September 26, 2024 Middle East conflict news

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Destruction in a area targeted by Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon's town of Saksakiyeh, on September 26, 2024.

Israel said it is considering a US-led ceasefire proposal that would see a 21-day pause in fighting in Lebanon as fears rise of a fully-fledged war between Israel and Hezbollah that risks escalating into a wider regional conflict.

While top US officials initially suggested the proposal was a done deal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later threw cold water on the plan, saying any reports of an imminent ceasefire were “incorrect.”

Netanyahu’s office clarified in a statement that it is discussing the ceasefire proposal and “shares the aims of the US-led initiative of enabling people along our northern border to return safely and securely to their homes.”

Meanwhile, Lebanon’s foreign minister warned the crisis in the country “threatens the entire Middle East” and reiterated calls for an immediate ceasefire “on all fronts.”

Here’s what we know about the ceasefire initiative:

• Proposed by US and allies: The proposal comes amid deadly fighting between Israel and Hezbollah that many fear could spill into a wider conflict. Hoping to prevent such an outcome, diplomats and leaders in New York for the United Nations General Assembly hurriedly worked to secure a plan that would pause the fighting and allow room for diplomacy to take hold.

• Which countries were involved?: President Joe Biden said the plan had been endorsed by the United States, Australia, Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

• Has Hezbollah agreed?: Hezbollah has not yet commented on the proposed deal, and Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has denied reports of signing the framework for Lebanon. Media reports claimed earlier that Mikati signed a ceasefire proposal after meeting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and envoy Amos Hochstein on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

• Fighting rages: Netanyahu, who is expected to speak Friday at the UN General Assembly, said Israel’s military will continue fighting Hezbollah with “full force” after days of strikes on Lebanon that have killed hundreds and which Lebanon’s health minister said have displaced up to half a million people.

Israel carried out part of its device attack targeting Hezbollah by concealing explosives inside the batteries of pagers brought into Lebanon, according to two high-ranking Lebanese security officials, who said the technology was so advanced that it was virtually undetectable.

Lebanese security officials watched a series of controlled explosions of some of the weaponized pagers, as investigations into who manufactured the wireless communication devices and how they made their way into Hezbollah’s pockets continued.

The pagers used in the controlled explosions were switched off at the time of the attack on September 17, which meant they did not receive the message that caused the compromised devices to detonate. The officials had a front-row seat to see just how catastrophic the blasts would have been to those carrying the devices and others around them.

Thousands of explosions struck Hezbollah members last week, targeting their pagers on Tuesday, and then walkie-talkies a day later. In all, the blasts killed at least 37 people, including some children, and injured nearly 3,000, according to Lebanese health authorities, many of them civilian bystanders. The attack blindsided the group, which had opted for analogue technologies after forgoing cell phones to avoid Israeli infiltration.

Israel has not commented directly on the attacks, but CNN has learned that the explosions were the result of a joint operation by Israel’s intelligence service, Mossad, and the Israeli military. Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, tacitly acknowledged his country’s role the day after the pager attack, praising “excellent achievements, together with the Shin Bet, together with Mossad.” Both Lebanon and Hezbollah have blamed Israel for the attacks.

Read the full investigation.

Lebanon Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdallah Bou Habib addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, on September 26, 2024.

Lebanon’s foreign minister on Thursday warned the crisis with Israel “threatens the entire Middle East” and reiterated calls for an immediate ceasefire “on all fronts.”

“Lebanon is currently enduring a crisis, which is threatening its very existence,” Abdallah Bou Habib said while addressing the United Nations General Assembly.

“The crisis in Lebanon threatens the entire Middle East with the worst, if the situation remains as it currently is, and if the world remains immobile,” he said.

“We wish today to reiterate our call for a ceasefire on all fronts,” he said, expressing support for the efforts by the United States, France and several allies to move toward an agreement between Israel and Hezbollah.

He went on to assert that the underlying cause of the instability in the region came from the lack of a permanent solution to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory.

“To claim anything else would be a loss of time,” Habib said.

Israel is discussing the US-led ceasefire initiative and “how we can advance the shared goal of returning people safely to their homes,” the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement Thursday.

The statement said it was “important to clarify a few points” due to “misreporting on the US-led ceasefire initiative.”

Israel and the US met to discuss the ceasefire proposal on Thursday and “will continue those discussions in the coming days,” the statement read.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats in New York on Tuesday, September 24.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed the importance of a temporary ceasefire agreement in his meeting with Israeli strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday.

