Israel strikes Hezbollah targets as conflict intensifies

Lebanon may be no stranger to conflict. But Monday was the deadliest day the country has seen in a generation.  

Israel’s aerial bombardment killed nearly 500 people, including at least 35 children and 58 women, according to Lebanese authorities.

That’s nearly half the number killed throughout the entire 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.   

That conflict was savage. I still remember the stench of victims decomposing in refrigerator trucks because it was too dangerous to transport bodies out while Israeli attack drones and fighter jets patrolled overhead.  

When the fighting finally stopped, around 1,100 Lebanese people had been killed.  On the Israeli side, 21 Israeli soldiers and 43 civilians were killed.  

Fighting in the shadows: On the battlefield, Hezbollah’s fighters must be an infuriating enemy. They fought an Israeli ground incursion to a standstill in 2006. But throughout the war, I didn’t see a single armed Hezbollah fighter, such is their ability to blend in.  

The Iran-backed group operates as a “state within a state” in a bitterly divided country with a borderline bankrupt government that has no president, where neighborhoods still bear the scars of a 15-year civil war.  

Lebanese civilians know all too well how frightening the Israeli military’s attempts to target Hezbollah can be.   

On Friday, Israeli jets carried out an airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburbs, in which they killed several senior Hezbollah commanders. But the missiles also destroyed a nine-story building in a densely populated neighborhood, killing 45 people, including women and children.  

The Israeli military accuses Hezbollah of using civilians as human shields.  

Families flee: But that is little consolation to Lebanese citizens like my mother-in-law, who was a block and a half away from the building the Israeli jets destroyed. For several hours, my family struggled to evacuate my wife’s grandmother — a stroke victim who could not walk out of her apartment.  

Like the exodus of panicked civilians who fled the Israeli bombardment of southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday, my in-laws have taken shelter in another neighborhood.  

Four generations are now gathered in a single apartment, including a week-old newborn, aunts and uncles who work as teachers and building contractors. They have no connection whatsoever with Hezbollah.    

We hope and pray that their neighborhood will not be bombed.  

Hezbollah fired multiple rocket barrages into northern Israel overnight, a day after the Israeli military escalated its attacks on the Iran-backed group and launched airstrikes in Lebanon.  

Hezbollah said it had targeted the Ramat David airbase, Meggido airfield, and the Amos base, all located in the vicinity of the town of Afula in northern Israel.  

About 20 “projectiles” were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli airspace between 2:39 a.m. and 3:11 a.m. local time, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Tuesday. 

Some of the projectiles had been intercepted while others had fallen in open areas, the IDF said, without specifying where they had fallen. 

The Israeli Air Force responded by striking the sources of the rocket fire.

It came after warning sirens blared in the HaAmakim area, southeast of the northern Israeli city of Haifa.  

Israel’s emergency response service, Magen David Adom (MDA), said it dispatched teams to search areas in the Lower Galilee, where reports of rocket fire were received.  

MDA said the windows of one of its ambulances in the Jezreel Valley were damaged from a blast wave.  

Some background: The Amos base, inaugurated in 2021, serves as a transport and logistics hub for the Israeli military’s Northern Command. It also is “the central axis” for the IDF’s Technological and Logistics Directorate, which is responsible for multi-agency logistics and emergency preparedness in the northern front, according to the IDF.  

Qatar and Egypt have condemned the wave of Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon, which killed more than 450 people and injured thousands, warning the attacks increase the risk of a “regional war.” 

Egypt expressed its solidarity with Lebanon and affirmed its “categorical rejection” of any violations of Lebanon’s sovereignty and its territories. 

Both countries called for urgent international diplomatic pressure to de-escalate the widening conflict and expressed their readiness to support efforts to achieve regional peace and stability.  

More context: Qatar and Egypt, along with the US, have been mediating talks between Israel and Hamas for a ceasefire agreement in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages held by the militant group.

CNN's Jake Tapper speaks with Leon Panetta on September 23.

More than 450 people were killed and 1,600 others were injured in Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon on Monday, marking the deadliest day in the country since the Hezbollah-Israel war in 2006 — but neither side is calling the current escalation a war.

Former US Defense Secretary and ex-CIA chief Leon Panetta told CNN’s Jake Tapper that the situation has “crossed a threshold.”

Panetta said there’s no doubt world leaders gathering in New York for the UN General Assembly this week will be “talking an awful lot about the war that’s taking place now between Israel and Hezbollah and the fact that it’s become a wider war.”

He added the US must make clear there cannot be “an all-out war in the Middle East.”

France has requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to address the strikes in Lebanon, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told the UN General Assembly on Monday.

Barrot called for de-escalation and a halt to strikes being carried out across the region.

“For that reason, I have asked for an emergency meeting of the Security Council on Lebanon this week. In Lebanon as elsewhere, France will remain fully mobilized to resolve major crisis that are disrupting the international agenda,” Barrot said. 

Cars sit in traffic as they flee in Sidon, Lebanon, on September 23.

Panic and fear have gripped Lebanon as displaced people flee their homes, taking along with them frightened children to shelter at schools, according to videos of the destruction caused by the deadliest day of Israeli strikes in the country since 2006

Fatma Ibrahim Shehab was among several people who had taken shelter at a school in the coastal city of Sidon after being evacuated from southern Lebanon following consecutive days of Israeli strikes. 

She told the AFP news agency she had to leave after an Israeli strike next to her home left her building shaking.  

“We got very stressed, this is why we had to leave and we came here. We were told it’s safe here. The situation is very tragic, the strikes were right next to us,” she said.

Mohamed Hamayda, a Syrian man displaced from Deir al-Zahrani, told the news agency he had no choice but to take his mother and the rest of his family on public transport to the Kuwaiti school in Sidon after being told it had opened as a shelter. 

And Hassan Banjak said he had reluctantly fled the village of Chaaitiyeh. 

“Since the war and bombings with the Israeli enemy began, we hadn’t left. But after the strikes intensified and got closer, the children got scared, so we decided to leave. If it wasn’t for the children I would have never left,” he said. 

Scale of destruction: Their accounts came as Reuters video footage from the southern suburbs of Beirut showed debris from damaged buildings and shards of glass littering the ground after Israel’s deadly wave of strikes on Monday.  

One video showed a car with rubble on its windshield, in front of a building with shattered windows. Another video, from Zahle, which is east of Beirut in the Bekaa governorate, showed plumes of smoke rising in the distance.  

An eyewitness video verified by CNN, which appears to have been taken from a balcony in the Bekaa governorate, shows smoke rising in what appears to be a multi-story residential compound.

The person filming can be heard saying, “This is right outside our house. This is right outside our house.” 

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it struck 1,600 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon and Bekaa on Monday.  

