attacks around the world. Jewish communities are being attacked.

"Iran is the major force in the destabilisation in Iran."

The Israeli ambassador to the UK said Iran would pay the price after firing 182 rockets towards Israel.

"It's been a very, very difficult night for all Israelis - millions of them sitting in shelters after the brutal attack from Iran," Tzipi Hotovely told Radio 4 on Wednesday morning.

"The most important thing to remember, 182 Iranian rockets were targeting civilians," she said. "That is the most important thing because sometimes we are checking if people got killed, people didn't get killed - no, the intentions matter and the intentions of the Iranian regime was to target Israeli civilians in a massive attack.

"I don't think Britain would have coped with 182 rockets direct to London to Manchester to Birmingham to your main cities. This is what happened yesterday, we saw the centre of Israel covered with rockets.

"And Iran will pay the price... there will be a severe retaliation coming from Israel."

Stopping ballistics in flight is principally the task of the long-range US-Israeli Arrow 3 and Arrow 2 systems, first used during the Israel-Hamas war, which are supported by the medium-range David’s Sling system. The better-known Iron Dome is used for short-range interceptions, often of rockets fired by Hamas from Gaza.

In April, a former financial adviser to the IDF chief of staff said that an Arrow missile typically costs $3.5m (£2.8m) a time, and David’s Sling interceptors $1m (£800,000). Eliminating 100 or more missiles would easily run into hundreds of millions of dollars – though the missiles themselves will have cost Iran £80,000 each or more.

Read the full analysis from the Guardian's defence and security editor Dan Sabbagh here.

In his speech on Tuesday night, Sir Keir Starmer repeated the advice for Britons in Lebanon to leave the country and said “we’re doing everything we can to get people out, but the situation is extremely volatile”.

A chartered flight to get Britons out of the country is due to depart from Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport on Wednesday, at a cost of £350 per seat.

Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines, the only commercial operator still flying from Beirut, has a regular scheduled flight to the UK leaving on Wednesday.

Britain has moved about 700 troops to Cyprus, bolstering its military assets, including two Royal Navy ships.

RAF Akrotiri has been used in the past as a staging point for airstrikes against Houthi forces in Yemen in retaliation for attacks on Red Sea shipping that the Iran-backed group says is a response to the war in Gaza.

Oil prices jumped by over a dollar on Wednesday due to rising concerns Middle East tensions could escalate, potentially disrupting crude output from the region, following Iran's biggest ever military blow against Israel.

During trading on Tuesday, both crude benchmarks surged more than 5%.

Oil markets were largely focusing on the narrative of a weakening global economic outlook denting demand for fuel, said Priyanka Sachdeva, senior market analyst at Phillip Nova. "Still, the scale quickly turned towards fears of oil supply disruptions in the Middle East after Iran fired ballistic missiles at Israel," Sachdeva said.

Read the full story from Reuters here.

In response to the escalation, France has said it is sending additional military resources to the Middle East to tackle th threat of Iran.

"Committed to Israel’s security, France today mobilised its military resources in the Middle East to counter the Iranian threat," the French presidency said in a statement overnight after an emergency security cabinet meeting to discuss the regional escalation.

"The head of state also reiterated France’s demand that Hezbollah cease its terrorist actions against Israel and its population."

France has also convened a UN Security Council meeting for later in the day.

Iran fired about 180 ballistic missiles in a massive aerial barrage on Israel on Tuesday – the majority of which were intercepted by Israeli air defences. But some made it through multiple layers of surface-to-air missile systems that are in place to defend the Jewish state.

Footage circulating on social media appeared to show streaks of light smashing into the ground and the subsequent damage resulting from the strikes.

It prompted questions over whether Iran had successfully defeated one of the world’s most robust air-defence systems.

Read the full analysis of the timing and type of weaponry used by Iran from the Telegraph here

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised in the wake of the missile attack that Iran will pay for its actions.

"Iran made a big mistake tonight – and it will pay for it," Netanyahu said at the outset of a political-security meeting.

Earlier, Israel's military spokesperson declined to specify how and when Israel would respond.

IDF spokeRear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a TV broadcast: "We are on high alert both defensively and offensively. We will defend the citizens of the State of Israel. This attack will have consequences. We have plans, and we will operate at the place and time we decide. Iran's attack is a severe and dangerous escalation."

You can watch the full statement below

The US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke to his Israeli counterpart late on Tuesday... and said Washington was "well-postured" to defend its interests in the Middle East.

"The Secretary (Austin) reaffirmed that the United States remains well postured to defend US personnel, allies, and partners in the face of threats from Iran and Iran-backed terrorist organisations," the Pentagon said in a statement after Austin's call with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Read the full article from Reuters here.

In an emergency statement from Downing Street on Tuesday night, Keir Starmer said he was “deeply concerned that the region was on the brink and I am deeply concerned about the risk of miscalculation”.

He repeated his advice to British nationals in Lebanon to leave, with the situation becoming “increasingly grave”.

“We have a charter flight, and we’re doing everything we can to get people out, but the situation is extremely volatile,” he said.

“So if you have the means to leave, the time is now. Do not wait.”

Starmer went on to say that Iran has “menaced the Middle East for far too long” as he condemned its attack on Israel.

“We stand with Israel and we recognise her right to self defence in the face of this aggression,” he said. “Iran must stop these attacks. Together with its proxies like Hezbollah, Iran has menaced the Middle East for far too long, chaos and destruction brought not just to Israel, but to the people they live amongst in Lebanon and beyond.

“Make no mistake, Britain stands full square against such violence. We support Israel’s reasonable demand for the security of its people.”

Israel has this morning renewed its bombardment of Beirut's southern suburbs, a stronghold of the Iran-backed armed Hezbollah group, with at least a dozen airstrikes against what it said were targets belonging the group.

Large plumes of smoke were seen rising from parts of the suburbs. Israel issued new evacuation orders for the area, which has largely emptied after days of heavy strikes.

Hezbollah said it confronted Israeli forces infiltrating the Lebanese town of Adaisseh early on Wednesday and forced them to retreat.