The two also spoke about efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza, according to a State Department readout.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s office said the teams had met “to discuss the U.S. initiative and how we can advance the shared goal of returning people safely to their homes” in a statement released following their meeting Thursday.

“We will continue those discussions in the coming days,” the statement said.

Israeli strikes on Lebanon over the past four days have displaced about 140,000 children “with many arriving at shelters showing signs of severe distress,” Save the Children, a humanitiarian organization, said in a statement on Thursday.

Dr Firass Abiad, Lebanon’s health minister, told CNN earlier on Thursday that he estimates there are likely 400,000 to 500,000 internally displaced people, much higher than officially recorded figures. He said authorities only know how many people have been internally displaced to official shelters but there are “multitudes” that have also fled to stay with relatives, friends or the homes of strangers who have offered them accommodation.

Save the Children staff expressed concern over the psychological impact of the conflict on children, “many of whom are showing signs of severe distress due to the displacement and constant shelling,” according to the statement.

The humanitarian group also expressed concerns about the closure of many schools across Lebanon, saying it has impacted “all of the country’s 1.5 million children, with Lebanon’s already critical mental health crisis worsening as the hostilities continue to escalate,” the statement said.

Cars sit in traffic as they flee southern Lebanon amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes on Monday, September 23, 2024.

Lebanon has recorded nearly 109,000 people displaced by the recent conflict, but authorities said the actual number is likely much higher.

The official figure reported by the country’s disaster risk management unit Thursday includes at least 31,730 Lebanese and Syrians who have already fled across the border into Syria.

In a statement, the agency said many displaced people not represented in the official figure had moved to their homes in other areas, to stay with relatives, or to rented rooms or hotels.

Lebanon’s Health Minister Firass Abiad on Thursday told CNN he estimates there are likely 400,000 to 500,000 internally displaced people. Abiad said authorities know how many people have been internally displaced to official shelters but “multitudes” more were being provided shelter by relatives, friends or strangers.

Humanitarian needs are growing as the conflict between Israel and Lebanon escalates, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned in a statement.

“Many are traumatized from losing homes and loved ones, including MSF’s own staff,” the statement said. “In addition to medical support, people are in need of basic supplies like mattresses and hygiene products as the shelters and schools currently housing them were not prepared to accommodate so many people.”

Maram Sukkariyeh, a health promotion supervisor with MSF, described days of strikes in northern areas of Lebanon’s Beqaa region.

Sukkariyeh said people who fled their homes were “scared and worried.”

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Choukîne on Thursday, September 26.

Senior US officials were practically triumphant Wednesday night: The United States and a large number of its allies had nailed down a proposal after days of feverish talks that would put in place a ceasefire across the Israel-Lebanon border.

In a hastily arranged call with reporters just moments after the release of a joint statement, top administration officials hailed the framework as “an important breakthrough.” The 21-day pause in fighting that the nations were proposing would give time for diplomacy and could prevent a full-fledged war from breaking out between Israel and Hezbollah.

Those officials were clear: The question was not if Israel and Hezbollah would accept the ceasefire proposal, but precisely when. Both Israel and Hezbollah were “familiar with the text,” one official said, and the US felt comfortable going public with the framework, with the understanding that both sides were ready to sign on.

But only hours later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would throw cold water on the multi-national proposal. First, the prime minister’s office released a statement saying any reports of an imminent ceasefire were “incorrect” and that the Israel Defense Forces would continue fighting with “full force.”

Then, the prime minister himself told the press as he got off his plane in New York City:

Some 24 hours after the White House’s announcement of the ceasefire proposal, there has still been no indication that Israel and Hezbollah are ready to agree to it. Israel’s initial response was clearly not the reaction the White House had anticipated, and it raised immediate question of why, if Israel was on board with the proposal, its leader appeared so eager to dismiss it.

Netanyahu’s apparent reversal amounted to a major disappointment, but for some officials it also underscored a reality that has existed for months: Netanyahu’s willingness to break publicly and openly with Biden, particularly when he faces internal political opposition in Israel.

Read more

The Israeli military has intercepted a surface-to-surface missile fired from Yemen, using the Arrow Aerial Defense System, it said in a statement in the early hours of Friday morning local time.

“Sirens and explosions were heard following the interception and falling shrapnel,” the statement read.