In the deadliest day of Israeli strikes targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon since the 2006 war, nearly 500 people have been killed so far, including dozens of women and children, according to the Lebanese health ministry. 

Lebanon’s representative to the United Nations General Assembly described the turmoil caused by Israel’s deadly attacks.

Bahia El Hariri, a member of the Lebanese parliament, addressed the assembly in New York on Monday on behalf of Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who she said was dealing with the “urgent circumstances facing the Lebanese people, including in their homes.” 

El Hariri said Mikati was working with the government “to deal with the aggression that we are victim to at all levels, diplomatic, humanitarian, health, security, and also in terms of people’s livelihoods.” 

She told the assembly that residential areas were being targeted and that there was an “exodus” of people trying to flee to safety. 

Israel conducted its deadliest round of strikes in Lebanon against Hezbollah since the 2006 war on Monday, killing nearly 500 people including dozens of women and children. 

“The summit of the future is taking place at a time that is ever so sensitive. The whole of humanity urgently needs dialogue to call ourselves into question and to become aware of the dangers that are threatening international peace and security,” she said. 

The United States does not believe the reported Israeli strategy of “escalate to de-escalate” along its northern border with Hezbollah will be effective, a senior State Department official said, adding that the US and its partners are working to find a diplomatic off-ramp.  

Instead, US officials and their global partners at the gathering in New York are working “to deal with the increasing challenges and risks of escalation across the blue line between Israel and Lebanon,” they said, noting this is a “key focus” for Secretary of State Antony Blinken this week.

The official said the US and its partners had come up with some “concrete ideas” to de-escalate the situation, and they “want to stress test them to a degree with allies and partners whose support and participation are going to be essential to whether or not they may prove successful or not.”

The official would not give details on the “concrete ideas,” but said they “reflect the ongoing set of conversations that we have had with the Israeli government, with other governments in the region, and with like-minded governments about, particularly the escalating tensions and escalating conflict in Lebanon.”

The official did not say if the US expects Israel to launch a ground incursion on Lebanon if the efforts at de-escalation fail, but noted that it is “important for everyone to take Israeli preparations seriously.”

An EgyptAir plane prepares for landing at the Beijing Capital International airport on September 6.

Egypt’s national carrier, EgyptAir, says it is canceling all its flights to and from Beirut starting Tuesday “due to the current events unfolding in Lebanon.”

The cancellations “will remain in effect until the situation stabilizes,” the airline said in a statement Monday.

Earlier today, Jordan also announced a suspension of flights to Beirut until further notice.

Hamas’ armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, said Monday that one of its field commanders had been killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon.

It named the commander as Hussein Mahmoud Al-Nader, also known as Abu Saleh, from the town of Marjeyoun in southern Lebanon.

There’s “great satisfaction” among Israel’s political echelon with the military’s performance during Monday’s operation in Lebanon, an Israeli official told CNN.

Some background: On Monday, Israel launched the most intense wave of strikes in Lebanon since the 2006 war. The military struck 1,300 Hezbollah assets across Lebanon and the operation is not over yet, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari said earlier.

Hagari did not rule out the possibility of a ground operation into Lebanon.

At least 492 people in Lebanon have died and at least 1,645 were injured, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

Here’s what some high-profile figures in Israel have said so far:

Henri Khoury speaks during a news conference in Beirut, Lebanon, on January 11, 2023.

Lebanese authorities will suspend work in all courts and judicial departments across the country on Tuesday, according to the state-run news service NNA.

The decision, announced by the Minister of Justice Henri Khoury and the head of the Supreme Judicial Council Judge Suhail Abboud, comes in response to the intensifying conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

Only urgent cases will be handled during the suspension, NNA said. It did not say if services would resume Wednesday.

Officials in Jordan are expressing solidarity with Lebanon and calling for the United Nations to take action after Israel’s military launched airstrikes on what it says are Hezbollah targets that killed hundreds of people.

Jordan’s King Abdullah warned Israel’s strikes in Lebanon represented a dangerous escalation and called for immediate international efforts to prevent a broader conflict in the region.

He made the comments on a call with the Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, the Royal Hashemite Court said in a statement on Monday. Abdullah also said there was an urgent need to halt Israel’s conflict with Hamas in Gaza as a crucial step toward de-escalation. 

Earlier Monday, Jordan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi called on the United Nations Security Council to act immediately to “curb Israeli aggression and protect the region from its disastrous consequences.” 

He noted the Israeli strikes came as world leaders meet in New York for the United Nations General Assembly and said Israel’s actions were in defiance of the 2006 Security Council Resolution 1701 which called for a permanent ceasefire and end to hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. 

The Jordanian Civil Aviation Authority also announced that it was suspending Jordanian flights to Beirut until further notice, citing heightened regional tensions, according to a statement.

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Marjayoun, near the Lebanon-Israel border, on September 23.

The death toll from Israel’s strikes in Lebanon has risen to at least 492, according to the Lebanese health ministry.  

Among the dead are 35 children and 58 women, the ministry said in a statement Monday regarding the ongoing strikes in southern Lebanon, Beqaa, and Baalbek.

The ministry said that at least 1,645 people had been injured. 

Some of the casualties following Israel’s strikes in Lebanon Monday were likely caused by secondary explosions, an Israeli military spokesperson said.

At a press briefing on Monday, Daniel Hagari said there had been “many secondary explosions,” which occurred when buildings “containing deadly munitions, rockets and missiles” were struck. 

“It is likely that some of the casualties are from these secondary explosions,” he said. 

The spokesperson said Hezbollah was using civilian homes to store its weapons and showed photos that he said showed long-range rockets stored inside a house in Lebanon. CNN cannot verify the authenticity of the photos. 

“Among those killed were a large number of Hezbollah terrorists who were next to the weapons that we targeted, ” Hagari said, adding there had been a “high number of casualties.” 

Some background: Lebanon’s health ministry said at least 356 people have been killed including 24 children and 42 women during Israel’s aerial offensive against Hezbollah on Monday, the deadliest since the 2006 war.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid praised the operation in a post on X, saying, “Eliminations, a thousand targets within one day, hitting strategic assets. That’s how you restore the Israeli deterrence!”

An Israeli military spokesperson did not rule out the possibility of a ground operation into Lebanon when asked about it at a press briefing on Monday. 

Asked whether the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was prepared for a ground invasion and how quickly it could move in if an order came, Daniel Hagari said:

Earlier Monday, Herzi Halevi, the IDF chief of the General Staff, said the military is “striking targets and preparing for the next phases, which I will elaborate on shortly.”

A photo obtained by CNN shows traffic in every lane traveling north near Sidon, Lebanon.

Lebanon’s health care system is under strain as people flee their homes amid intense Israeli strikes, according to the Lebanon country director for MedGlobal, a non-governmental organization that provides medical relief to disaster areas.

