Overnight Israeli air strikes on central Beirut killed at least six people, Lebanese officials say
From Beirut: Any feeling of safety is vanishing, writes Nafiseh Kohnavard
Our correspondent adds the target was a building where a Hezbollah member lived, which is also the headquarters of a medical centre affiliated to Hezbollah
Dahieh, Hezbollah’s stronghold in southern Beirut, was also attacked
In the south of the country, the Israeli military warned on Thursday morning that air strikes would continue
Israel began a ground invasion of the south this week and yesterday announced the death of eight soldiers inside Lebanon
As we've been reporting, an Israeli air strike hit an apartment building in central Beirut last night.
Our team in Beirut have been to the scene and sent this footage:
Israel announced a ground offensive in southern Lebanon earlier this week, and fighting is continuing in border areas.
According to Hezbollah, Israeli forces attempted to advance at the Fatima border crossing but were "confronted" by Hezbollah fighters. The Israeli military is yet to comment.
The Fatima gate is near Kfarkela on the Lebanese side and Metula on the Israeli side. It has been closed since Israeli troops withdrew from Lebanon in 2000.
Earlier, we reported Israeli air strikes and artillery shelling on a number of locations in Lebanon, including the Bint Jbeil district in southern Lebanon.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) now says that overnight its warplanes "precisely struck the Bint Jbeil municipality building in which Hezbollah terrorists were operating, alongside large quantities of Hezbollah weapons stored in the building".
"As part of the strike, approximately 15 Hezbollah terrorists were eliminated," the IDF says.
Overall, about 200 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon were struck, including weapons storage facilities and observation posts, the IDF says.
A "limited number" of charter flights back to the UK from Lebanon will depart on Thursday and continue "for as long as the security situation allows", the Foreign Office (FCDO) says.
More than 150 British nationals and their dependants left Beirut on a government chartered flight yesterday.
British nationals and their dependants in Lebanon who've registered will be sent details, the FCDO says.
The FCDO says any non-British dependants boarding the flight will require a visa, granted for at least six months, to enter the UK.
The department is urging people not to travel to the airport unless they have a seat booked.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy urges "all British nationals still in Lebanon to register with the FCDO and leave the country immediately".
As of last week, there were thought to be between 4,000 and 6,000 UK nationals, including dependants, in Lebanon.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says that two drones have been identified this morning crossing from Lebanon, and have been intercepted.
We earlier reported sirens in northern Israel - the IDF now says 25 "projectiles" (usually meaning rockets) have crossed the Lebanese border, with some intercepted.
The IDF has not reported any injuries.
Nafiseh Kohnavard
BBC Persian Middle East correspondent, Beirut
Smoke rises above Beirut after a missile strike last night
I'm not sure how many people managed to sleep last night in Beirut, but many in my neighbourhood were awake again. It was 03:45am that we heard the last airstrike on Dahieh, Beirut’s southern suburb.
Even the United Nations' special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis, posted on X, external about "another sleepless night" in the city.
This morning I can see from my window that columns of smoke are still coming out of Dahieh.
But what scared many in my neighbourhood and downtown Beirut was that, for the first time, a missile strike targeted a building in a central part of the city.
The target was a building that an ex-parliament member of Hezbollah was living in. It's also a headquarters for a medical centre affiliated to Hezbollah.
That building is five minutes' drive from my home and is located in an area that is considered a "safe zone" due to its Christian majority population.
But many here, including myself, heard the missile passing over our heads with a strong howling. The feeling of safety is vanishing day by day in all parts of Beirut.
This morning smoke could be seen rising from several different places in Beirut
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) is reporting Israeli strikes on a number of locations in Lebanon this morning.
It says Israeli war planes bombed villages in the southern Tyre and Bint Jbeil districts, close to the Israeli border, as well as the village of Arnoun in the Nabatieh district, also near the border.
The border village of Aitaroun was shelled by Israeli artillery, the agency says.
In the Bekaa Valley, eastern Lebanon, an Israeli air strike was reported on the village of Harfouch. The NNA did not say whether there were any casualties.
