Sky News correspondents report from the site of strikes inside Israel and Lebanon
Iran launched nearly 200 missiles on Israel on Tuesday night in what it said was in retaliation to strikes by the Israeli military against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Sky News correspondents are reporting from both sides on the conflict. On Wednesday, Middle East correspondent Alistair Bunkall visited a school in the town of Gedera, just south of Tel Aviv, which took a direct hit from at least one Iranian ballistic missile.
Meanwhile, international correspondent John Sparks was taken to several bomb sites in the district of Dahieh in Beirut, Lebanon, an area that has been pounded by the Israelis over the past 10 days.
Middle East latest: Eight IDF soldiers killed in Lebanon fighting
This is what they saw.
A school yard covered with broken glass and piles of rubble – Alistair Bunkall
When we visited an Israeli school in the town of Gedera, on Wednesday morning, a large crater caused by at least one of the Iranian ballistic missiles the previous night had already been filled in.
But windows were shattered and classroom walls had been blown out by the blast. The school yard was covered with broken glass and piles of rubble.
People were at the site cleaning up, and the headmistress inspected the damage to her school.
The school is surrounded by apartment blocks, and on the outskirts of the town is an Israeli air base.
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Iran’s attack on Israel
People we spoke to thanked God for protecting them.
Israel‘s sophisticated alert and missile defence systems ultimately kept casualties low – only one person was killed, a Palestinian in the West Bank, and three Israelis lightly injured.
Videos on social media suggest a nearby air base took a direct hit. The Israeli military has hinted at damage but said its bases are still operational. It could be that the Iranian missiles had been aimed at that air base but missed and hit the school instead.
No one was on campus when the attack took place, which meant there were no casualties.
In April, when Iran first attacked, many of the missiles were said to be dummies, Tehran gave regional countries forewarning of the attack and they launched slow flying drones in a first wave, allowing Israel’s allies to prepare.
Last night, there was little warning and Iran only fired ballistic missiles – they have a travelling time of only 12 minutes and carry a large payload.
Israel has vowed to respond, and few doubt they will.
The US, which has had little influence on Israel over the past year, will be urging a calm and calibrated response, but Benjamin Netanyahu sees a chance to change the balance of power in the Middle East and might be tempted to go big.
Israel’s enemies though, are also fighting for their very survival.
Everyone is bracing for the next escalation.
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Inside Hezbollah controlled area
Acrid smoke bellowed from the ruins – John Sparks
In a fast-expanding war of many separate fronts, the district of Dahieh in the city of Beirut, looks and feels extreme.
We were brought here by the black-clad members of Hezbollah’s security team and we watched them move in and out of our convoy on their mopeds.
Black-clad members of Hezbollah’s security team
It was a rare opportunity to see one of the most densely populated parts of the city – an area that has been pounded by the Israelis over the past 10 days.
A pile of rubble awaited us on our first stop, the remains of the offices of a religious television station called Al Sirat we were told.
The mound had been decorated with flags and portraits of Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s former secretary-general, who was assassinated in a bunker by the Israelis 10 days ago.
The remains of what was allegedly the offices of a religious television station called Al Sirat
A Hezbollah-affiliated reporter holds a mangled-looking camera lens
But the true purpose of our visit soon became clear. This spot, like two other bomb sites we were taken to, were ordinary civilian neighbourhoods said our minders, not the weapon stores – or factories – that Israel claims.
A Hezbollah-affiliated reporter, holding a mangled-looking camera lens, came over to make the point.
“Look, this has got nothing to do with politics. The Israelis said there was a weapons pile here but look around you. This is the remnants of a television camera,” said Hosein Mortada, pointing at the lump of metal in his hand.
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Israel says its operations are “targeted and precise”, but no one believes that here. Equally unusual was an opportunity to speak to local residents in Dahieh.
“I live in an area nearby, where they don’t have members of Hezbollah but they’ve still destroyed it,” said a man on a moped called Ahmed.
“Every day, they put out threats that they are going to bomb this and that – calling them ‘bases for Hezbollah’. We return after the bombing and we don’t find a single bullet from Hezbollah.”
Acrid smoke – and the smell of high explosive – bellowed from the ruins of several apartment blocks
“Are people still living there?” I asked.
