Israel attacks Lebanon

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree says the group has thwarted attempts by Yemeni government forces to advance toward the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

President Masoud Pezeshkian says Iran “has never avoided” dialogue with the US, even though it’s been attacked three times during negotiations.

Trump repeats the claim that the US has “virtually total control” over the Strait of Hormuz during an event marking Hispanic Heritage Month.

US President Donald Trump reiterates that Tehran will not have a nuclear weapon.

Iran’s foreign minister says his visit to the UN General Assembly last week was mainly to outline Tehran’s position on regional conflicts and the critical security situation in the Strait of Hormuz.

US Central Command says they redirected 122 commercial vessels to “ensure strict compliance” with the US blockade against Iran.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam wants US-brokered ceasefire to be consolidated and for Israel to retreat.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has called for an end to the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon and the full enforcement of the ceasefire, as Israeli shelling and demolitions continue.

“We want the war to end and we want the ceasefire [with Israel] consolidated,” Salam said in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Friday.

The prime minister demanded a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese territory up to its internationally recognised border and the release of all Lebanese detainees.

As delegates gathered to listen to Salam, on the ground in Lebanon, Israeli forces carried out a large explosion near Taybeh and Deir Siryan, while an Israeli air strike targeted a valley between Froun and Ghandourieh, triggering a large fire.

Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Froun, said the reality on the ground is that the conflict is far from over.

“From the ground here in Froun, we can still see Israeli warplanes and drones flying at low altitudes in the skies above and Israeli artillery shelling is still causing uncontrollable fires. Lebanese civil defence and firefighters are not being allowed by the Israelis to reach these areas and put out the flames,” she said.

“More than 60 towns in southern Lebanon are still occupied by the Israeli army, where the Israelis are carrying out a systematic campaign of demolitions,” Khodr added.

Israeli forces are “blowing up people’s homes, despite the framework agreement in which there is supposed to be a ceasefire that they have signed with the Lebanese government,” she said.

Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon have killed at least 4,386 people and wounded 12,407 others since March 2 , when the current Hezbollah-Israel war started. Since then, Israeli forces have occupied up to 600sq km of Lebanese territory up to the Litani River.

A US-brokered framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel in June provides for a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory and the deployment of the Lebanese army in areas vacated by Israeli forces.

Speaking at the UNGA, Salam said his government had entered into negotiations with Israel, mediated by the United States and President Donald Trump, “to end the war and restore Lebanon’s sovereignty”, adding that the success of any agreement is measured not by intentions but by fulfilment of commitments.

“What is required is to complete the translation of this agreement into practical steps within a clear timetable and with a verification mechanism that ensures the implementation of all its provisions,” he said.

He focused on state sovereignty, saying it “cannot be untouchable in one place and negotiable in another, nor can the rules of international law apply to some but not to others”.

Salam also pledged to oversee the disarmament of Hezbollah in exchange for Israel’s eventual full withdrawal, also saying “weapons must be exclusively in the hands of the state and that decisions on war and peace rest solely with its constitutional institutions”.

Stability in the Middle East can only come with respect for Palestinian rights, he said.

“There can be no lasting stability in Lebanon without lasting stability in our region, and there can be no stability in the region as long as this organisation [the UN] remains unable to enable the Palestinian people to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination, like all other peoples of the world,” Salam said. “No less and no more.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has used his platform at the United Nations General Assembly to attack detractors and allies alike, and his presence sparked uproar in the chamber.

Speaking before the UNGA on Thursday, Netanyahu attacked New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, critics and Iran’s leadership, as well as allied countries like the United Kingdom and France.

Back home, the prime minister is locked in a tight race to stay in power ahead of an election on October 27, and analysts say his UNGA speech was aimed as much at people back home as it was at international viewers.

Dozens of envoys from around the world walked out as the speech began, some jeering and booing, while Netanyahu’s own team stood and applauded, and the speaker of the session shouted for order.

“If there are any other moral cowards who haven’t left this hall, please do so now,” Netanyahu said to those turning their backs on him.

He addressed the war that the US and Israel launched on Iran in February, saying: “Devastating Iran’s nuclear facilities was hard, was very hard to do.”

“But for me, it was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever had to make as prime minister”, claiming that if he had not, “we’d all be dead”, he added.

In his own speech before the UNGA on Wednesday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also addressed the nuclear issue and called out the “double standard”.

“The nuclear weapon is in Israel, but the inspectors are in Iran. Israel kills, but Iran is subject to sanctions,” Pezeshkian said.

Netanyahu on Thursday said that Israel was fighting a “seven-front war”, including Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Yemen’s Houthis and militias in Iraq.

“We are going to win. We have no other choice,” Netanyahu declared, repeating the words of his older brother Yonatan Netanyahu, who was killed in 1976 during Operation Entebbe in Uganda.

Criticising allies

The United Kingdom and France, historic partners of Israel, were also in Netanyahu’s firing line. They have become increasingly outspoken in their criticism of the country’s actions and have both imposed limited sanctions on Israeli exports from the occupied West Bank.

“They accuse Israel, tiny Israel, of colonialism – some colonialism. And who’s accusing us? Among them are people in Britain and in France. For God’s sakes, they invented the term,” he said.

But Netanyahu thanked his “friend”, United States President Donald Trump.

