China is urging its citizens in Lebanon and Israel to evacuate or move to safe areas as the conflict between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah is escalating.

“Chinese citizens in Lebanon should take commercial flights to return to China or otherwise leave Lebanon as soon as possible for their own safety,” the Consular Department of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement posted on social media platform WeChat on Monday (September 23, 2024).

“Those who need to continue to stay in Lebanon should remain highly vigilant, effectively strengthen their security precautions and emergency preparedness, and avoid going to high-risk areas and sensitive areas in the south,” the statement read.

– AP

The U.S. is sending additional troops to the Middle East during a sharp spike in violence between Israel and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon that has raised the risk of a greater regional war, the Pentagon said Monday (September 23, 2024).

Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder would provide no details on how many additional forces or what they would be tasked to do. The U.S. currently has about 40,000 troops in the region.

The new deployments come after significant strikes by Israeli forces against targets inside Lebanon that have killed hundreds, and as Israel is preparing to conduct further operations and the State Department is warning Americans to leave Lebanon as the risk of a regional war increases.

“Due to the unpredictable nature of ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel and recent explosions throughout Lebanon, including Beirut, the U.S. Embassy urges U.S. citizens to depart Lebanon while commercial options still remain available,” the State Department cautioned Saturday.

– AP

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes on villages in the Nabatiyeh district, seen from the southern town of Marjayoun, Lebanon, on September 23, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Lebanon’s Health Ministry says a wave of Israeli airstrikes across the country on Monday (September 23, 2024) have killed 50 people and wounded more than 300.

The Ministry said that the preliminary toll included women and children.

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The airstrikes hit wide areas in southern and northeastern Lebanon.

The Israeli military said it struck 300 targets in Lebanon as it steps up pressure against the Hezbollah militant group.

The Army announced the strikes on the social media platform X, posting a photo of what is said was the military chief, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, approving additional attacks from military headquarters in Tel Aviv.

It is one of the most intense barrages of airstrikes in nearly one year of fighting against Hezbollah. Halevi and other Israeli leaders have promised tougher action against Hezbollah in the coming days.

As Israel was carrying out the attacks, Israeli authorities reported a series of air-raid sirens in northern Israel warning of incoming rocket fire from Lebanon.

Israel earlier Monday urged residents of southern Lebanon to leave their homes in areas where it claims Hezbollah has stored weapons, warning of “extensive strikes” there.