Israel prepares for ground offensive in Lebanon – LIVE UPDATES

The Israeli Security Cabinet approved the ground invasion of Lebanon at a meeting on Monday evening, but several members complained about the US leaking the plan to the media after Washington was given advance notice, the outlet Ynet has reported.

Israel’s planned invasion of Lebanon “grossly violates international law,” Belgium’s deputy prime minister, Petra De Sutter, posted on X. “This is not self-defense, but provoking all-out war,” she added, calling for the EU to respond with “maximum sanctions on Israel.”

Several towns along the Lebanon-Israel border have reported heavy IDF bombardment, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. Marjayoun and Wazzani have been targeted by artillery, while Kawkaba, Rachaya Al Foukhar, Kfarkela and Khiam have been struck from the air.

Smoke rises at the Marjayoun plain as the Israeli attacks continue in southern Lebanon on September 30, 2024. /Ramiz Dallah © Getty Images

Israel has already launched “small special forces operations” into southern Lebanon, ahead of a ground offensive, NBC News has reported, quoting an anonymous Israeli official. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has said the “next phase in the war against Hezbollah will begin soon.”

Meanwhile, the IDF has posted a warning for residents of the Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh to move at least 500m away from three buildings it described as “Hezbollah facilities,” warning that the Israeli military would soon “act forcefully” against them. 

“For your safety and the safety of your family members, you must evacuate these buildings immediately,” tweeted Colonel Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman.

While neither the IDF nor Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said anything about the operation in Lebanon, Shas party leader Aryeh Deri posted a traditional Jewish war prayer on X.

The traditional prayer pleads with God to safeguard the troops operating “from the border of Lebanon to the desert of Egypt” and to vanquish their enemies and grant them victory.

UN peacekeepers in Lebanon (UNIFIL) remain in position but have been unable to carry out their mission, Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told reporters.

“Given the intensity of the rockets going back and forth, they are not able to do patrolling,” Dujarric said, adding that “the intensity of fighting is preventing their movements.” 

UNIFIL has been in Lebanon since 1978 and has approximately 10,000 ‘Blue Helmets’ in the country.

Israeli tanks and APC's gather by the Israeli - Lebanese border on September 30, 2024. /Erik Marmor © Getty Images

EU foreign foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has called an emergency video conference of the bloc’s foreign ministers while visiting Mexico.

“The sovereignty of both Israel and Lebanon has to be guaranteed,” Borrell told reporters afterward. “Any further military intervention would dramatically aggravate the situation and has to be avoided.”

Israel reportedly informed the US of the impending invasion earlier in the day. President Joe Biden told reporters at the White House that he was “more aware than you might know,” but that he wanted the IDF to stop.

“We should have a ceasefire now,” Biden said, before walking away.