Key events
Images are coming through of Israel’s strike on Beirut this morning, showing a large plume of smoke rising above the city.
An Iranian official met with Elon Musk, according to a US official, AP reports.
Iran’s UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani met with Musk — a key Trump ally and the world’s richest man — on Monday in New York.
The US official said he had been informed that the discussion covered a variety of topics, most notably Iran’s nuclear program, its support for anti-Israel groups throughout the Middle East and prospects for improved relations with the United States.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said no immediate decisions were taken by either side. The official said the Iranians sought the meeting with Musk and that it did not take place at the Iranian mission to the UN.
The Trump transition team would not confirm or deny the meeting.
“The American people re-elected President Trump because they trust him to lead our country and restore peace through strength around the world. When he returns to the White House, he will take the necessary action to do just that,” Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for the Trump transition, said in a statement.
Iran’s UN mission declined to comment.
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed US officials, that Iran told the Biden administration in a written message delivered on 14 October that it would not try to kill Trump. It was a response to an earlier warning from the US that an attempt on Trump’s life would be considered an act of war, the Journal reported.
Here is the tweet from the IDF’s Arabic spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, calling for the evacuation of southern Beirut’s Haret Hreik neighbourhood a couple of hours ago.
“To all residents in the southern suburb area, specifically in the buildings specified in the attached maps and the buildings adjacent to them in Haret Hreik … You are located near Hezbollah facilities and interests, against which the IDF will act forcefully in the near future,” a translation of the post reads.
“For your safety and the safety of your family members, you must evacuate these buildings and those adjacent to them immediately and stay away from them for a distance of no less than 500 meters.”
AFP reported an Israeli strike hitting the south of the city this morning.
#عاجل إلى جميع السكان المتواجدين في منطقة الضاحية الجنوبية وتحديدًا في المباني المحددة في الخرائط المرفقة والمباني المجاورة لها في حارة حريك
⭕️أنتم تتواجدون بالقرب من منشآت ومصالح تابعة لحزب الله حيث سيعمل ضدها جيش الدفاع بقوة على المدى الزمني القريب
⭕️من أجل سلامتكم وسلامة… pic.twitter.com/tu7wW9UdYj
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) November 16, 2024
Strike hits south Beirut after Israeli evacuation call
Hello, we are restarting the Guardian’s live coverage of the crisis in the Middle East. It’s just past 10.30am in Gaza City, Beitrut and Tel Aviv.
A strike hit the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut this morning, shortly after the Israeli army issued a new call to evacuate the area.
Since Tuesday, Israel has carried out several strikes on the city’s southern suburbs, a stronghold of Hezbollah.
Shortly before the attack, Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X a call for residents of the Haret Hreik suburb to evacuate. “You are close to facilities and interests belonging to Hezbollah, against which the Israeli military will be acting with force in the near future,” the post said in Arabic, identifying specific buildings and telling residents to move at least 500 metres away.
Repeated Israeli air strikes on south Beirut have led to a mass exodus of civilians from the area, although some return during the day to check on their homes and businesses.
Here are some of the other latest developments:
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A senior Hamas official has said the Palestinian militant group is “ready for a ceasefire” in Gaza and urged US president-elect Donald Trump to “pressure” Israel to “end the aggression”. “Hamas is ready to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip if a ceasefire proposal is presented and on the condition that it is respected” by Israel, Hamas political bureau member Bassem Naim said.
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A UN spokesperson said that aid access in Gaza is at a low point with deliveries to parts of the north of the territory all but impossible. “From our perspective, on all indicators you can possibly think of in a humanitarian response, all of them are going in the wrong direction,” Jens Laerke told a press briefing.
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An Israeli airstrike flattened a building near one of Beirut’s busiest traffic junctions, Tayouneh. The targeted building was located in an area where the southern suburbs meet other.
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Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister has asked Iran to help secure a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hezbollah and appeared to urge it to convince the militant group to agree to a deal that could require it to pull back from the Israel-Lebanon border. The prime minister made the comments in talks with Ali Larijani, a top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, AP reported.
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Twenty-one civil defence rescuers were killed in two Israeli strikes on Lebanon on Thursday, marking one of the deadliest days for rescue workers since the fighting began between Israel and Hezbollah 13 months ago. The airstrikes brought the total number of emergency workers killed by Israel in Lebanon to more than 200.
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Fifty-nine people were killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon on Thursday, bringing the total killed since October last year to at least 3,445, with 14,599 wounded, the Lebanese health ministry said in a statement on Friday.