“Of course they do,” he replied, adding: “Just look around you, where are we going to go?”
I understood the point Ahmed was making – Dahieh and surrounds are inhabited by some of the poorest in the city. The decision by residents to leave their homes would – for many – result in homelessness.
The decision then between a mat on the seafront – or the anxiety of remaining at home.
Read more:
Where Iranian missiles struck Israel, what it means
Iran cannot match Israel’s level of defence
Sky team directly under flight path of Iran’s missile barrage
The last site we were taken to was great smouldering ruin that had been hit by multiple airstrikes some 12 hours before.
Acrid smoke – and the smell of high explosive – bellowed from the ruins of several apartment blocks.
Several men mounted a concrete pile to give voice to the anger within
Again, we were told that it was a peaceful neighbourhood, not a Hezbollah weapons store, and several men mounted a concrete pile to give voice to the anger within.
“I stand with you Hassan Nasrallah,” they shouted, until members of the security team ordered them to desist.
Within minutes we were ordered to leave, the security team telling us to go, “for our own safety”. Our window had closed, Dahieh was off-limits again and its people rushing for the shadows.
World
IS flag linked to deadly New Orleans attack is stark reminder dangerous extremist Islamist ideology never went away
An Islamic State flag attached to the pickup truck used to kill and injure dozens of people in New Orleans is a grim reminder of the persistent threat posed by Islamist extremism.
Investigators are rushing to understand why Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, the US citizen and army veteran who is suspected of carrying out the atrocity in the early hours of New Year’s Day, appears to have been inspired by the terrorist group, also known as ISIS.
A key question will be establishing whether he was self-radicalised by the terrorist group’s extreme ideology – or whether there was any kind of direction or enabling from actual IS members or other radicalised individuals.
The FBI initially said they did not believe the man, who was killed in a shootout with police after ploughing his rental truck into his victims in one of the United States’ worst acts of terrorism, had acted alone.
Latest updates on New Orleans attack
But President Joe Biden later said that the “situation is very fluid”, and with the investigation continuing, “no one should jump to conclusions”.
He also revealed that the suspect had posted videos on social media mere hours before the attack indicating that he “was inspired by ISIS”.
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President Joe Biden said Jabbar was ‘inspired by ISIS’
Whatever caused Jabbar to commit such carnage, his murderous rampage and the use of the IS flag underline the danger still posed by extremist Islamist ideology five years after the physical dismantling of Islamic State’s self-proclaimed caliphate in Iraq and Syria.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar. Pic: FBI
Read more:
What we know about suspect
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President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly described how his administration “defeated ISIS” during his first term as president.
It is true that the US-led coalition against Islamic State helped Iraqi and Syrian Kurdish forces recapture swathes of territory that had fallen under IS control.
The US military also carried out a raid in October 2019 that killed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the then head of Islamic State.
Pic: AP
But his extremist ideology that drove tens of thousands of fighters to pledge their allegiance to Islamic State – carrying out horrific acts of murder, torture and kidnap of anyone who did not follow their warped interpretation of Sunni Islam – has never gone away.
Many of the group’s fighters have been captured and are held in camps and detention centres in northern Syria, but their fate is looking increasingly uncertain following the collapse of the regime of Bashar al-Assad at the hands of another Sunni Islamist militant group called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which was once aligned with Islamic State.
Ahmed al-Sharaa, the HTS leader turned de facto ruler of Syria, has sought to distance his group from their past links with Islamist extremism.
But HTS is still considered a terrorist entity by the UK, the US and other western powers.
Experts fear that events in Syria may inspire sympathisers and supporters of Islamic State across the world to carry out new attacks.
It is far too soon to link specific events like the toppling of the Assad regime to the bloodshed on the streets of New Orleans.
But security officials, including the head of MI5, have long been warning about a resurgent threat from Islamic State and al-Qaeda.
In a speech in October, Ken McCallum spelt out the terrorist trend that concerns him most: “The worsening threat from al-Qaeda and in particular from Islamic State”.
A Holocaust survivor and the oldest living Olympic medal winner has died at the age of 103.
Agnes Keleti died on Thursday morning in Budapest after she was hospitalised with pneumonia on Christmas Day, the Hungarian state news agency reported.