“In this battle against the barbarians, we’ve had no greater partner than President Trump,” he said, as the US delegation joined the Israeli one in applauding Netanyahu’s remark.

“I thank him,” said Netanyahu, adding that Israel and the US had acted together as pilots from both countries “flew joint missions over the skies of Iran”.

Netanyahu said the US and Israel also “worked together to bring back our remaining hostages [from Gaza]”, as he defended Israeli actions in the enclave against charges of genocide.

“To all those spreading lies about my country, whether they sit in this hall or in the office of the anti-Semitic mayor of New York, I say this: shame on you,” Netanyahu said as he attacked Zohran Mamdani, who had previously said he would push for the arrest of the Israeli prime minister during his visit to the city.

“Mr Mamdani, you tried to stop me from coming here. You tried to silence me. Well, you can’t silence me,” Netanyahu said as he denied that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.

Reacting to Netanyahu’s comments, Mamdani called the accusations against him “baseless lies” meant to “sanitise his genocide of Palestinians”.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has faced repeated accusations of genocide in Gaza, as well as systematic war crimes in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) said in 2024 it had reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu was responsible for war crimes in Gaza, where over 73,000 Palestinians have been killed. Netanyahu denies the ICC charges.

Netanyahu attended the UNGA meeting despite an ICC warrant calling for his arrest. While he was welcomed, the Trump administration denied a visa for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who addressed the UNGA through a prerecorded video statement from Ramallah earlier in the day.

‘War criminal’

As Netanyahu spoke, activists from US-based organisation Jewish Voice for Peace protested outside, accusing the United Nations of “playing host to a war criminal”.

“All across New York, Jews, Palestinians and people of conscience are rising up to demand an end to US support for the livestreamed horrors, rigged ceasefires and forever wars,” Sonya Meyerson-Knox, the group’s communications director, told Al Jazeera.

Meyerson-Knox said that “solidarity with Palestinian freedom has never been greater, and here in the US we are demanding with one voice to stop arming Israel”.

Adding to tensions, dozens of protesters, some brandishing “stop the genocide” banners, gathered near the UN. Several demonstrators were detained, including prominent actor Susan Sarandon.

Inside the UN, but addressing divisions back home in Israel, Netanyahu said: “Throughout this long war, our goal never wavers – to win with unwavering resolve … What unites us is so much stronger: our history, our values, our courage.”

Ariel Cohen, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, said the Israeli prime minister delivered a “good speech” at the UNGA but that he did so in the “wrong forum”.

“That speech should be given at an election rally in Israel; this is who he’s communicating to,” Cohen told Al Jazeera. “He is making points that should be made to the Israeli audience for his political survival.”

Netanyahu is only making a whirlwind stop in New York before rushing back to Israel, where the election campaign is in full swing. He is not scheduled to meet any top US leaders.

Iranian media has reported the sound of an explosion near Iran’s Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, though the cause remains unclear.

Report says ‘reasonable grounds’ US was behind the deadly strike against a school in Minab in February.

Israeli attacks come a week after it said to have established operational control over the strategic ridge.

The Israeli military says it has destroyed Hezbollah’s underground infrastructure at a key site in southern Lebanon, with Israeli government officials adding that the operation consolidated its so-called security zone in the area.

In a joint statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday that Israeli forces would remain in the area to prevent the Iran-aligned Hezbollah militant group from re-establishing its presence and rebuilding its capabilities.

The Ali al-Taher ridge, about 15 km (10 miles) from the Israeli border, has become one of the most contested areas of the war between Israel and Hezbollah. Katz claimed last Friday that Israeli forces had driven Hezbollah fighters out of what he said was a network of tunnels ⁠⁠under the disputed highland.

Reuters reported that Hezbollah is believed to have built an underground command centre and weapons stores there in July, quoting unnamed Lebanese security sources.

Lebanon’s National News Agency said that the Israeli military carried out a powerful blast at the ridge, with tremors and the sound of the explosion felt across Nabatieh and surrounding areas in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah has yet to respond to the recent Israeli attack.

The Israeli military said its forces had established “operational control” over the ridge, both above and below ground, before dismantling the infrastructure. The network extended for more than 2 km (just over 1 mile) and contained dozens of rockets, missiles and drones, as well as anti-tank missiles, mines and explosive devices, it said.

The military said a central command complex belonging to Hezbollah’s Badr unit was located within the underground infrastructure. The complex contained command centres, weapons storage rooms and living quarters that allowed fighters to remain underground for extended periods, it said.

Iran reportedly warned the United States last month that it would respond forcefully if Israeli attacks on the ridge continued.

Over the last weeks, Israeli strikes and ground operations around the Ali al-Taher ridge continued despite a ceasefire agreed in June, after Israel gained control of nearby Beaufort Castle and part of the higher ground overlooking much of southern Lebanon and northern Israel.

A US-brokered framework agreed after a June ceasefire — between Lebanon and Israel, without negotiating with Hezbollah — called for Israeli forces to gradually withdraw from southern Lebanon while Lebanese troops disarm Hezbollah.

The process has stalled, however, with Hezbollah refusing to give up its weapons and Israel saying it will not withdraw until the group disarms.

Since 2023, Israel has pushed into southern Lebanon and seized several strategic positions, occupying swathes of land, which it now increasingly says it needs to maintain a so-called buffer zone between Israel and Hezbollah positions in Lebanon.