Lebanon says Israel hit key border road after Beirut strikes

US President Joe Biden said on Friday he didn't know whether the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was holding up a peace deal in order to influence the outcome of the presidential election.

"No administration has helped Israel more than I have," Biden said. "None. None, none. And I think Bibi should remember that. And whether he's trying to influence the election, I don't know but I'm not counting on that."

The Biden administration has been pushing for a cease-fire agreement in the Middle East. But it has yet to materialize, and in some cases, Netanyahu has publicly resisted.

Meanwhile, Israel has pressed ahead with a ground incursion into Lebanon against Hezbollah and has vowed to retaliate following Iran's ballistic missile attack this week.

Biden said there had been no decision yet on what type of response there would be from Israel, though there has been talk of striking Iran's oil fields.

"I think if I were in their shoes, I'd be thinking about other alternatives than striking oil fields," Biden said.

Germany is flying 219 more of its nationals out of Lebanon on a third military flight this week.

The foreign and defense ministries said Friday's flight was being carried out by an Airbus A330 belonging to the Multinational Multirole Tanker Transport Unit, an international air transport fleet. It said those evacuated were "particularly vulnerable."

The latest flight brings to 460 the number of German citizens evacuated on German military aircraft from Lebanon. Two previous flights departed Beirut on Monday and Wednesday.

The Foreign Ministry also posted on the social platform X that the plane had delivered "several" tons of aid for civilians in Lebanon.

Explosions have been reported in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and the strategically important port city of Hodeidah, initially with no reports of casualties or the exact target.

Broadcaster Al-Masirah, considered the mouthpiece of the Houthi rebels, reported at least four air strikes in Hodeidah. The channel also said strikes had also targeted the south of Dhamar city.

The Iran-backed Houthi blamed the US and UK, both of which have bombed its positions in the past, for the blasts.

Since the outbreak of the Gaza war, the Houthis have regularly fired rockets or drones at targets in Israel and ships in the Red Sea.

While visiting Beirut, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran was in favor of a cease-fire in Lebanon as long as it comes with a simultaneous truce in Gaza.

"I have spoken with Lebanese officials and we are in contact with other countries about setting up a cease-fire," he said, according to Iranian news agency IRNA.

"We support the efforts for a ceasefire, provided that first, the rights of the Lebanese people are respected and it is accepted by the resistance [meaning Hezbollah], and second, that it comes simultaneously with a cease-fire in Gaza," he added.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that it had received 30 tons of medical supplies in Lebanon following weeks of Israeli bombardments that have left thousands injured and many more displaced.

The UN agency said the shipment would be able to provide "life-saving trauma care services for tens of thousands of people in Lebanon," in a post on social media.

The WHO said it was working in cooperation with the Lebanese Health Ministry to "ensure preparedness and readiness to address any possible further escalations of violence."

A senior figure of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has said that Iran would respond to any Israeli attack by striking energy sources inside Israel.

"If the occupiers make such a mistake, we will target all their energy sources, installations and all refineries and gas fields," IRGC commander Ali Fadavi said.

On Tuesday, Iran fired almost 200 missiles toward Israel, some of which hit their targets. The full extent of the damage from the strikes is not yet clear.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who was in Beirut on Friday, said that Tehran was supporting its "friends" in Lebanon.

"Be sure that the Islamic Republic of Iran is and will be firmly standing by the friends in Lebanon," Araghchi told reporters, "and it was necessary to say this in person."

Argahchi also said: "If the Israeli entity takes any step or measure against us, our retaliation will be stronger than the previous one."

The minister's arrival came after intense bombardment of parts of Beirut by the Israeli military.

He was in Lebanon for talks with Lebanese officials. Iran is the major backer of Hezbollah, a Shiite group that was engaged in multiple conflicts against Israel.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it struck a 3.5-kilometer (2-mile) long tunnel that it alleged Hezbollah was using to transfer weapons from Syria into Lebanon. 

The tunnel enabled "the transfer and storage of large quantities of weapons underground," the IDF said on social media, without providing evidence. 

The attack, conducted with fighter jets, destroyed buildings, weapons warehouses and "other terrorist infrastructure," it added. 

The IDF said it also hit "infrastructure" at the Masnaa border crossing between Syria and Lebanon.

Lebanon earlier reported that an Israeli strike forced the closure of the Masnaa border crossing, through which more than 300,000 people are estimated to have fled to Syria.

UN officials have said most shelters in Lebanon for displaced people were full, pushing people to sleep out in the streets or public parks.

"Most of the nearly 900 government established collective shelters in Lebanon have no more capacity," the UN refugee agency's Rula Amin said during a press briefing in Geneva. 

Mathieu Luciano, head of the International Organization For Migration's office in Lebanon, raised concern for thousands of live-in domestic workers, often female migrants, whom he said has been "abandoned" by their employers.  