Dr. Tania Baban told CNN on Monday that some of those displaced likely have chronic conditions and may be on dialysis or chemotherapy, necessitating groups like MedGlobal to “move as quickly as possible to improve quality of life” and prevent deaths. 

CNN has verified images that show traffic at a standstill on a main artery along the Lebanese coast, with a large number of cars traveling north in every lane. The evacuations are the result of mass displacement as tensions in the region reach a boiling point, Baban said.  

Amid this mass displacement, she said many schools have been closed to be used as shelters for those seeking refuge. 

More context: In recent years, Lebanon’s health care system has struggled in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis and the Beirut port explosion in August 2020. These facilities have “already been slowly collapsing over the past few years, since 2019,” Baban said.

The Israeli military has struck 1,300 Hezbollah assets across Lebanon in its intense aerial offensive so far, and the operation is not over yet, according to spokesperson Daniel Hagari.

Among the targets were “cruise missiles” that had a reach of hundreds of kilometers, mid-range rockets with a reach of up to 200 kilometers (more than 124 miles), and rockets with explosive warheads, Hagari said in a press statement Monday.

Referring to the death toll from Monday’s strikes, which the Lebanese health ministry says have killed at least 356 people including 24 children and 42 women, Hagari said the casualties included “many terrorists” that “were nearby the weapons.”

The “heavy rockets” were the same as the one “fired in the tragedy in Majdal Shams in which 12 children were murdered,” he said, making a reference to a strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in July. While Israel has blamed Hezbollah for that attack, the group has denied responsibility.

The military spokesperson said there would be an update later on the number of militants killed.

Israel’s top diplomat wrote to the United Nations Security Council president on Monday urging the council to condemn the recent Hezbollah attack on the Haifa region in northern Israel.

Israel’s Iron Dome intercepted several rockets above the city of Haifa on Monday, as seen in videos geolocated by CNN to the city in northern Israel.

The letter comes as world leaders are gathering in New York for the UN General Assembly (UNGA) after a weekend of bombings between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, contributing to the most intense exchanges of fire between the two sides since October 7. 

The dominant focus of the New York gathering will be on the escalating regional tensions, though any clear plan to prevent the current crisis from turning into a regional conflict remains unclear.   

Israel has repeatedly made similar calls, urging the UN to condemn its opponents even as it responds to attacks with military action of its own.

It is unclear if the US will push the UN Security Council to condemn Hezbollah’s actions. The US State Department and the US Mission to the UN did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Katz’s letter.

Smoke billows from a site targeted by Israeli shelling in Zaita, Lebanon, on Monday.

Israel’s military launched the most intensive airstrikes on what it says are Hezbollah targets in Lebanon since 2006 on Monday, killing hundreds of people.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu told the people of Lebanon that his country is not at war with them, but with Hezbollah and called for people to “get out of harm’s way.”

The mounting tension in the region comes as world leaders are gathering for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) this week in New York.

Here’s the latest on the conflict:

Other key headlines today in the region:

The death toll from Israel’s strikes in Lebanon has risen to 356, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

This includes 24 children and 42 women, the ministry said in a statement on Monday regarding the ongoing strikes in southern Lebanon, Bekaa and Ballbek.

The ministry said that at least 1,246 people had been injured, adding that the situation remained fluid as authorities continued to assess the impact of the attacks.  

It is the deadliest day of strikes from Israel in the country since the 2006 war.

The post has been updated to reflect the latest death toll.

Israel’s defense minister said Monday the military had carried out an “impressive operation” against the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Gallant’s comments followed what was Israel’s most intense wave of strikes in Lebanon since the 2006 war. 

The defense minister added that the past week had been the “most difficult” for Hezbollah since its inception, with a “blow” to the chain of command and control, and to morale.

Last week, Hezbollah was hit by a series of pager and walkie-talkie explosions while Israeli strikes in its stronghold in southern Beirut took out some of the group’s commanders, including a high-ranking elite force commander, Ibrahim Aqil. 

On Monday, the Israeli military struck the southern suburbs of Beirut again. The military said it conducted a targeted strike, while Lebanese state news agency NNA said a building in the Bir al-Abed area in Dahiyeh, the southern suburbs, was targeted with three missiles, leaving a number of people injured. 

Israel’s Iron Dome intercepted several rockets above the city of Haifa on Monday, as seen in videos geolocated by CNN to the city in northern Israel.

In the latest instance, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said five projectiles had been fired at Haifa from Lebanon, with sirens sounding at 7:42 p.m. local time. It said it had “intercepted a number” of those projectiles. 

In total, the IDF said about 210 rockets had been fired from Lebanon toward Israel Monday.  

Hezbollah is an Iran-backed Islamist movement with one of the most powerful paramilitary forces in the Middle East. The group’s main base is on the Israel-Lebanon border, where the fallout from the Israel-Hamas war has been palpable — Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in skirmishes since the war began, putting the entire region on a knife’s edge with fears it could spark a wider regional conflict.

Here’s what to know about the decades-long conflict between Hezbollah and Israel:

Israeli invasion: Israeli forces took almost half of Lebanon’s territory when it invaded Lebanon in 1982. This included Beirut, where Israeli forces, along with right-wing Israel-allied Christian Lebanese militias, laid siege to the western part of the capital to drive out Palestinian militants.

Israel’s operation resulted in more than 17,000 deaths, according to contemporary reports and an Israeli inquiry into a massacre at the Beirut refugee camp of Sabra and Shatila. It’s one of the bloodiest events in the region’s recent history. The investigation, known as the Kahan Commission of Inquiry, held Israel indirectly responsible for the massacre that was carried out by the right-wing Christian Lebanese fighters. Estimates for the number of deaths at Sabra and Shatila vary between 700 and 3,000.

The rise of Hezbollah: As droves of Palestinian fighters left Lebanon, a band of Shia Islamist fighters trained by the nascent Islamic Republic of Iran burst onto Lebanon’s fractious political landscape. The ragtag group had an outsized and violent impact. In 1983, two suicide bombers linked to the faction attacked a US Marine barracks in Beirut, killing almost 300 US and French personnel, plus some civilians.

A year later, Iran-linked fighters bombed the US Embassy in Beirut, killing 23 people. In 1985, those militants coalesced more formally around a newly founded organization: Hezbollah.

A “supportive front” for Gaza in 2023: Hezbollah is part of a larger Iran-led alliance of militant groups spanning Yemen, Syria, Gaza, and Iraq that has engaged in increased clashes with Israel and its allies since the war with Hamas started on October 7, 2023. The alliance said it will continue striking Israeli targets as long as the war in Gaza goes on, rebranding itself as a “supportive front” for Palestinians in the strip, as described by a senior Hezbollah leader.

