Iran attack: Regime may have felt it needed to flex its muscles to try to stem Israel’s expanding actions
There were celebratory fireworks set off in parts of the Lebanese capital Beirut as Iran launched volleys of missiles in its most serious attack yet against Israel.
Israel has made plenty of enemies not just in Lebanon but throughout the region.
It can be no coincidence that the attack came on the same day that Israeli troops invaded Lebanon to carry out what they described as “limited operations” against Hezbollah, the militant group allied closely with Iran.
A rocket flies in the sky, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, as seen from Tel Aviv. Pic: Reuters
Latest updates on Iranian attack against Israel
The attack coincided with a previous turbulent 24 hours for the so-called Axis of Resistance during which Israel bombed a range of groups linked to Iran.
Iran-backed Houthi targets in Yemen were hit; Iranian-aligned groups in Syria were attacked and Hamas, also supported by Iran, continued being bombarded in Gaza.
All of this is on top of bombarding Iran’s closest and most strategically important partner in the region, the Lebanese Hezbollah group.
It very much looks like Iran may well have judged it needed to flex its muscles to try to stem Israel’s expanding actions and alleviate the pressure on its most powerful ally Hezbollah.
For two weeks, Hezbollah has been hammered by Israeli forces.
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburb. Pic: AP
The militant group unilaterally embroiled Lebanon in this war by mounting attacks on Israel last October in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza.
Israel has retaliated by launching about five times as many strikes inside Lebanon, according to figures from Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED).
Tehran’s representative at the UN posted on X that the strike on Israel was “Iran’s legal, rational and legitimate response to the terrorist acts of the Zionist regime”. The mission also warned of a “crushing response” if Israel retaliates.
But will it? Israel’s UN envoy immediately promised a “severe response” to the Iranian missile attack. The signs aren’t good – and escalation seems to be the only common language right now.
Even as I am writing, we’ve just heard the boom of an Israeli airstrike landing in the southern city of Tyre. The country will be nervously awaiting potentially much more.
When we moved through Tyre earlier, it seemed unusually quiet and empty. A lot of the shops were closed and the businesses shuttered.
Read more:
Sky team under path of Iran’s missile barrage against Israel
Analysis: Israel unlikely to choose token response this time
Lebanese families wiped out in village
The Israeli military had earlier issued directives to vehicles not to cross from the north to south of the Litani river because of what it described as the security situation.
Civilians urged to leave area
We saw Lebanese army troops positioned around the river urging civilians to leave the area and not venture further south. One soldier told us they were helping out in evacuations of villages close to the Israeli border.
The images of Israeli troops massing on their southern border followed by announcements that troops were carrying out ‘limited operations’ in their country have alarmed residents even more.
An estimated million people have already been displaced according to the country’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati.
But in the old city of Tyre, we found some who are refusing to leave.
Elias Barbour has vowed not to leave
“I’m not leaving,” Elias Barbour told us. “No matter what they do, we won’t leave. This is my business. Everything we have is here and we’re not going to leave it.”
Lebanese bury their dead
They’re still holding mass funerals in the village of Ain-el-Delb on the outskirts of Sidon.
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Mass funerals held for victims in Lebanon
We saw another 13 people buried who were killed in the deadliest single Israeli attack in the country in nearly a year.
The bombs levelled two residential apartments packed with families, killing 45 including women and children. Some of the families had taken in a few of those who were among the million people who have fled their homes.
The villagers are grief-stricken but they are also angry.
Ellen says ‘everyone just wants this to stop’
Ellen, a 27-year-old masters student who had left her studies in France to join her family told us: “Everyone just wants this to stop, to end. It’s our land, it’s our home, it’s our people. We just want to live in peace – that’s what we want.
“They should not attack any kilometre of our land. It’s ours.”
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The Iranian ballistic missile attack, according to the Revolutionary Guards, was aimed at military bases.
It was followed up with a message from the Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian who warned: “This is only a corner of our power. Do not enter into a conflict with Iran.”
A situation that was already dire just seems to have got even more dangerous.
:: Alex Crawford reports with camera Jake Britton, specialist producer Chris Cunningham and Lebanon producers Jihad Jneid and Sami Zein.
World
Trump criticises Putin after potentially ‘historic’ meeting with Zelenskyy before Pope’s funeral
Donald Trump has criticised Vladimir Putin and suggested a shift in his stance towards the Russian president after a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the Pope’s funeral.
The Ukrainian president said the one-on-one talks could prove to be “historic” after pictures showed him sitting opposite Mr Trump, around two feet apart, in the large marble hall inside St Peter’s Basilica.
