Hezbollah fires missile at Tel Aviv

BEIRUT:

Hezbollah said it had fired a ballistic missile at the Israeli city of Tel Aviv on Wednesday, with Israel launching more air strikes on Lebanon after its military intercepted the unprecedented launch.

It is the first time Hezbollah has claimed a ballistic missile strike since its nearly year-long battle with Israel began after its Palestinian ally Hamas carried out its October 7 attack.

Israel conducted more air strikes on areas around Lebanon said 23 people were killed and dozens injured in Israeli strikes across Lebanon Wednesday, the third day of major Israeli raids in the country as fighting with Hezbollah has intensified in the deadliest day of violence since the 1975-1990 civil war.

The Lebanese health ministry said Wednesday's strikes killed 15 people, including in mountain areas outside Hezbollah's traditional strongholds.

According to Lebanese officials, hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled their homes in southern and eastern Lebanon to escape the violence between the Iran-backed militants and Israel.

Nour Hamad, a 22-year-old student in the Lebanese city of Baalbek, described living "in a state of terror" all week.

"We spent four or five days without sleep, not knowing if we will wake up in the morning," she said.

"The sound of the bombardment is very frightening, everyone's afraid. The children are afraid, and the grown-ups are afraid too."

In Tel Aviv, sirens sounded following Hezbollah's unprecedented missile launch, which the Israeli military intercepted.

"The situation is difficult. We feel the pressure and the tension. It's been going for a long time now," Tel Aviv resident Hedva Fadlon, 61, told AFP.

"I don't think anyone in the world would like to live like this."

Longtime foes Hezbollah and Israel have been locked in near-daily exchanges of fire since Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel.

The attack sparked a war in Gaza that has drawn in ally Hezbollah and other Iran-backed armed groups from across the Middle East, including Yemen and Iraq.

Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said the "vast majority, if not all" of the 558 people killed in Israel's aerial bombardment on Monday were unarmed civilians in their homes.

The United Nations Security Council said it will hold an emergency meeting on the crisis in New York on Wednesday, while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the situation was critical.

Hezbollah claimed 18 attacks on Israel on Tuesday, while the Israeli military said the Iran-backed group fired about 300 rockets across the border.

Hezbollah also confirmed an Israeli claim that it had killed their rocket forces commander Ibrahim Kobeissi in a strike on the Lebanese capital.

At the UN General Assembly in New York, Secretary-General Guterres issued a stark warning.