Israel-Iran War highlights: Tel Aviv says it hit over 2,000 sites, killed 250 Hezbollah fighter amid Lebanon operation

Israel-Iran War LIVE: French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot will head to Saudi Arabia on Friday evening for a four-day trip that will end in Israel and the West Bank. He will also travel to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan over the weekend as Paris seeks to revive stalled diplomatic efforts in the region. 

Israel-Iran War LIVE: The American and British militaries struck more than a dozen Houthi targets in Yemen on Friday — going after weapons systems, bases and other equipment belonging to the Iranian-backed rebels.

Israel-Iran War LIVE: Israel carried out huge bombing raids in the suburbs of Beirut alongside ground attacks in southern Lebanon on Friday. The development came even as Iran said it would support a conditional cease-fire in the conflicts involving its allied groups Hezbollah and Hamas.

Israel-Iran War LIVE: At least 29 people were killed on Friday as Israeli military strikes continued across the Gaza Strip. Sirens also blared in southern Israel in response to renewed rocket fire from militants in the Palestinian enclave.

Israel-Iran War LIVE: Israel says it has hit more than 2,000 sites and killed around 250 Hezbollah fighters during the ongoing south Lebanon operation

Israel-Iran War LIVE: According to government sources quoted by PTI, the Finance Ministry is closely watching developments in West Asia but is not worried about crude oil prices. Sources said the country had previously seen much higher crude oil prices and noted that the Indian government had 'tools to deal with volatile crude oil prices'.

Israel-Iran War LIVE: The Israeli military on Friday said its forces had killed 250 Hezbollah fighters during the past four days after launching ground operations in southern Lebanon.

Israel-Iran War LIVE: Three hospitals in Lebanon including one on the outskirts of Beirut's southern suburbs announced Friday the suspension of work, amid ongoing Israeli bombardment.

Israel-Iran War LIVE: A video of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was recently shared on social media which showed him rushing inside a building. A social media user shared the video claiming that Netanyahu was running towards a bunker to escape the Iranian missile attack.

Israel-Iran War LIVE: The blasts in Beirut's southern suburbs sent huge plumes of smoke and flames into the night sky and shook buildings kilometers (miles) away in the Lebanese capital. The Israeli military did not comment on what the intended target was, and there was no information yet available on casualties. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported there were more than 10 consecutive airstrikes in the area.

Israel-Iran War LIVE: The World Health Organization said on Friday it hopes to give hundreds of thousands of children in war-stricken Gaza a second dose of polio vaccine from October 14. Much of the territory lies in ruins and the majority of its 2.4 million residents have been forced to flee their homes due to Israel's military assault — often taking refuge in cramped and unsanitary conditions. Diseases are now spreading rapidly as the region reels under fresh attacks and limited access to healthcare facilities.

Israel-Iran War LIVE: An Israeli airstrike has cut off a main highway linking Lebanon with Syria — leaving two huge craters on either side of the road. The road is currently unusable for cars and people are being forced to travel on foot to the Masnaa Border Crossing. Tens of thousands of people fleeing war in Lebanon have crossed into Syria over the past two weeks.

Israel-Iran War LIVE: Tehran has threatened to target Israeli energy, gas installations if the other country ‘commits the error’ of attacking Iran. The update was shared by SNN News agency quoting Revolutionary Guards deputy commander Ali Fadavi.

Israel-Iran War LIVE: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday vowed support for Tehran's "friends" in Lebanon, on his first visit to Beirut since fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants intensified last month.

Israel-Iran War LIVE: Oil prices rose sharply on Friday, and were on track for 10% weekly gains as investors weighed the prospect of a wider Middle East conflict disrupting crude flows after President Biden said the US was discussing an Israeli attack on Iranian oil facilities.

Brent crude futures were up $1.09, or 1.4%, at $78.71 a barrel, as of 1120 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up $1.08, also 1.5%, at $74.79 a barrel.

(Reuters)

Israel-Iran War LIVE: A delivery of medical supplies from the United Nations reached Lebanon on Friday, a first since last week's escalation between Israel and Hezbollah

Israel-Iran War LIVE: Iranian supreme leader praises missile attack on Israel, says Iran will do it again if necessary

Israel-Iran war news Live Updates: Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said pn Friday that Iran's Lebanese ally Hezbollah was providing a "vital service to the entire region" by fighting Israel.

"Hezbollah ... by defending Gaza, fighting for (Jerusalem's) Al-Aqsa Mosque and hitting the usurping and tyrannical regime (Israel), took a step (in providing) a vital service to the entire region and the entire Islamic world," Khamenei said in a rare Friday prayer sermon.

Israel-Iran war news Live Updates: Brent extended gains Friday after surging 5% a day earlier as President Joe Biden said the US was discussing whether to support potential attacks on Iranian energy infrastructure. A US official said later the administration was still in talks with Israel and believed no decision had yet been taken.

Crude has soared almost 9% this week as the escalation of hostilities raises the possibility of disruption to Middle East oil supplies. Israel and Iran, as well as Tehran’s proxies in Lebanon, Gaza and Yemen, have been facing off for the past year, stoking fears of an all-out conflict that could drag in other countries.

Israel-Iran war news Live Updates: The Lebabon-based militant group said it had targetted Israeli troops in the border areas. Hezbollah also accused Israel of striking rescue workers and killing one.

Israel-Iran war news Live Updates: Khamenei insisted on Friday that the US and its allies were preserving the security of Israel to make it an energy exporting gate from the region to the West. However, he said, the resistance in the region would not back down against Israel. 