Killing of key leader: After months of tit-for-tat exchanges, tensions escalated when Israel said it killed Hezbollah’s most senior military commander, Fu’ad Shukr, with a strike on Beirut in July. In retaliation, Hezbollah launched hundreds of drones and missiles at targets in Israel in August. Israel denied any important targets were struck, and no evidence has been made public to contradict that denial.

Displaced residents: The increase in cross-border fighting has forced people from their homes in both northern Israel and southern Lebanon. On Tuesday, Israel made it a new war objective to return tens of thousands of Israel’s northern residents to their homes near the border. Officials and residents from the northern region have placed increasing pressure on the Israeli government about the need to return. More than 100,000 people have been displaced from southern Lebanon, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

Latest attack: Israel struck a residential building in Beirut last week, killing Hezbollah senior commander Ibrahim Aqil. Lebanon was already reeling after thousands of small blasts hit Hezbollah members’ pagers and walkie-talkies during the week, killing dozens and wounding thousands. In the latest, Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon on Monday killed at least 274, with 1,024 people wounded, the Lebanese Health Minister said in a news conference. It is the deadliest day of Israeli strikes in Lebanon since the 2006 war. In a televised speech, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the people of Lebanon to “get out of harm’s way,” saying his country is not at war with them, but with Hezbollah.

Herzi Halevi is seen in Jerusalem in May.

Israel is “preparing for the next phases,” the head of the military said Monday evening following the deadliest day of Israeli strikes in Lebanon since the 2006 war.

Herzi Halevi, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief of the General Staff, said the military is “striking targets and preparing for the next phases, which I will elaborate on shortly.”

“Ultimately, everything is focused on creating the conditions to return the residents of the north to their homes,” he added in remarks distributed by the IDF.

Halevi said that the IDF this morning began a “proactive offensive operation” to target infrastructure “that Hezbollah has been building for the past 20 years.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the people of Lebanon that his country is not at war with them, but with Hezbollah.  

The Israeli prime minister called on the Lebanese people to “get out of harm’s way” while it targets Hezbollah positions.  

“For too long, Hezbollah has been using you as human shields. It placed rockets in your living rooms and missiles in your garage. Those rockets and missiles are aimed directly at our cities, directly at our citizens,” Netanyahu said.

He said Israel has to take out those weapons “to defend our people against Hezbollah strikes.”

“I urge you – take this warning seriously,” the Israeli prime minister said, “Please, get out of harm’s way now. Once our operation is finished, you can come back safely to your homes.”

President Joe Biden speaks to the press as he meets with United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in the Oval Office of the White House on Monday.

US President Joe Biden has been briefed on the latest developments in Israel and Lebanon and said that his administration remains in contact with their counterparts in Israel amid escalating strikes between Israel and Hezbollah and fears of a wider regional conflict breaking out.  

Biden added that he remains “committed” to the UAE’s security and announced that the UAE is now a “major defense partner of the United States.”

The Israeli Iron Dome air defense system intercepts rockets that were launched from Lebanon as seen from Haifa, Israel, on Monday.

The Israeli cabinet on Monday evening declared a “special situation” across the country, giving it the power to impose restrictions on civilian life, an Israeli official told CNN.

Currently, only communities north of Haifa and in the direct vicinity of Gaza face such restrictions, like the closure of schools and limits on public gatherings.

Those restrictions remain limited to those areas, but in a sign of the escalating conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon, which possesses much longer-range rockets than Hamas, the cabinet has given itself the power to — in the future — impose drastic restrictions across the country.

Medical relief NGO MedGlobal is prepared to deliver food, winterization kits, hygiene kits and dignity kits for women and young girls to 400 Lebanese families displaced by the recent conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon lead Dr. Tania Baban told CNN on Monday.

Dr Hassan, who is based in Lebanon said the violence that the country had seen in the past week, including with pager explosions walkie-talkie explosions and then strikes “should not be normalized.”

“I hate to say this but these types of scenes should not be normalized, human death should not be normalized, civilian and human death should not be normalized but we’re seeing this on a daily basis and it’s just heartbreaking,” Dr. Baban added.

Smoke rises in Tyre, Lebanon, on Monday.

A resident of the southern city of Tyre on the coast of Lebanon has described how Israeli warplanes had been “raining” bombs near his home since 5 a.m. local time on Monday.  

Haidar Al-Rouz said he saw several residential buildings collapse and that “the city is being emptied of its residents. 

Israeli warplanes were seen flying over different parts of the country late afternoon, including over Mount Lebanon where Hezbollah does not have a notable presence. 

At the Be’r Hassan institute in Beirut, vans and cars brought families from the south, carrying their belongings in small handbags and plastic bags. 

In one instance five extended families arrived — close to 40 people — according to one volunteer, Qassim, who said they were still preparing the educational complex building for an influx of people. 

“We expect this building to be full by the end of the day,” he said. 

Janna Ayash, 70, from the village of Kafra in the southern Nabaityeh governorate, pointed to the cigarette in her hand and said, “it’s been just smoking and no food for the past four days.” 

Ayash described heavy traffic on the roads, some destroyed by bombing, after leaving her home at 5 a.m. local following intensified strikes. 

She says she got her son’s wife and children out and they are staying in an empty classroom at the institute in Beirut. 

As world leaders converge in New York for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) this week, some United States officials are concerned that the global gathering could further enflame mounting tensions in the Middle East.

According to two US officials, the concern is concentrated on what some countries might say about the conflict while the entire world is watching, even as the US officials have been urging de-escalation for months and have reiterated that call in recent days.

Typically, US officials view UNGA as an opportunity to galvanize the world behind a major US push, such as supporting Ukraine in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression in recent years. But this concern makes the anxiety US officials are feeling this year unique.

American officials are particularly bracing for the possibility of new countries recognizing Palestine as a state, explained officials. Even if new countries are not added to the effort to recognize it, they are watching for what the countries say that have already made the move earlier this year, such as US allies Norway, Spain and Ireland. 

The US will also have eyes on the speech by the leader of the Palestinian Authority, President Mahmoud Abbas, and a possible speech by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu if he attends the gathering, which is a question that remains in the air.

The world leaders are gathering after a weekend of bombings from both Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, contributing to the most intense exchanges of fire between the two sides since October 7. US officials are not tracking definite Israeli plans for a ground invasion into Lebanon after the weekend of escalations, but they remain concerned about the possibility.

The United Nations rights office said it was “extremely concerned” about the escalating violence between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon and warned of the risk of a “regional spillover” of hostilities. 

Shamdasani said that “both the actions and rhetoric” of both Israel and Hezbollah are “taking the conflict to another level.” The spokesperson added that the UN has been warning about this situation.