"They face very limited shelter options," he said, adding that many of them came from Egypt, Sudan and Sri Lanka.

On Friday alone, the Israeli military told residents of over 20 towns and villages in southern Lebanon to immediately evacuate, suggesting an expansion of Israel's ground operation. 

So far, people in almost 90 villages in the south have been told to evacuate from their homes, in addition to parts of the capital, Beirut.

The Lebanese government estimates over 1.2 million Lebanese have been displaced in the current escalation. 

The Israeli military has said its strikes on the southern parts of the Lebanese capital overnight were targeting the intelligence unit of the militant group Hezbollah.

Israel later said it killed the head of the Iran-backed group's communication networks in a "precise, intelligence-based strike."

Hezbollah has accused Israel of deliberately targeting civilians, saying a rescuer at the site of the air raid was killed in a drone attack.

Earlier reports suggested that the target of the overnight attack was Hashem Safieddine, the rumored successor to slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. 

Safieddine's brother was seen at the sermon given by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran on Friday. 

Addressing thousands of worshippers in a sermon in Tehran, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hailed the Iran-supported Islamist militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah, saying they "will not back down." 

Khamenei said Israel "cannot seriously harm" Gaza's Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah. Iran has blamed Israel for killing the leaders of both Iran-backed groups in recent months. Israeli officials have not claimed responsibility for the killings.

"The resistance in the region will not back down with these martyrdoms, and will win," Khamenei said. 

He went on to declare Hezbollah's fight against Israel as a "vital service to the entire region," as he claimed that Israel "will not last long."

Khamenei also alleged that the US was supporting Israel to ensure energy export from the region to the West.

Israel, the United States, Germany and other nations classify Hamas as a terrorist organization. Hezbollah is considered a terrorist organization by the US, Germany and several Sunni Arab countries, while the EU lists its armed wing as a terrorist group.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has delivered his first public sermon in five years, addressing thousands of people who gathered in Tehran for Friday prayers.

Khamenei justified the October 7, 2023, terror attacks as well as Iran's ballistic missile attack on Israel earlier this week.

"The operation of our armed forces a few nights ago was totally legal and legitimate," he said, delivering the sermon with an assault rifle at his side.

Iran "will take the necessary action" after consulting with its political authorities, Khamenei said, ruling out "impulsive decisions."

Khamenei delivered part of his speech in Arabic, and called on Muslim nations to unite against what he described as their "common enemy."

The crowds in attendance were waving Palestinian and Lebanese flags and carrying portraits of slain leaders of Iran's "axis of resistance" against Israel and the United States — Hamas' Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah. 

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has landed in the Lebanese capital, according to the official National News Agency (NNA). 

"An Iranian plane has landed at the Rafik Hariri International Airport with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on board," NNA said.

Araghchi's arrival comes hours after airstrikes hit just outside the airport. 

It is the first reported visit by a top Iranian official to Lebanon since Israel killed Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, last week.

Araghchi is expected to meet with Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, according to the Reuters news agency. 

Lebanese Transport Minister Ali Hamieh said an Israeli airstrike on the Lebanon-Syria border has cut off the main international road connecting the two countries. 

"The road that leads to the main humanitarian crossing for thousands of Lebanese into Syria is now cut off after an Israeli strike," he said.

Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) reported that Israeli strikes had hit the Masnaa border crossing, saying the attack resulted in "cutting off the road." 

On Thursday, Israel accused Hezbollah of using the crossing to transport military equipment. 

"The IDF will not allow the smuggling of these weapons and will not hesitate to act if forced to do so, as it has done throughout this war," said Avichay Adraee, the Israeli military's Arabic language spokesman.

Lebanon estimates 300,000 people, most of whom are Syrian, have crossed that road into Syria over the last 10 days to escape the escalating conflict in Lebanon.

Unconfirmed US media reports have suggested Hezbollah strongman Hashem Safieddine was the target of Israel's latest strikes on Beirut. 

He is the maternal cousin of Hezbollah's slain leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in a massive Israeli air raid in south Beirut last week. 

Safieddine has long been tipped as Nasrallah's successor after serving in some of Hezbollah's highest positions for decades.

Unlike Nasrallah, who had lived in hiding to avoid assassination, Safieddine has been a more public Hezbollah figure.

He has close ties to Iran, where he studied. His son is married to the daughter of Qassem Soleimani, an Iranian general who was killed in a US airstrike in Iraq in 2020.

In 2017, the US designated Safieddine a terrorist over his role in Hezbollah, which it considers a terrorist organization. 

His fate after the latest strikes in Beirut remains unclear. The Israeli military has not commented on whether Safieddine was targeted by the latest strikes.