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday that his country would not "procrastinate or rush to carry out its duty" in confronting Israel. "The brilliant action of our armed forces a couple of nights ago was completely legal and legitimate," he said, referring to Iran's missile attack on Israel.

Khamenei emphasized that Hamas' October 7 attack was a "logical, and lawful" act of self-defense, paralleling it with Iran's own operation against Israel. "We must firmly tighten the belt of independence from Iran to Gaza, Lebanon, and all Islamic countries," he said.

Israel-Iran war news Live Updates: "The Al-Aqsa Storm Operation on October 7, 2023 was legitimate rights of all Palestinians. Helping the Palestinians is legitimate and no one has the right to protest," Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said on Friday.

Israel-Iran war news Live Updates: Ayatollah Khamenei said, "What our armed forces did was the least punishment for the crimes of the Zionist regime"

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, leading Friday Prayers for the first time in 5 years, addressed a mass gathering days after Iran's attack on Israel. He reportedly said, "The enemy of Iran is the same as the enemy of Iraq, Lebanon, and Egypt. Our enemy is one and the same."

Israel-Iran war news Live Updates: “Ayatollah Khamenei stresses Muslim unity as he addresses worshippers at Tehran Friday Prayers,” Tehran Times reported on Friday.

Israel-Iran war news Live Updates: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said, "I recommend all my brothers and sisters and myself to divine piety."

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei was present in the commemoration ceremony of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

Israel-Iran war news Live Updates:Israel's ambassador to India Reuven Azar said on Friday that it's up to India to decide "what's their role going to be" in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. He, however, added, "India is playing a very important role in our region." Read the full report here.

Israel-Iran war Live Updates: Israel is likely to mount a large-scale airstrike against Iran’s oil industry and possibly a symbolic attack on a military target related to its nuclear programme, former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak was quoted by the Guadian as saying.

A large number of people have gathered outside Imam Khomeini’s Grand Mosalla in Tehran, where Ayatollah Khamenei is expected to deliver sermons during Friday prayers.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry says at least nine people have been killed in an Israeli strike in central Beirut. Meanwhile, the Israeli military said a total of nine Israeli soldiers have been killed since the army started limited ground incursions in south Lebanon to battle Hezbollah militants earlier this week. Hezbollah says it has killed 17 Israeli soldiers, but has provided no proof.

Oil prices are headed for their largest weekly rise in over a year on Friday, spurred by escalating Middle East tensions that have cast a pall over global markets ahead of the weekend. Brent crude futures were set to gain around 8% for the week - its steepest since February 2023, while U.S. crude futures' 8.2% weekly rise would be the largest since March last year, Reuters reported.

Israel-Iran war Live Updates: A video shared by Tehran Times show “the extensive destruction from the intense Israeli bombings in southern Beirut, which targeted the residential buildings in the Marija area, the vicinity of a hospital, a police station, and a football field.”

An Axios reporter citing two Israeli officials as saying that the target for the Israeli strike in Beirut was Hezbollah senior leader Hashem Safi a-Din, who was Hassan Nasrallah's likely successor.

Israel-Iran war Live Updates: Asked how confident he was that such a war can be averted, US president Joe Biden paused and told reporters: "How confident are you it's not going to rain? Look, I don't believe there is going to be an all-out war. I think we can avoid it."

He added: “But there is a lot to do yet, a lot to do yet.” When asked if he would send American troops to help Israel, he responded: "We have already helped Israel. We are going to protect Israel." (Inputs from Reuters)

The Israeli military on Thursday warned people to evacuate communities in southern Lebanon that are outside a U.N.-declared buffer zone, signaling that it may widen a ground operation launched earlier this week against the Hezbollah militant group, the Associated Press reported.

Israel-Iran war Live Updates: PM Modi is chairing a Cabinet Committee on Security meet amid West Asia crisis.

Israel-Iran war Live Updates: At least 18 people were killed in an Israeli military strike in Tulkarm refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials were quoted by the Guardian as saying.

Israel-Iran war Live Updates: When asked why he had not spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent days after he said he would on Sunday, US President Joe Biden was quoted by the Guardian as saying: "Because there’s no action going on right now." Asked if he worried an Israeli strike on Iran’s oil facilities would raise oil prices, he said, "If a hurricane hits, prices are going to go up. I don’t know; who knows.

The Israeli military said early on Friday it killed the head of the Hamas network in a strike on West Bank's Tulkarm. In a statement, the military identified the Hamas operative as Zahi Yaser Abd al-Razeq Oufi.

Israel-Iran war Live Updates: Several explosions were heard in Israel's Tel Aviv,. Tehran Times reported.

Iran's Ali Khamenei is likely to performing Friday prayer in Tehran and hold the commemoration ceremony of Hezbollah leader Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah in Imam Khomeini mosque in Tehran.

Israel-Iran war Live Updates: Hashem Safieddine, the head of Hezbollah's executive council and the frontrunner to succeed Hassan Nasrallah, was reportedly targeted in Israel’s latest strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs,Sky News Arabia sources said. Meanwhile, Israel's Channel 12 reported that the "unusual" attacks in the suburb were aimed at "Nasrallah's successor."

Israel-Iran war Live Updates: The Israel Defense Forces claimed to have killed Mahmoud Yusef Anisi. According to the Israeli military, Anisi was "a senior terrorist involved in Hezbollah’s precision-guided missile manufacturing chain in Lebanon."

"Anisi joined Hezbollah over 15 years ago and was one of the leaders of the Hezbollah PGM campaign in Lebanon. He was a significant source of knowledge with many technological abilities in the field of weapons manufacturing," the IDF said in a post on X early Friday.