“Over decades, we have seen civilians caught in the middle of these conflicts, this rhetoric, this escalation. But instead of a de-escalation, what we have seen over the weekend, as well, is further rhetoric with further plans of an escalation, and this needs to stop,” she said.

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), a peacekeeping mission, has also expressed “grave concern” for the safety of civilians in southern Lebanon. UNIFIL head Gen. Aroldo Lázaro said Monday he had engaged with Lebanese and Israeli parties, stressing the urgent need for de-escalation.

This post has been updated with information from UNIFIL.

CNN’s Hamdi Alkhshali contributed reporting to this post.

The US military is sending “a small number of US military personnel forward” to the Middle East to “augment the forces already in the region,” amid heightened tensions between Israel and Lebanon, Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder said on Monday. 

Ryder declined to say how many troops were deployed, where they were sent, and what branch they belonged to. 

The US already has thousands of troops in the region and has positioned assets in the eastern Mediterranean and Red Sea amid the heightened tensions, including destroyers, the Lincoln carrier strike group, and fighter aircraft, Ryder said.

A Lebanese telecoms company said it detected 80,000 automated calls on Monday from numbers that masked their true location, urging people to evacuate their homes.  

Ogero’s CEO Imad Kreidieh told CNN’s Becky Anderson that the calls were received across the country.

Earlier on Monday, Lebanese citizens in Beirut and other regions said they received text messages calling on them to evacuate immediately, according to the national news agency, NNA.  

The Lebanese government said it had ordered the suspension of all classes in schools and universities across the country as Israel intensified its air campaign against what it says are Hezbollah targets. 

The government had initially suspended classes in private and public educational institutions in a few regions, but as the death toll rose throughout the day, the ministry said schools would be shuttered in the rest of the country, including the capital, Beirut. 

The suspension was ordered to continue until at least Tuesday as a precautionary measure to protect students. 

Iran warned Israel of “dangerous consequences” following the strikes on what Israel said were Hezbollah targets that killed more than 270 people in Lebanon on Monday.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani “strongly condemned” the Israeli airstrikes, describing them as “crazy,” according to a post on Telegram. He also warned of “the dangerous consequences of the Zionists’ new adventure.” 

Kanaani “strongly” criticized the United States’ support of Israel, and what he called its “crimes” in Palestinian territories. He cited “the expansion of the scope of these crimes to Lebanon as a clear example of a serious threat to regional and international peace and security.” 

Kanaani called on the United Nations Security Council “to take immediate action to stop these crimes.” 

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes on villages in the Nabatiyeh district, Lebanon, on September 23.

The death toll from Monday’s Israeli strikes on Lebanon has risen to 274, with 1,024 people wounded, the Lebanese health minister said in a news conference.  

He said convoys of vehicles evacuating people from the areas under fire had been “targeted,” as had two ambulances, a fire truck and a medical center. Two first responders were killed, he added. 

Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said earlier on Monday that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was trying to “mitigate the harm to Lebanese civilians as much as possible.” 

Abiad said nearly 5,000 people have been wounded in the hostilities over the past six days, when Lebanon saw a new wave of deadly attacks including exploding pagers and walkie-talkies. 

As a result of Monday’s attacks, thousands of families have been displaced from the targeted areas. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in Jerusalem, on February 18.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country is changing the “balance of power” on its northern front, as Israel’s military launched the most intensive airstrikes on what it says are Hezbollah targets in Lebanon since 2006.

Netanyahu said Israelis faced “complex days” ahead and asked them to follow the Home Front Command guidelines. 

Wars of peace are rarely successful. They are normally of choice: pre-emptively attacking to neutralize a perceived threat. Israel and Hezbollah have been stuck in the tit-for-tat horror of escalation chicken for nearly a year. But over the past week Israel has clearly decided to massively amplify its attacks on the Iran-backed militant group, claiming, according to some reports, they seek to “escalate to deescalate” – to cow their adversary into a diplomatic solution.

It is a highly risky and likely flawed mantra, perhaps designed to dupe their frustrated ally, the United States, into believing that the diplomatic solution, which Washington has now sunk an almost embarrassing amount of energy into, is still also Israel’s goal.

But the greater the harm inflicted on Hezbollah recently, the more likely a shorter-term Israeli success has seemed. A full-scale ground war between a tired, divided Israeli military and an experienced, angry Hezbollah inside southern Lebanon would likely be disastrous for Israel. It is exactly what the militant group is good at and waiting for. Yet it is also something Israel does not for now need to get into.

Read more about how Hezbollah may respond to the Israeli attacks here.

Smoke billows from a site targeted by Israeli shelling in the southern Lebanese village of Khiam on September 23.

The death toll from Israel’s intensive air campaign in southern and eastern Lebanon where the Iran-backed Hezbollah has a strong presence marks the deadliest escalation since the 2006 conflict. 

The Israel-Lebanon war of that year, which included an air, naval and ground campaign by Israeli forces, devastated large parts of the country. At the time, more than 1,100 Lebanese people were killed in Israeli strikes, including around 250 Hezbollah militants, while 121 soldiers and 43 civilians were killed on the Israeli side by Hezbollah rocket attacks.

A truce largely held between Lebanon and Israel in the years between the 2006 war and the start of the Hezbollah-Israel border conflict last October 8. 

The current conflict, which has mostly spanned a roughly 4 kilometers (2.49 miles) on both sides of the border, has escalated significantly after Israel’s war cabinet formally prioritized repatriating Israel’s displaced residents from its northernmost territory last Tuesday. Since then, the intensified attacks on Hezbollah targets, many of which were in densely populated civilian areas, has triggered a dramatic rise in the death toll, with both militants and civilians among the victims. 

At least 182 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Monday and 727 people were wounded. Women, children and medics are among those killed and wounded, Lebanon’s health ministry said Monday.  

It is unclear how many of the casualties were civilians or Hezbollah militants. But many of the locations described by Israel as Hezbollah targets are residential neighborhoods and villages. 

As Israeli airstrikes continue to pound southern and eastern Lebanon, sending thick plumes of smoke into the air, and triggering mass displacement of civilians, there are unmistakable echoes of the 2006 war. Increasingly, people are describing the conflict as a war in all but name. And there are growing fears that the country is on the threshold of violence more catastrophic than that year’s war. 

President Joe Biden speaks in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House in Washington D.C., on February 8.

The rapidly escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon is further threatening President Joe Biden’s efforts to reduce tension in the Middle East, leaving the president with ever-diminishing options to secure a ceasefire-and-hostage deal that has become his top priority in the final months of his presidency.

As he prepares for his final high-profile speech at the United Nations on Tuesday, the crisis is overshadowing any attempt at burnishing his foreign policy legacy. Without any near-term hopes for a ceasefire in Gaza, Biden is facing new questions about his approach to the nearly year-long conflict.

