Live: Senior Hezbollah figure targeted in Beirut strikes as stoush over Iranian ambassador breaks out in Australia

Some images have come through from Reuters photographer Alkis Konstantinidis, who was onboard one of the evacuation flights for Greek and Cypriot citizens and residents leaving Beirut.

An Israeli strike has hit near the Masnaa border crossing, cutting off a road hundreds of thousands have used to flee in recent days, Reuters reports.

The crossing, between Syria and Lebanon, is now closed due to the strike, the Lebanese transport minister said.

Transport Minister Ali Hamieh told Reuters the strike hit right after the border crossing, still within Lebanese territory, creating a 4-metre wide crater.

It comes after Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee accused Hezbollah on Thursday of smuggling weapons from Syria through the crossing.

According to Lebanese government statistics, more than 300,000 people – a vast majority of them Syrian – had crossed from Lebanon into Syria over the last 10 days to escape escalating Israeli bombardment.

About 20 rockets were launched into Israel from Lebanon around 40 minutes ago, the IDF says.

Most of the launches were intercepted and others fell in an open area.

“Following the alerts that were activated in the Western Galilee and the Gulf at 7:01-7:04, about 20 launches were detected that crossed the territory of Lebanon,” the IDF said.

“Most of the launches were intercepted by the Air Force, the rest fell in an open area.”

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is set to lead Friday prayers and deliver a public sermon that could shed light on the Islamic republic’s plans after a massive missile attack on Israel.

Khamenei’s rare Friday sermon — a first in almost five years — comes three days before the one-year anniversary of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

The supreme leader, who wields the highest authority in Iran, will lead Muslims in prayer at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla mosque in central Tehran, his official website said.

The prayer will follow “a commemoration ceremony” at 4pm AEST for Hassan Nasrallah, the slain leader of Tehran-backed Lebanese armed movement Hezbollah.

Khamenei last led Friday prayers in January 2020 after Iran fired missiles at a US army base in Iraq, in response to a strike that killed revered Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani.

Reporting by AFP

Just bringing you Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s remarks from earlier condemning a social media post by the Iranian ambassador to Australia, Ahmad Sadeghi.

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Earlier this morning, our national political lead David Speers took a deeper dive into the Australian response to the Middle East war.

He says it is unlikely the government will be too critical of Israel if it chooses to retaliate against Iran’s missile barrage on Tuesday.

“We’ll see what happens but I think that Australia over the past 12 months has been very careful and cautious in how and when it’s critiqued Israel’s actions in Gaza and now Lebanon as well.”

“Politically, this is a nightmare (for Labor)” he added.

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An Israeli air strike killed three people in Syria’s capital Damascus yesterday, a war monitor said, in the second strike in as many days on a neighbourhood that is home to security headquarters and embassies.

“An Israeli air strike targeted a flat in a residential building in the Mazzeh neighbourhood frequented by Hezbollah leaders and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards,” the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

It killed at least three people, two of them foreigners, the monitor said.

State news agency SANA on Thursday said Syrian air defences  intercepted “hostile” targets over the countryside west of the capital.

It reported three civilians were killed and three wounded.

Wednesday’s strike hit around 500 metres from Tuesday’s strike, which killed six people, including a television anchor, three Iran-backed fighters, one of them from Hezbollah, and three civilians.

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria since the country’s civil war erupted in 2011, mainly targeting army positions and Iran-backed fighters, including those of Hezbollah.

Israeli authorities rarely comment on individual strikes but have said repeatedly they will not allow Iran to expand its presence in Syria.

The strikes have intensified in recent days, including in areas near the border with Lebanon.

Reporting with wires

The United Nations Security Council on Thursday offered its full support to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres after Israel said he was “persona non grata” for not quickly condemning Iran’s ballistic missile barrage.

Without naming Israel, the council’s five permanent members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — and the 10 non-permanent members “underscored the need for all member states to have a productive and effective relationship with the secretary-general”.

The UNSC also asked member states to “refrain from any actions that undermine his work and that of his office”.

“Any decision not to engage with the UN secretary-general or the United Nations is counterproductive, especially in the context of escalating tensions in the Middle East,” it said.

Reporting by Agence France Presse

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has condemned a lengthy social media tribute to Hezbollah’s slain leader Hassan Nasrallah by the Iranian ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi.

Sadeghi praised Nasrallah as a martyr and “unparalleled leader” on social media after he was assassinated in an Israeli air strike late last month.

Earlier, opposition leader Peter Dutton said the post from the Iranian ambassador should result in Sadeghi’s expulsion from Australia.

But while the PM condemned the post, he said maintaining diplomatic relations with Iran was important.

“The government condemns any support for terrorist organisations such as Hezbollah. We condemn the ambassador’s comments,” Albanese said.

“We have maintained a relationship with Iran since 1968 which is continuous. Not because we agree with the regime but because it’s in Australia’s national interest.

“It’s never been an endorsement of the regime, but a channel to protect Australia’s interests and to communicate our views and the views of our allies, like-minded countries.”

Iran’s ambassador was called in by the foreign department in August over a separate social media post agitating for the violent removal of Israelis from “the holy lands of Palestine”.

The killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah — who led the militant group for 32 years — in air strikes in Beirut has put the spotlight on the man widely regarded as his heir, Hashem Safieddine.

