Lebanon: Top Hezbollah commander killed; Israel airstrike death toll rises to 558 | Latest updates

A day after Israel launched its biggest aerial offensive against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon that killed 558 people, including 50 children, and wounded more than 1,800, the Iran-back group on Wednesday confirmed the death of one of its top commanders - Ibrahim Mohammed Kobeissi - in the airstrike. Hezbollah, in a statement, said Kobeissi was “martyred on the road to Jerusalem” - a phrase used by them to refer to their fighters killed by Israeli strikes. Meanwhile, according to the Israeli military, at least two other commanders from Kobeissi's force were also “eliminated” in the strikes.

Israel's new offensive against Hezbollah has invoked fears of massively escalating the nearly year-long conflict between Israel and Hamas and destabilising the Middle East.

Here are the latest updates on Hezbollah-Israel conflict in Lebanon:

1. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees is bracing for a triple crisis as Israeli strikes on Lebanon add to the strain it is facing in Gaza and the West Bank, UNRWA's Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said. Calling the situation a triple tragedy, Lazzarini said, “With three of its areas of operations turning into active frontlines, the embattled agency, already grappling with a severe financial shortfall, is poised to come under even more pressure. We already have Gaza, we already have the West Bank, so we have two fields of operation which have become active frontlines.”
2. According to Lebanese officials, Israeli airstrikes in the last two days have killed at least 558 people, including 50 children, and wounded more than 1,800. Most of the causalities were in south Lebanon and the Bekaa region in the northeast, where Iran-backed Hezbollah has a strong presence, it said.
3. French President Emmanuel Macron called on his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian, to use his influence to reduce soaring tensions in Lebanon. Macron, during the meeting with Pezeshkian, highlighted the responsibility of Iran to support a general de-escalation and use its influence with destabilizing actors, reported AFP.
4. Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu predicted "complicated days" ahead, saying, “I want to clarify Israel’s policy: we do not wait for the threat, we are ahead of it”. In a video message to the Lebanese people, Netanyahu said Israel's campaign is not against them and urged them to "get out of harm's way now". “For long, Hezbollah has been using you as human shields. It placed rockets in your living rooms and missiles in your garage. These are aimed directly at our cities and citizens. To defend our people against Hezbollah strikes, we must take those weapons,” he said.
5. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer told British nationals to leave Lebanon immediately as the UK mobilized hundreds of troops in case an evacuation was needed following days of Israeli attacks against Hezbollah. “The most important message from me this evening is for British nationals in Lebanon to leave immediately, and I just want to reinforce that…Yes, we are ramping up contingency plans; I think you’d expect that in light of the escalation. But it is important to be really, really clear: now is the time to leave,” Starmer told the media.
6. US President Joe Biden, in his speech before the United Nations General Assembly, warned against "full-scale war" in the Middle East and urged diplomatic solutions both in Lebanon and in the nearly year-old Gaza war.
7. However, Lebanon's foreign minister expressed disappointment in Biden's remarks on the Middle East at the United Nations and hoped for greater US diplomacy. "It was not strong, it is not promising, and it would not solve the Lebanese problem," Abdallah Bou Habib, who was attending the UN General Assembly, said, reported AFP.
8. Several world leaders at the UN called on Israel to refrain from a full-scale war in Lebanon.
9. The UN Security Council is set to meet at 6 pm on Wednesday to discuss the escalation situation in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah.
10. Meanwhile, several people in some US cities demonstrated against American military support for Israel. Dozens of protesters gathered in Herald Square in New York City on Tuesday evening and carried banners that read "Hands off Lebanon now" and “no US-Israeli war on Lebanon”, reported Reuters.

(With inputs from agencies)