White House officials watched with concern over the weekend as Israeli warplanes struck targets in Lebanon while Hezbollah fired rockets and drones into northern Israel. As Biden was meeting Asia-Pacific leaders in Delaware, the crisis was unfolding in a different part of the world. The president and his aides were closely monitoring the situation from Wilmington.

Biden’s aides currently view the risk of escalation as serious and real, and have been communicating on a daily basis with officials in Israel, officials said Monday.

Read more about Biden’s attempts at preventing a wider war here.

An Israeli fighter jet is seen over the Mediterranean sea on September 23.

Israel will soon strike Hezbollah targets in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley, Israeli military chief spokesperson Daniel Hagari announced Monday, asking residents of villages “inside or near houses where rockets and weapons are stored” to evacuate immediately.  

Israeli strikes in the Beqaa Valley, where Hezbollah has a strong presence, are more infrequent than those in southern Lebanon because of the relative distance of the eastern Lebanese region from Israel’s border. 

The Israeli military is currently using “aerial and intelligence means to locate” weapons being stored by Hezbollah in the Beqaa Valley, Hagari said in a video message.  

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) also issued a warning to residents in Arabic: “If you are inside or near a house containing Hezbollah weapons, you must leave it and move away from it within two hours, at a distance of no less than 1,000 meters outside the village or go to the central school near you and do not return to it until further notice.” 

Attached to the warning was a map asking residents of the Beqaa Valley towns of Hermel, Aarsal, Baalbek, Yammouneh, Nabi Chit and Kfar Zabad to all evacuate. 

Hagari said that the IDF had hit more than 300 Hezbollah targets on Monday as part of what he described as “extensive, proactive airstrikes.”  

Hagari showed a video of what he said was an Israeli strike carried out earlier on Monday on the Lebanese village of Jabal al-Batam. He said the IDF has been targeting storehouses holding Hezbollah munitions.  

“The sights you are seeing now in south Lebanon, these are explosions of Hezbollah munition that explode inside houses,” he claimed, accusing Hezbollah of storing weapons in civilian buildings.

Smoke billows over southern Lebanon following Israeli strikes on September 23.

As of 3:44 p.m. local time (8:44 a.m. ET), the death toll from Israeli strikes in Lebanon has risen to 182 with more than 700 people wounded, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said Monday. 

Early on Monday, Israel carried out the most intensive air campaign against what it says are Hezbollah targets in Lebanon since the conflict in Gaza started in October.

It is unclear how many of the casualties are civilians or Hezbollah militants, but many of the Israeli strikes targeted residential areas where Hezbollah has a strong presence, and local media has reported women and children among the victims. 

Women, children and medics are among those killed and wounded in Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon, Lebanon’s health ministry said Monday.   

So far, at least 100 people have been killed and more than 400 wounded in Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon on Monday, the ministry said.

It’s unclear how many of the casualties are civilians or Hezbollah militants, but many of the Israeli strikes targeted residential areas where Hezbollah has a strong presence.

A popular Lebanese radio station said it was hacked and its broadcast was interrupted by an Israeli evacuation warning on Monday.

In a video, widely shared on social media but not verified by CNN, a voice can be heard breaking into a program on the Voice of Lebanon radio station to deliver what it said was “an urgent warning to the residents of south Lebanon.” 

Voice of Lebanon, a privately owned radio station, said its services had been hacked by Israel, in a message posted on its website Monday.

The apparent radio hack comes as Lebanese citizens in Beirut and other regions said they received similar text messages, calling on them to evacuate immediately, according to the national news agency, NNA.

On Monday, the Israeli military’s chief spokesperson, Daniel Hagari, asked “residents of Lebanese villages to pay attention to the messages and warnings published by the IDF and heed them.” 

CNN’s Mostafa Salem contributed reporting to this post.

People watch as smoke billows over southern Lebanon following Israeli strikes on September 23.

The death toll from Israeli strikes on Lebanon has risen to at least 100 people with more than 400 wounded, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said Monday.

Early on Monday, Israel carried out the most intensive air campaign against what it says are Hezbollah targets in Lebanon since the conflict in Gaza started in October.   

It is unclear how many of the casualties are civilians or Hezbollah militants, but many of the Israeli strikes targeted residential areas where Hezbollah has a strong presence, and local media has reported women and children among the victims. 

Pupils leave school early as Israeli attacks continue in Beirut, Lebanon, on September 23.

Lebanon’s government has ordered the suspension of classes in public and private schools in different parts of the country as fears mount of an escalating war with Israel.

The government order will keep schools closed for two days in the southern region of Lebanon and aims to protect students from the escalating dangers of the security situation, a statement by the Lebanese education ministry said.

The order took effect on Monday in the governorates of South Lebanon, Nabatieh, Bekaa, Baalbek-Hermel and the southern suburbs, the education ministry said.  

Cars sit in traffic as they flee in Sidon, Lebanon, on September 23.

Video shared with CNN journalists in Lebanon shows large queues of traffic as people flee towns across the country for the capital, Beirut.

One person fleeing Sidon, a coastal city south of Beirut, told CNN they had never seen as much traffic leaving the town, and that the army was telling civilians to empty the streets.

Data from Google Maps showed significant delays along main roads from the south to the north at 1 p.m. local time.

Smoke billows over southern Lebanon following Israeli strikes on September 23.

At least 50 people have been killed and more than 300 wounded by Israeli air strikes in Lebanon, the ministry of health said Monday.

It said the death toll is only a preliminary count.

Early on Monday, Israel carried out the most intensive air campaign in Lebanon since the conflict in Gaza started last October.

Hezbollah is believed to be the most heavily armed non-state group in the world.

Backed by Iran and based in the eastern Mediterranean country of Lebanon, the Shia Islamist group has been engaged in confrontations with Israeli forces on Lebanon’s southern border since October 8.

The cross-border hostilities have raised the specter of a regional conflagration and prompted intense diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions. Though no match for Israel’s military might, Hezbollah’s increasingly sophisticated arsenal has the potential to inflict significant damage on Israel and its allies in the region.

On Sunday, the group said it used new missiles it calls Fadi-1 and Fadi-2, believed to be medium-range rockets. If confirmed, this would mark one of the first times Hezbollah has fired weapons outside of its short-range arsenal.

Read our visual guide on Hezbollah’s military capabilities here.

Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati heads a cabinet meeting, at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, on April 4.

Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has urged the United Nations to pressure Israel into stopping the “aggression” on his country.  

Mikati told his cabinet that Israel is planning to “destroy Lebanese villages and towns” and asked for an intervention from the UN Security Council and “influential countries,” a statement on X said. 

