Israel has launched pre-emptive airstrikes in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah, with the militant group saying it has responded by firing drones and hundreds of rockets.
Warning sirens sounded in northern Israel and explosions were heard as the military’s Iron Dome aerial defence system shot down missiles from southern Lebanon.
Flights to and from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport were also suspended.
In a statement, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) accused Hezbollah of “preparing to file missiles and rockets toward Israeli territory”.
“In a self-defence act to remove these threats, the IDF is striking terror targets in Lebanon,” Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.
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Israel’s ‘act of self-defence’
Hezbollah has issued a statement saying it has completed the “first phase” of its attack, after launching 320 Katyusha rockets and hitting 11 Israeli military sites.
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There has been no independent confirmation about the claims, nor whether any damage has been caused.
Image: Israeli military Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi gathered with colleagues to direct Sunday’s attacks. Pic: IDF
The Iran-backed fighting group – designated a terrorist organisation by several countries including the UK – said its attacks were in retaliation for the killing of a top commander last month.
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Fuad Shukr died in a strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, previously described Shukr as “one of the most wanted terrorists in the world”.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese National News Agency described “enemy warplanes” causing “severe damage to property, crops, and infrastructure, especially the electricity and water networks”.
The escalation was predicted according to an assessment of Israeli intelligence by the country’s best-connected security correspondents.
Analysis: ‘Extremely dangerous moment for the region’
Israel had been expecting a response to the killing of senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr and its military has been on high alert for the last three and a half weeks.
To have carried out pre-emptive strikes on a wave of Hezbollah missile launchers, reportedly primed to fire at 5am, suggests extremely good intelligence that might have prevented considerable damage to Israel.
Hezbollah has said it targeted Israeli military bases and that the first wave of its response is over.
When the next wave comes is unclear, but this is an extremely dangerous moment for the region. Keeping Israel guessing as to when the next attacks will come, is all part of the psychological warfare.
The US, which has been kept closely informed of developments, has already positioned its military hardware around the region in anticipation of this moment.
With high-level delegations due to meet in Cairo later today to discuss a possible Gaza ceasefire, Washington will be urging Israel not to retaliate hard just now, in fear the situation will spiral out of control and in the hope progress can be made at those talks.
Few though, believe a ceasefire in Gaza is close.
But if Hezbollah is expected to launch further major assaults on Israel, there will be loud voices within the Israeli government and security establishment urging prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take offensive action now, rather than waiting to see what comes next.
Mr Netanyahu held a meeting early on Sunday with members of his cabinet about the attacks.
US defence secretary Lloyd Austin has also spoken with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant.
The Pentagon said he “reaffirmed the United States’ ironclad commitment to Israel’s defence against any attacks by Iran and its regional partners and proxies”.
Sunday’s attack came as Egypt hosts a new round of talks aimed at ending Israel’s war against Hamas, now in its 11th month.
Hezbollah has said it will halt the fighting if there is a ceasefire.
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The cardinals have arrived, the finishing touches are being made; Vatican City is preparing for an election like no other.
On Wednesday, the papal conclave begins and many visitors to St Peter’s Square already have a clear view on what they would like the outcome to be.
“I want a liberal pope,” says Joyce who has travelled to Rome from the US.
“My number one is Pierbattista Pizzaballa,” says blogger Teodorita Giovannella referencing the 60-year-old Italian cardinal.
Rome resident Michele Rapinesi thinks the next pope will be the Vatican’s secretary of state, Pietro Parolin, who was Pope Francis’ number two.
Image: Joyce has travelled all the way to Rome from the US
Image: Michele Rapinesi speaks to Siobhan Robbins
Although the job of selecting the next pontiff lies with 133 cardinal electors, Ms Giovannella and Mr Rapinesi are among 75,000 Italians playing an online game trying to predict who they’ll pick.
Fantapapa is a similar format to fantasy football, but teams are made up of prospective pontiffs.
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Ms Giovannella has chosen three popular Italians as her favourites: Cardinals Pizzaballa, Zuppi and Parolin.