The US president said he doubted his Russian counterpart’s willingness to end the war after leaving Rome after the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican.
Follow live updates: 200,000 mourn at Vatican
In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said “there was no reason” for the Russian president “to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days”.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
He added: “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
The meeting between the US and Ukrainian leaders was their first face-to-face encounter since a very public row in the Oval Office in February.
Mr Zelenskyy said he had a good meeting with Mr Trump in which they talked about the defence of the Ukrainian people, a full and unconditional ceasefire, and a durable and lasting peace that would prevent the war restarting.
Other images released by the Ukrainian president’s office show Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were present for part of the talks, which were described as “positive” by the French presidency.
Mr Zelenskyy‘s spokesman said the meeting lasted for around 15 minutes and he and Mr Trump had agreed to hold further discussions later on Saturday.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Basilica
But the US president left Rome for Washington on Air Force One soon after the funeral without any other talks having taken place.
The Ukrainian president’s office said there was no second meeting in Rome because of the tight schedule of both leaders, although he had separate discussions with Mr Starmer and Mr Macron.
The French president said in a post on X “Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire” and that a so-called coalition of the willing, led by the UK and France, would continue working to achieve a lasting peace.
There was applause from some of the other world leaders in attendance at the Vatican when Mr Zelenskyy walked out of St Peter’s Basilica after stopping in front of the pontiff’s coffin to pay his respects.
Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president met for the first time since their Oval Office row. Pic: Reuters
Sir Tony Brenton, the former British ambassador to Russia, said the event presents diplomatic opportunities, including the “biggest possible meeting” between Mr Trump and the Ukrainian leader.
He told Sky News it could mark “an important step” in starting the peace process between Russia and Ukraine.
Professor Father Francesco Giordano told Sky News the meeting is being called “Pope Francis’s miracle” by members of the clergy, adding: “There’s so many things that happened today – it was just overwhelming.”
The bilateral meeting comes after Mr Trump’s peace negotiator Steve Witkoff held talks with Mr Putin at the Kremlin.
They discussed “the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine”, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
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Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks since the early weeks of the war, which began in February 2022.
Mr Trump has claimed a deal to end the war is “very close” and has urged Mr Zelenskyy to “get it done” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
He has previously warned both sides his administration would walk away from its efforts to achieve a peace if the two sides do not agree a deal soon.
Meanwhile, the Polish armed forces said a Russian military helicopter violated its airspace over the Baltic Sea on Friday evening.
“The nature of the incident indicates that Russia is testing the readiness of our air defence systems,” they said in a post on X.
On an extraordinary day, remarkable pictures on the margins that capture what may be a turning point for the world.
In a corner of St Peter’s Basilica before the funeral of Pope Francis, the leaders of America and Ukraine sit facing each other in two solitary chairs.
They look like confessor and sinner except we cannot tell which one is which.
Leaning forward hands together in their laps, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy stare at each other in one photo.
In another, the Ukrainian president seems to be remonstrating with the US president. This is their first encounter since their infamous bust-up in the Oval Office.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
Other pictures show the moment their French and British counterparts introduced the two men. There is a palpable sense of nervousness in the way the leaders engage.
We do not know what the two presidents said in their brief meeting.
But in the mind of the Ukrainian leader will be the knowledge President Trump has this week said America will reward Russia for its unprovoked brutal invasion of his country, under any peace deal.
Mr Trump has presented Ukraine and Russia with a proposal and ultimatum so one-sided it could have been written in the Kremlin.
Kyiv must surrender the land Russia has taken by force, Crimea forever, the rest at least for now. And it must submit to an act of extortion, a proposed deal that would hand over half its mineral wealth effectively to America.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Afterwards, Zelenskyy said it had been a good meeting that could turn out to be historic “if we reach results together”.
They had talked, he said, about the defence of Ukraine, a full and unconditional ceasefire and a durable and lasting peace that will prevent a war restarting.
The Trump peace proposal includes only unspecified security guarantees for Ukraine from countries that do not include the US. It rules out any membership of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s allies are watching closely to see if Mr Trump will apply any pressure on Vladimir Putin, let alone punish him for recent bloody attacks on Ukraine.
Or will he simply walk away if the proposal fails, blaming Ukrainian intransigence, however outrageously, before moving onto a rapprochement with Moscow.
If he does, America’s role as guarantor of international security will be seen effectively as over.
This could be the week we see the world order as we have known it since the end of the Second World War buried, as well as a pope.
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