The caretaker prime minister also accused Israel of having a “destructive plan” and conducting a “war of extermination” against Lebanon. 

On Sunday, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said he is concerned Lebanon could be transformed into “another Gaza” amid escalating attacks between Israel and Hezbollah.

The UN chief told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria in an exclusive interview that the recent detonation of communication devices in Lebanon means there is a “potential for a much stronger escalation,” which he fears could be a “devastating tragedy for the world.”

President Joe Biden also told reporters yesterday he remains concerned about the ongoing tensions in the Middle East amid fears that escalating attacks between Hezbollah and Israel may lead to a wider regional conflict.

“We’re going to do everything we can to keep a wider war from breaking out. And we’re still pushing hard,” Biden told reporters Sunday on the South Lawn.

Civilians are fleeing areas of southern Lebanon beyond the immediate border area, which had already been emptied by the nearly year-long exchange of fire over the frontier.  

Some residents are also leaving the Hezbollah-dominated neighborhood of Dahiyeh, the southern suburb of Beirut, and CNN has seen at least one car crammed with suitcases leaving that area in recent days.  

In Beirut, people appear to have stayed in their homes, with the streets largely empty during the day, as news poured in of attacks in Hezbollah-dominated areas across the country, including residential neighborhoods and villages. 

Video captured by Reuters from Tyre in southern Lebanon shows smoke rising over a village near the Israeli border on Monday morning.

The Israel Defense Forces said it was conducting further airstrikes in southern Lebanon on Monday morning.  

Lebanese citizens in Beirut and other regions have received phone messages from Israel calling on them to evacuate immediately, the country’s national news agency.

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A Lebanese man checks a message received on his mobile phone in Beirut, Lebanon, on September 23.

Lebanese citizens in Beirut and other regions have received phone messages from Israel calling on them to evacuate immediately, the country’s national news agency reported Monday as fears grow of a wider regional war.  

The country’s Minister of Information told NNA that his office also received one of these messages, calling it “psychological warfare.”  

Israel’s military on Monday urged civilians in Lebanon to leave areas in which Hezbollah operates, warning it would soon “engage in extensive precise strikes” against the group.  

“We ask residents of Lebanese villages to pay attention to the messages and warning published by the IDF and heed them,” Israeli military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters. 

Hagari also said messages will soon be sent to people in Lebanon, with the same warnings.

This is the first time Israel has issued such messages in this way,  a military official told CNN. “We are doing an advanced warning with accurate means saying, ‘if you’re in a house where there is a missile or a cruise missile, get out immediately,’” the official added.  

CNN has seen multiple screen shots from unknown senders warning them to leave the vicinity of buildings “storing Hezbollah weapons.” 

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes on Taybeh village, Lebanon, on September 23.

Israel is conducting further airstrikes in southern Lebanon, the Israeli military said in a statement Monday. 

The update comes after Israel said it struck 150 Hezbollah targets and urged civilians to leave areas where the Iran-backed militant group operates ahead of further strikes.

One person was killed and six injured in the Israeli strikes earlier Monday, Lebanon’s health ministry said.

Israel’s military struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon early Monday as it urged civilians to leave areas where the Iran-backed militant group operates ahead of further planned strikes.

The strikes Monday, which appear to be the widest in geographic range simultaneously conducted by Israel in Lebanon since the war in Gaza began, came after the two sides exchanged their most intense fire of the conflict over the weekend.

As fears of a wider regional war grow, Hezbollah’s second-in-command said “a battle without limits” was underway and the group launched some of its deepest strikes inside Israel in decades.

Here are the latest developments in the region:

Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, left, and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Israel’s defense minister briefed his US counterpart on Israeli military operations against Hezbollah on Sunday after Israel and the Iran-backed militant group exchanged their most intense fire since the war in Gaza began.

In a post on X on Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said he gave US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin “a situation assessment of Hezbollah threats and briefed him on IDF operations to degrade Hezbollah’s ability to launch attacks against Israeli civilians.”

The two officials also discussed “the wider regional situation and the threats posed by Iran and its proxies,” Gallant said.

Earlier Sunday, the Pentagon said the two officials had also spoken following a barrage of rocket attacks by Hezbollah into Israel on Saturday.

Israel’s military carried out “extensive strikes” on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon Monday as it urged civilians to leave areas where the Iran-backed militant group operates ahead of further planned attacks.

Some context: Ahead of twin attacks targeting Hezbollah members’ wireless devices last week, Israeli officials told the US the country was going to carry out an operation in Lebanon, but did not give any details about what they were planning, according to three sources familiar with the matter. 

The US “did not know about nor was it involved in these incidents,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week.

People gather outside American University of Beirut Medical Center after people were wounded when pagers exploded in Beirut, Lebanon, on September 17.

Hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah ramped up significantly last week after twin device attacks targeted the Iran-backed militant group’s communications network, ushering in what Israel’s defense minister called a “new era” of war.

Last Tuesday, pagers belonging to Hezbollah members exploded almost simultaneously, exposing a massive security breach and demonstrating the scale of Israeli intelligence. A day later, hundreds of Hezbollah walkie-talkies detonated in a single minute.

At least 80 people have been killed in attacks since Tuesday. Most were Hezbollah operatives, but the casualties also include women and children.

Now, one of the world’s largest non-state fighting forces is reeling from the biggest-ever hit to its military structure, as well as the most visible Israeli infiltration of its ranks and communications infrastructure in its more than 40-year history.

The internal breach enabled the successive blows last week and sowed panic within Hezbollah, according to Lebanese security sources. Hezbollah has vowed to respond in “a battle without limits.”

Read more about the escalation in fighting.

A shepherd was killed and two of his family members injured in Israeli strikes in Lebanon early on Monday, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported.  

Israeli strikes targeted towns in the Bekaa valley, including areas near Wadi Fara, Bneit, Harbata, Wadi Shmastar, and Wadi Umm Ali, according to NNA. Strikes were also reported in southern Lebanon, according to the news agency.  

Lebanon’s health ministry said one person was killed and six injured in Israeli strikes on the Bekaa valley.

The Israeli military on Monday said it had conducted “extensive airstrikes” on Hezbollah in Lebanon, adding that it struck 150 targets. The military also urged civilians to leave areas where the Iran-backed group operates in the country, warning that more strikes will happen soon.  

The strikes Monday appear to be widest in geographic range simultaneously carried out by Israel in Lebanon since the outbreak of fighting with Hezbollah on October 8 last year following Palestinian militant group Hamas’ attack on Israel. 

Reports from NNA also indicated a strike in the Laqlouq mountains in Jbeil governorate, an area that is not considered a Hezbollah stronghold.  

This post has been updated with additional information.

Hillary Clinton speaks with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.