Nic Robertson, CNN’s international diplomatic editor in Tel Aviv, heard sirens across the city but did not hear or see an interception.

A spokesperson for Israel Airports Authority told CNN on Friday that Ben Gurion Airport is operating as usual following the red alert sirens.

Yemen’s Houthis have said they will release an “important statement” soon.

The Israeli military said it struck about 220 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon throughout Thursday, with targets including the group’s infrastructure sites, launchers and weapon storage facilities.

The statement comes amid another wave of exchanges across the Israel-Lebanon border between the Israel Defense Forces and the Iran-backed militant group. According to the IDF, Hezbollah fired more than 150 projectiles today, triggering sirens in Israel. Hezbollah confirmed it carried out several attacks in northern Israel with rockets and drones.

A man looks at destroyed houses amid an ongoing search for survivors, a day after an Israeli strike on residential buildings in Maaysrah, Lebanon, on Thursday, September 26.

At least 92 people have been killed in Israeli strikes across Lebanon in the past 24 hours, according to several statements from Lebanon’s health ministry, sharing casualty figures by region.

The ministry also said at least 153 other people have been wounded across the country.

Hezbollah has confirmed one of its commanders, Muhammad Hussein Srour, was killed on Thursday, but did not elaborate on the circumstances around his death..

Hezbollah said Srour was killed “on the road to Jerusalem,” in reference to those who are fighting to support people in Gaza, the group said in a statement released shortly after midnight on Friday local time.

Earlier on Thursday, the Israeli military said its strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs killed Srour, who, it said, was the head of Hezbollah’s Aerial Command. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved the “assassination operation” during his flight to New York for the United Nations General Assembly, according to his office.

Neither Israeli Strategic Minister Ron Dermer nor Ambassador Michael Herzog answered when asked directly by CNN Thursday if they are going to accept the ceasefire proposal between Israel and Hezbollah.

Instead, both Israeli officials just slightly chuckled. Dermer made a quip that “less is more” when speaking as a diplomat. He claimed that the day of meetings was just getting started since he flew over on Wednesday.

The two arrived for their meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken just before 5 p.m. — four hours after it was scheduled.

The US is engaged in a diplomatic “full court press” to try to get the Israelis and Hezbollah to accept the 21-day ceasefire unveiled on Wednesday night.

This comes as the Biden administration insisted Thursday that there is still a diplomatic path for a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.

Smoke billows over southern Lebanon following an Israeli strike as seen from Tyre, Lebanon, on Thursday, September 26.

Hezbollah fired barrages of rockets toward Israel on Thursday, as the Israeli military continued its bombing campaign in Lebanon with fresh strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut and on infrastructure on the Lebanon-Syrian border.

More than 150 projectiles were launched toward Israel on Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces said, causing sirens to sound across northern Israel through the day.

Hezbollah claimed on Thursday to have carried out several attacks on various areas in northern Israel with dozens of rockets and drones, according to several statements released by group.

In one statement, Hezbollah said it fired 50 rockets on Ahihud in northern Israel, saying it was “in support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, in support of their valiant and honorable resistance, and in defense of Lebanon and its people.”

The group also said it had fired at Kiryat Ata, a city in northern Israel, with 50 rockets; the northern city of Kiryat Shmona; a northern military base; and two Israeli warplanes that it said were attempting to cross into Lebanese territory.

On Thursday evening local time, Israeli police reported that debris from projectiles and interceptors had fallen in the Safed and Rosh Pina areas. No one was hurt, but there was “heavy damage” to property, and Israel’s fire and rescue service said it was fighting fires caused by the falls.

A 45-year-old man was being treated by medics after he was struck by shrapnel in the Galilee area, according to Israel’s national emergency service Magen David Adom (MDA).

In Lebanon, at least 60 people have been killed and 81 wounded in Israeli strikes over the past 24 hours, according to a report released by the country’s Disaster Risk Management Unit on Thursday.

Israeli hostage Nimrod Cohen's family (Yotam, Viki and Romi Cohen) at a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York City on September 26.

The family of an Israeli hostage held in Gaza, Nimrod Cohen, is visiting New York this week to protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he is scheduled to speak at the United Nations General Assembly. The Cohens criticize him for pivoting attention to Hezbollah in Lebanon, saying the leader should instead be focused on a hostage and ceasefire deal.