"Israel has chosen an escalatory path in a very volatile and dangerous region. It's opened the Pandora's box," Lebanon's ambassador to the UK tells the BBC.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today Programme, Rami Mortada says "Lebanon wants a diplomatic solution" but that the "hotheads in Israel chose a different path".
Questioned whether the Lebanese government has sufficiently condemned Hezbollah firing rockets into Israel, Mortada says: "I condemn any act of violence but Hezbollah has not been committing violence".
He instead claims the armed group has been "firing exclusively at military targets".
"Violence begets violence and when you provoke someone you would expect that they would provoke you back," he says.
Repeating his calls for a diplomatic solution he says: "We need to stop this carnage in Gaza, stop this carnage in Lebanon, and seek a diplomatic solution."
For context: Hezbollah is a Shia Muslim political party and armed group in Lebanon, sometimes described as a "state within a state". Authorities in Lebanon have very little, if any, say over the group's activities.
As we reported, an Israeli air strike targeted a building in Bachoura in central Beirut last night, killing at least six people.
Image source, Reuters
Image source, Reuters
Image source, ReutersA man holds up a damaged helmet that reads "Civil Defence"
More than 240 rockets were fired from southern Lebanon towards northern Israel throughout Wednesday, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
And the rocket fire seems to be continuing, with warning sirens in at least four areas in northern Israel throughout Thursday morning, the IDF says on Telegram.
The most recent siren was in the Galilee Panhandle, near the Lebanese border.
Image source, EPAIsrael's Iron Dome air defence system intercepts rockets fired from southern Lebanon over the Galilee, northern Israel, on Wednesday
Tom Bateman
State Department correspondent, Washington DC
We’re getting a bit more of a sense of the way Washington is trying to steer Israel as it mulls the retaliation to Iran’s missile strikes on Tuesday.
The first point is, it’s clear President Biden is telling the Israeli leadership that any attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities is off limits.
He was asked about it by reporters under the wing of Air Force One (on a trip to the hurricane-ravaged south-east US) - would the US would back any Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear sites?
Biden told them: "The answer is no."
He also said he’d been talking to other world leaders on a G7 conference call and that Israel should respond "proportionally".
Biden also said more sanctions would be imposed on Iran.
My sense so far is that the Israeli response is not immediately imminent, that the Americans support the retaliation but are still urging restraint - at least so far as to try to prevent a further Iranian counterattack.
Image source, EPAPeople looking at an Iranian missile that fell in the Negev desert in southern Israel during Tuesday's strikes
Image source, ReutersSmoke rises above a village in southern Lebanon following an air strike on Tuesday
Israeli air strikes will continue and Lebanese people who have left their homes in the south of the country should not return, the army says on Telegram.
"The Israeli army air strikes will continue. For your safety, and that of your children, do NOT go back home until further notice."
Hugo Bachega
Middle East correspondent, in Beirut
Image source, ReutersAn apartment block in the Bachoura neighbourhood which was hit in an Israeli airstrike
A loud explosion was heard as Israel bombed central Beirut at around midnight.
The building hit was in the Bachoura neighbourhood, near the Lebanese parliament – the first Israeli airstrike to hit the heart of the capital in this conflict.
Pictures of the aftermath showed a heavily damaged apartment building, with the first floor partially destroyed.
Dahieh, Hezbollah’s stronghold in southern Beirut, was also attacked. The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders for several areas of the district, saying it would target Hezbollah facilities and interests in the future.
In the south of the country, there were signs Israel was preparing to expand its ground invasion, with more troops being sent to the border yesterday.
Last night, BBC reporters heard loud blasts in Beirut as Israeli air strikes on the city continued. Explosions also echoed through Dahieh, Hezbollah's stronghold in the southern suburbs.
Lebanese officials later said at least least six people had been killed.
Israel plans to continue its air strikes, with the Israeli military a short time ago warning residents in southern Lebanon, near the Israeli border, not to return home.
Israel began a ground invasion of the south this week, and announced the death of eight Israeli soldiers inside Lebanon yesterday.
Stay with us for live updates, analysis, and on-site reports from our correspondents across the region.