Hillary Clinton has criticized Columbia University’s pro-Palestinian campus protests, which she alleged were heavily influenced by outside funding and groups, calling the demonstrators’ treatment of Jewish students “nasty.”

In an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on “GPS” Sunday, the former secretary of state and 2016 presidential candidate described how she watched tensions at Columbia – where she co-teaches a course – escalate in the aftermath of Hamas’ October 7 attacks and Israel’s retaliation in Gaza.

“There were already existing groups within our country and particularly on certain campuses like Columbia who had talking points,” Clinton said.

“They had a plan for protest and disruption, and I watched it morph into something that was not student-led, even though students participated, but which had outside funding, outside direction.”

Clinton blamed biased social media algorithms and external influences — though she did not specify which ones — for enflaming the campus protests.

Clinton said videos on social media represented a “one-sided,” “pro-Hamas” view of the war, and that many of the protesters she met did not understand the history of the complex, longstanding conflict.

“In trying to talk to students, not just at Columbia but elsewhere, I would be met with slogans. I would be met with attacks and very inflammatory language,” she added.

Some context: Columbia became the epicenter of pro-Palestinian student protests during the last school year, with demonstrations roiling universities across the country. Most of the protests were peaceful, but some erupted into violence and disrupted academic life on campus.

The majority of demonstrators were calling for divestment from companies that support Israel and the war in Gaza and calling attention to the worsening humanitarian crisis in the enclave. Some Jewish and Muslim students said they were intimidated, harassed or physically assaulted by different sides.

People walk at a beach as smoke billows over southern Lebanon following Israeli strikes, as seen from Tyre, southern Lebanon September 23.

Israel’s military on Monday urged civilians in Lebanon to leave areas in which Hezbollah operates, warning it would soon “engage in extensive precise strikes” against the Iran-backed militant group across the country. 

The warning from the Israel Defense Forces comes as it conducted “extensive strikes” on Hezbollah targets early Monday, following a weekend that saw the two sides exchange their most intense fire since the war in Gaza began last October. 

Hezbollah, the most powerful non-state militia in the region, is a clandestine group and people in Lebanon do not typically know the identities of its members or its operations.  

Hagari also said Monday that messages will soon be sent to people in Lebanon, with the same warnings.  

Hezbollah is believed to be the most heavily armed non-state group in the world. Backed by Iran and based in the eastern Mediterranean country of Lebanon, the Shia Islamist group has been engaged in confrontations with Israeli forces on Lebanon’s southern border since October 8.

The cross-border hostilities have raised the specter of a regional conflagration and prompted intense diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions. Though no match for Israel’s military might, Hezbollah’s increasingly sophisticated arsenal has the potential to inflict significant damage on Israel and its allies in the region.

Put simply: Hezbollah are capable of striking all of Israel. While Israel has a vastly superior military to Hezbollah, the group boasts missiles with a range of up to 500 kilometers (310 miles). These would have to bypass Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system to cause damage.

Israel would also have to contend with Hezbollah’s strategic depth. The group is part of an Iran-led axis of militants spanning Yemen, Syria, Gaza and Iraq. Some of these groups have increased coordination significantly since last October, when Israel launched a war in Gaza after Hamas-led militants attacked the country. This axis is known in Israel as the “ring of fire.”

Read more about Hezbollah here.

Smoke billows over southern Lebanon following Israeli strikes, as seen from Tyre, southern Lebanon on September 23.

Israel is “conducting extensive strikes” on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, the Israeli military said early on Monday. 

Lebanon’s national news agency reported multiple Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon and the Bekaa valley.

Video from southern Lebanon obtained by CNN showed an object falling from the sky in a rural area before exploding in a burst of flames, which then turned to smoke, accompanied by a loud boom.

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon speaks at the UN Headquarters in New York on September 22.

The Hezbollah militant group has fired more than 8,000 rockets toward Israel since the October 7 attacks by Hamas, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon said Sunday.

Danon’s comments come as Israel and Hezbollah have been trading their most intense fire since the attacks by Hamas that killed 1,200 people and saw around 250 taken hostage.

“However, we will not stand by as our people are attacked,” Danon said, adding that Israel will use “all means at hand” to protect its citizens.

He said about 70,000 people have been “forced to flee their homes” in northern Israel and are “becoming refugees in their own land.”

Emergency personnel stand near a damaged car at a site of houses damaged following a rocket attack from Lebanon, in Kiryat Bialik, Israel, on September 22.

Israel and Hezbollah have traded the most intense exchanges of fire since the October 7 attacks in recent weeks.

Here are the latest developments in the region:

Emergency workers use excavators to clear the rubble at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut’s southern suburb in Lebanon on September 21. 

The Middle East’s most formidable non-state fighting force is reeling from the biggest-ever hit to its military structure, as well as the most visible Israeli infiltration of its ranks and communications infrastructure in its more than 40-year history.

The internal breach enabled the successive blows this week and sowed panic within Hezbollah, according to Lebanese security sources.

In a Saturday news conference, Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi gave an impassioned speech, declaring that the country was in the throes of an Israeli “breach” and vowing to ramp up the monitoring of “foreigners, hotels and Syrian camps.”

The enemy’s firepower had pursued Hezbollah to its lair, attacking rank-and-file and military leadership alike.

Weakened militarily and stripped of its cloak of secrecy, Hezbollah has arrived at the most delicate phase of its decades-long fight against Israel. It hoped that a low-level fight on the border on behalf of the Palestinians would prop up Hamas’ position in the negotiations, but a ceasefire in Gaza seems more elusive than ever before.

Now its limited confrontation with Israel has exacted a seemingly unlimited price from the militant group. Yet the compulsion to lash out has rarely been greater, bringing the region even closer to the brink of a catastrophic war.

Read the full analysis.

Rows of tents are set up for displaced Palestinians in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering a plan to force all Palestinian civilians out of northern Gaza, including Gaza City, in order to lay siege to Hamas and force the release of hostages.

It is unclear how many Palestinians remain north of the so-called Netzarim Corridor, which splits Gaza in two, but estimates run into the hundreds of thousands. The plan does not mention whether, when, or how civilians would be allowed to return to northern Gaza. After nearly a year of war, with no part of Gaza immune from Israeli airstrikes, Palestinians have been increasingly unwilling to heed Israeli demands to relocate.

The idea comes from a group of retired Israeli military generals, who have formally presented it to the Israeli cabinet and a powerful parliamentary committee. The goal, they say, is to use siege tactics to starve Hamas fighters and force them to release 101 hostages still held in the territory.

Israeli national broadcaster Kan, a CNN affiliate, reported on Sunday that Netanyahu, in a closed-door meeting with the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said that the plan “makes a lot of sense.”

Read more about the proposed plan to force Palestinians from northern Gaza here.