Earlier, Israeli media reported that Safieddine was the target of an Israeli strike on Beirut.  Neither Hezbollah or the IDF have confirmed whether he was a target, or his whereabouts.

But who is Safieddine?

• As head of the executive council, Safieddine oversees Hezbollah’s political affairs.

• He also sits on the Jihad Council, which manages the group’s military operations.

• Safieddine is a cousin of Nasrallah and like him, is a cleric who wears the black turban denoting descent from Islam’s Prophet Mohammed.

• The US State Department designated him a terrorist in 2017.

• In June, he threatened a big escalation against Israel after the killing of another Hezbollah commander.

Reporting by Reuters

US President Joe Biden said on Thursday he will not negotiate in public when asked if he had urged Israel not to attack Iran’s oil facilities.

Israel has been weighing options to respond to Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Tuesday.

The US has said it will work with Israel to make sure Iran faced severe consequences, but ruled out support for any strikes on Iranian oil facilities.

“I don’t negotiate in public,” Mr Biden told reporters when asked if he was telling Israel not to attack Iran’s oil facilities.

Asked if he worried an Israeli strike on Iran’s oil facilities would raise oil prices, he said: “If a hurricane hits, prices are going to go up. I don’t know, who knows.”

Biden was also asked why he had not spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent days. He replied: “Because there’s no action going on right now.”

Reporting by Reuters

Earlier, we reported that Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is calling for Iran’s ambassador to Australia to be expelled.

Iranian ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi praised Hezbollah’s slain leader Hassan Nasrallah as a martyr and “unparalleled leader” in comments on social media.

Watch the full video here:

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More than 1 million people across Lebanon have been uprooted from their homes since hostilities intensified between Israel and Hezbollah on September 24, the UN estimates.

Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, has called it the largest displacement the nation may have ever witnessed, with one-fifth of the population impacted.

Families have been seeking shelter in makeshift tents on the streets of Beirut after their homes were destroyed by Israeli strikes.

Once known as the Paris of the Middle East, the city, still in economic ruin, finds itself caught up in armed conflict — yet again.

Read more on how the Lebanese people are being impacted by Israel’s fight against Hezbollah:

Earlier, we brought you the news that a 21-year-old woman who was kidnapped by Islamic State group militants in Iraq when she was 11 had been freed from Gaza after a decade in captivity.

In a secret US-led operation this week, Fawzia Sido was rescued and reunited with her family after her captor died and she was able to escape and seek repatriation, officials said. 

Read the full story here, and catch the moment she meets her relatives at an unknown location:

 Here’s Save the Children’s Racha Chedid talking more about what the conflict in the Middle East means for children and their education and well-being.

Watch here:

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This is the fifth year of interrupted education that children are facing in Lebanon.

30 per cent of those displaced are children.

“Schools have been closed for the past two weeks, which has impacted 1.5 million children which are of Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian nationalities,” Save the Children’s Racha Chedid told ABC News Breakfast.

“Children are witnessing this conflict, and this is having a huge negative impact on their future and well being,” she added. 

“They [children] are not only missing out on the right to learn, but are also are being stripped of a sense of security and normality.”

US President Joe Biden has told reporters at the White House “we can avoid” all-out war in the Middle East, as Israel bombarded Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon and weighed retaliation for an Iranian missile attack.

“I don’t believe there is going to be an all-out war. I think we can avoid it,” he said, when asked how confident he was full-blown war in the region could be averted.

“But there is a lot to do yet, a lot to do yet,” Mr Biden added.

Dr Ramanan Krishnamoorti from the University of Houston explains:

“If the evacuation of crude oil out of the Middle East is affected, we could easily lose 5 to 10 millions per day of production, in a matter of days.

“If that happens, we will see a significant increase in the price of crude oil, and that would result in an increase in the price of gasoline and diesel.”

About 5 per cent of the world’s total oil comes from Iran, he says, and 20 per cent from the Middle East collectively.

Here he talks more on the economic impacts that could be felt should Israel hit Iranian refineries:

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Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is calling for Iran’s ambassador to Australia to be expelled, after he praised Hezbollah’s slain leader Hassan Nasrallah as a martyr and “unparalleled leader”.

Iranian ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi made the remarks on social media after Nasrallah was assassinated in an Israeli air strike late last month.

Dutton says he should not remain in Australia.

“I think the comments from the Iranian ambassador are completely and utterly at odds with what is in our countries’ best interests and the prime minister and the foreign minister should show the strength of character and expel him from our country,” he says.

Iran’s ambassador was called in by the foreign department in August over a separate social media post agitating for the violent removal of Israelis from “the holy lands of Palestine”.

A joint police statement has warned there will be no tolerance for illegal behaviour across Australia in the lead-up to planned pro-Palestinian events this weekend.

The statement, from all states and the federal police, reads: “Police respect the right to peacefully protest and assemble in Australia, however, there will be no tolerance for illegal behaviour or violence on any day of the year.

“In Australia, there are offences that prohibit behaviour that incites or advocates violence or hatred based on race and religion, including the display of prohibited symbols in public under these circumstances.

“It is also a serious offence to counsel, promote, encourage, urge, instruct or praise terrorism.”

Law enforcement agencies are planning for upcoming protests in some states and territories, it added.

Thousands are expected to rally through Sydney this weekend to mark the one-year anniversary of the Israel-Gaza conflict on October 7.