Welcome back as we resume our coverage of the conflicts in the Middle East, where US secretary of state Antony Blinken is on another tour in the hopes of reigniting stuttering ceasefire talks.
Mr Blinken is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia today after lengthy talks with Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday in Jerusalem.
Nearly a week on from the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza, the US top diplomat urged the Israeli leader to capitalise on his death by securing the release of the remaining hostages and ending the war.
Mr Blinken is also seeking ways to defuse the conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, where at least 18 people were killed and 60 wounded by an Israeli airstrike overnight on Monday.
Lebanon’s health ministry says at least 2,530 people in the country have been killed during a year of conflict, while the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says 42,718 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive.
Israeli military to attack Tyre
The Israeli military will attack the Lebanese city of Tyre, the country’s fifth biggest.
Spokesman Avichay Adraee published a map on X showing dozens of buildings highlighted in red and ordering their residents to evacuate.
In Arabic, he wrote: “You must immediately move out of the area marked in red and head north of the Awali River.
“Anyone present near Hezbollah elements, installations and combat equipment is putting his life in danger.”
Tyre is located on the Mediterranean coast of southern Lebanon, roughly 12 miles north of the border with Israel.
It has already come under repeated IDF bombardment since the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah escalated in late September.
Special correspondent Alex Crawford was there at the start of the month and spoke to fearful residents after an Israeli strike killed a neighbour, who supported Hezbollah, his wife and their six children.
“We’ve lost everything,” one, Mohammad, told her. “This is collective punishment.”
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