Regarded as one of the most successful Jewish Olympic athletes, Ms Keleti won 10 medals in gymnastics, including five golds, for Hungary at the 1952 Helsinki Games and the 1956 Melbourne Games.
When celebrating her 100th birthday, she said: “These 100 years felt to me like 60. I live well. And I love life. It’s great that I’m still healthy.”
Ms Keleti celebrating her 100th birthday. Pic: AP
Born Agnes Klein in 1921 in Budapest, her career was interrupted by the Second World War and the cancellation of the 1940 and 1944 Olympics.
Ms Keleti was forced off her gymnastics team in 1941 due to her Jewish ancestry.
She later went into hiding in the Hungarian countryside, where she survived the Holocaust by assuming a false identity and working as a maid.
Her mother and sister survived the war with the help of famed Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, but her father and other relatives died at Auschwitz concentration camp.
More than half a million Hungarian Jews were murdered in Nazi death camps and by Hungarian Nazi collaborators during the war.
Read more from Sky News:
What we know about New Orleans truck attack suspect
Two children among 12 killed in shootout after bar fight
Ms Keleti with her five gold medals. Pic: AP
After the war, Ms Keleti was unable to compete in the 1948 London Olympics due to an ankle injury.
She eventually made her Olympic debut at the 1952 Helsinki Games at the age of 31, winning a gold medal in the floor exercise as well as a silver and two bronzes.
In 1956, she became the most successful athlete at the Melbourne Olympics, winning four gold and two silver medals.
Ms Keleti at the age of 99 with her son, Rafael. Pic: AP
While she was becoming the oldest gold medallist in gymnastics history at age 35 in Melbourne, the Soviet Union invaded Hungary following an unsuccessful anti-Soviet uprising.
Ms Keleti remained in Australia and sought political asylum.
She then immigrated to Israel the following year and went on to train and coach the Israeli Olympic gymnastics team until the 1990s.
Two children are among 12 people killed after a gunman opened fire in western Montenegro following a bar brawl, officials have said.
Montenegro’s interior minister Danilo Saranovic said at least four people were wounded in the attack in the town of Cetinje.
The suspect was identified as 45-year-old Aleksandar Martinovic.
Mr Saranovic said Martinovic killed the owner of the bar, the bar owner’s children and his own family members, before going on the run.
Police dispatched a special unit to search for the attacker in the town. All the roads in and out of the city were blocked as officers swarmed the streets.
The interior minister later said that the gunman had died after taking his own life near his home in Cetinje, which is about 18 miles northwest of the capital Podgorica.
Police investigators at the scene of the mass shooting. Pic: AP
Mr Saranovic told state broadcaster RTCG that Martinovic died while he was being transported to hospital.
Police told the broadcaster that he had suffered a head wound.
Vanja Popovic, the cousin of one of those who died and of another injured person, said: “[The] son of my aunt is among the dead… we are all shocked.”
‘Gripped by sadness’
President Jakov Milatovic said in a post on X that he was “shocked and stunned” by the mass shooting.
He wrote: “Instead of holiday joy… we have been gripped by sadness over the loss of innocent lives.”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Milojko Spajic went to the hospital where the wounded were being treated and announced three days of mourning.
“This is a terrible tragedy that has affected us all,” said Mr Spajic. “All police teams are out.”
Police and security personnel at the scene where several people were shot. Pic: Reuters
Police commissioner Lazar Scepanovic said Martinovic was at the bar throughout the day with other guests when the brawl erupted.
He said the suspect then went home, brought back a weapon and opened fire at around 5.30pm. The police chief said he killed four people at the bar and then continued shooting at three more locations.
Read more from Sky News
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The suspect is believed to have been handed a suspended sentence in 2005 for violent behaviour and had appealed his latest conviction for illegal weapons possession.
RTCG reported that he was known for erratic and violent behaviour.
Montenegro, which has a population of 620,000 people, is known for gun culture and many people traditionally have weapons.
Wednesday’s gun attack is the second shooting rampage over the past three years in Cetinje, Montenegro’s former royal capital.
An attacker also killed 10 people, including two children, in August 2022 before he was shot and killed by a passerby.
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