After 47 years she wants an Italian pope but believes an Asian or African would be a good “plot twist”.
Despite the growing speculation and excitement, for the cardinal electors the papal conclave is the serious and sombre process of choosing the next leader of the Catholic Church and its 1.4 billion followers.
Image: Teodorita Giovannella is hoping the next pope will be a fellow Italian
To keep the vote secret, they are locked in the Sistine Chapel which has been swept for hidden cameras, recording equipment and bugs.
The windows are covered to keep the outside world out and to stop drones from spying.
Mobile phones are banned and signal jammers have been installed to help stop any information being leaked.
Ballots are burned after they are cast and a plume of coloured smoke shows people if a new pope has been chosen.
The cardinal who is elected will become one of the most powerful men in the world and will set the course for the Catholic Church for years to come, making decisions which will affect the lives of millions of people worldwide.
Pope Francis’ 12-year reign pulled the church in a more progressive direction.
His fight for migrants and climate change made him a muse for Roman street artist Mauro Pallotta.
He met him five times and painted more than 30 pictures of him, celebrating his life on the walls of Rome.
Image: Siobhan Robbins with Rome street artist Mauro Pallotta
Image: One of Mr Pallotta’s artworks of Pope Francis
One shows Francis with a catapult shooting out hearts.
“It depicts the strong love he had for people,” Mr Pallotta explains.
In another, he wears a cape and is depicted as a superhero.
“I hope the new pope continues the way of Pope Francis and remembers the poor people of the world,” he says.
Whether the next pontiff is another pope of the people, a progressive or conservative will soon be decided by the cardinals.
Their choice will determine if the Catholic Church continues down the route set by Francis or takes a different path.
Israel has approved a plan to capture all of the Gaza Strip and remain there for an unspecified length of time, Israeli officials say.
According to Reuters, the plan includes distributing aid, though supplies will not be let in yet.
The Israeli official told the agency that the newly approved offensive plan would move Gaza’s civilian population southward and keep humanitarian aid from falling into Hamas’s hands.
On Sunday, the United Nations rejected what it said was a new plan for aid to be distributed in what it described as Israeli hubs.
Israeli cabinet ministers approved plans for the new offensive on Monday morning, hours after it was announced that tens of thousands of reserve soldiers are being called up.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far failed to achieve his goal of destroying Hamas or returning all the hostages, despite more than a year of brutal war in Gaza.
Image: Palestinian children struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, Gaza. Pic: AP
Officials say the plan will help with these war aims but it would also push hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to southern Gaza, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis.
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They said the plan included the “capturing of the strip and the holding of territories”.
It would also try to prevent Hamas from distributing humanitarian aid, which Israel says strengthens the group’s rule in Gaza.
The UN rejected the plan, saying it would leave large parts of the population, including the most vulnerable, without supplies.
It said it “appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy”.
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More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since the IDF launched its ground offensive in the densely-populated territory, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
It followed the deadly Hamas attacks on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw around 250 people taken hostage.
A fragile ceasefire that saw a pause in the fighting and the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners collapsed earlier this year.
Yemen’s Houthi rebel group has said 15 people have been injured in “US-British” airstrikes in and around the capital Sanaa.
Most of those hurt were from the Shuub district, near the centre of the city, a statement from the health ministry said.
Another person was injured on the main airport road, the statement added.
It comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” following a missile attack by the group on Israel’s main international airport on Sunday morning.
It remains unclear whether the UK took part in the latest strikes and any role it may have played.
On 29 April, UK forces, the British government said, took part in a joint strike on “a Houthi military target in Yemen”.
“Careful intelligence analysis identified a cluster of buildings, used by the Houthis to manufacture drones of the type used to attack ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, located some fifteen miles south of Sanaa,” the British Ministry of Defence said in a previous statement.
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On Sunday, the militant group fired a missile at the Ben Gurion Airport, sparking panic among passengers in the terminal building.
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly caused flights to be halted.
Four people were said to be injured, according to the country’s paramedic service.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.