“We need to talk about the hostages and we need to keep the subject alive so we don’t forget them,” Nimrod’s sister Romi Cohen said.

The family criticized Netanyahu for not making the primary goal of his government to bring back the hostages still held in Gaza as fighting moves north to the Israel-Lebanon border.

“Vengeance,” his brother Yotam Cohen said, “was the first goal of the war.”

“Now it’s Lebanon, and there is no deal,” his mother Viki Cohen said. “The first priority that the government says is to destroy Hamas. The other priority was to bring back the hostages, but this was not the main goal.”

Viki Cohen and her husband Yehuda also spoke at the protest near the UN, accusing Netanyahu of continuing the war to stay in power.

Israeli hostage Nimrod Cohen's parents Yehuda and Viki Cohen speak at a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York City on September 26.

“I want my son alive,” he told CNN. “I want him to get back his life. I want him to be free.”

Zahiro Shahar Mor, the nephew of killed Israeli hostage Avraham Munder, also warned against a conflict in Lebanon.

Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza “was a mistake from day one,” he said. “Don’t deepen the mistake. Stop the war immediately.”

Eran Etzion, the former deputy national security adviser and head of policy planning in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel, was at the protest as well.

He said he flew to New York “to voice the majority of Israelis who are interested in an immediate hostage deal and a ceasefire agreement.”

Netanyahu, he said, is a “rogue prime minister who is acting against the national interest of our country, against the expressed will and interests of the vast majority of Israelis.”

More than 40 health care workers have been killed in “targeted attacks” this week, according to Lebanese Health Minister Dr. Firass Abiad.

Ambulances are “being directly targeted as they are doing their job,” he said, stressing ambulances should be protected by international law.

For the time being, the country’s health care system — weakened by multiple crises in recent years — is “holding,” but health care workers are facing extreme challenges, he said. “We have surgeons who have been operating almost nonstop for 48 hours or more,” according to Abiad.

Supplies of some medications are running low, he warned.

Dr Firass Abiad, the Lebanese health minister, participates in an interview with CNN’s Jomana Karadsheh in Beirut.

The Lebanese health minister has described the situation in his country as “a full-fledged war” after a week of escalating fighting between Israel and Hezbollah and a climbing civilian death toll in Lebanon.

The attacks are taking their “main toll on innocent civilians, on women, on children and clearly the intent is to create an environment of terror,” he said, adding that it has led to a mass exodus of people from their homes.

Authorities know how many people have been internally displaced to official shelters, but there are “multitudes” that have also fled to stay with relatives, friends, or the homes of strangers who have offered them accommodation.

Abiad called on the international community to exert more pressure on Israel to accept a proposed ceasefire agreement that has been floated by the US and its allies this week, which he said Lebanon had accepted.

“Unfortunately, it seems that everyone is intent on finding a diplomatic solution to this conflict except one party that wants to continue with its indiscriminate attacks on civilians,” he said, laying the blame on Israel for the failure to find a diplomatic solution so far.

Hezbollah has made its position clear that with a ceasefire in Gaza, it will cease its attacks on Israel, Abiad said, adding that the US could be doing more to pressure Israel into a ceasefire.

Israeli Air Force chief Tomer Bar told soldiers on Thursday that the force is preparing alongside the army for a ground invasion into Lebanon to fight Hezbollah in case an order is issued.

Bar also said that the military aimed as a “top priority” to prevent weapon transfers from Iran to the Iran-backed militant group.

“The confidence of (Hezbollah leader Hassan) Nasrallah, Hezbollah, and their ability to recover from what happened to it a number of days ago depends on the pipeline coming in from Iran,” he said.

Israel’s deadly strikes on Lebanon and last week’s pager and walkie-talkie explosions have killed Hezbollah figures, including elite commander Ibrahim Aqil.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre holds a press briefing at the White House on Thursday.

The White House was unable to explain the apparent disconnect between a call from the US and its allies for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — who has cast news of any imminent ceasefire as “incorrect” — but repeatedly stressed that Wednesday’s ceasefire statement was “coordinated” with Israel.

“The statement was indeed coordinated with the Israeli side,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in response to a question from CNN.

Discussions between the negotiating parties in New York, Jean-Pierre said, are “ongoing” and “coordinated with the Israeli side,” later adding that there could be “more to share later in the day.”

Pressed again on Netanyahu’s comments, Jean-Pierre referred inquiries to the prime minister’s office but did not offer more explanation.