October 14, 2024 - Hezbollah drone attack on army base kills 4 Israeli soldiers and injures dozens

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The commander of the elite Quds Force branch of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has appeared on state media following a two-week absence from public view that had raised questions about whether he was still alive.

Brig. Gen. Esmail Qaani was shown in a live report by Iranian state broadcaster IRINN on Tuesday morning as the body of a senior IRGC figure killed in Lebanon arrived at Tehran’s Mehrabad airport.

Sitting alongside other officials, Qaani was seen attending a ceremony to receive the body of Abbas Nilforoushan before the slain commander’s funeral, expected to take place later Tuesday.

Nilforoushan was killed along with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli strike on Beirut in September. CNN analysis later showed that American-manufactured 2,000-pound bombs were likely used in the attack. Qaani’s absence from official events since the start of October had fueled speculation about whether the top general had met a similar fate.

Iranian officials and state media had repeatedly denied the rumors of Qaani’s death.

Qaani took charge of Iran’s vast paramilitary network across the Middle East in 2020 after replacing Qasem Soleimani following the killing of the former Quds Force chief in a US drone strike. He is sanctioned by the United States, the United Kingdom and other Western nations.

Update: This post has been updated with additional information about the strike. 

Parents whose son was killed by Hamas describe the conditions of his captivity

03:59 • Source: CNN

Parents whose son was killed by Hamas describe the conditions of his captivity

03:59

The parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli-American murdered by Hamas militants in Gaza in August, have told CNN about the “crushing blow” of losing their son.

They say they fear that other families will receive the same “devastating news” unless world leaders take urgent action to secure the release of the remaining hostages.

Both parents were wearing stickers with “374” written on them to mark the number of days that have passed since the hostages were taken captive to Gaza by Hamas.

Goldberg-Polin was one of six hostages whose bodies were discovered by the Israeli military in tunnels under Gaza shortly after they had been killed by Hamas.

Read the full story.

People look at the damage after an Israeli strike hit the courtyard of Al Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza, on Monday.

The death toll from an Israeli strike on the courtyard of the Al Aqsa hospital in Gaza’s Deir al-Balah has risen to five, according to Medecins sans Frontiers (MSF), which is also known as Doctors Without Borders.

Another 65 people were wounded in the attack, according to MSF, which said it was supporting the hospital housing displaced people.

“It is the seventh time that Al Aqsa hospital compound was bombed since March 2024; three of them in the last month,” said MSF on X on Monday.

It quoted MSF nurse Eliza Sabatini, who described “a scene of devastation.”

The Israel Defense Forces has previously said it conducted a “precise strike” on a Hamas command center embedded at the site. It said it had taken steps to limit harm to civilians and blamed Hamas for using civilian infrastructure.

According to MSF, another strike hours earlier had hit a school in the Nuseirat refugee camp. At least 22 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Al Mufti school in the Nuseirat camp, officials from Gaza’s Al Awda and Al Aqsa hospitals said on Sunday. More than 5,000 displaced people were sheltering at the site, according to Gaza’s civil defense.

The strikes caused the United Nations to cancel polio vaccinations which were due to take place there, according to UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini.

CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment on the Nuseirat strike.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed claims his military is deliberately attacking United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon as “completely false.”

“It’s exactly the opposite,” he said in a video statement on Monday, adding that Israel had “repeatedly asked United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to get out of harm’s way” and to “temporarily leave the combat zone.”

Over the past week, the UN has said the Israeli military has fired on its peacekeepers, forcibly entered a base, stopped a critical logistical movement and injured more than a dozen of its troops in southern Lebanon.

Israel has accused Hezbollah of operating in areas near UNIFIL posts and warned UN peacekeeping forces in Lebanon that they are in “harm’s way.”

“Israel is not fighting UNIFIL. It’s not fighting the people of Lebanon. It is fighting Iran’s proxy Hezbollah, which uses Lebanese territory to attack Israel,” he continued, adding that “Hezbollah uses UNIFIL facilities and positions as cover while it attacks Israeli cities and communities.”

The prime minister said his country regretted any harm done to UNIFIL personnel and insisted the IDF was “doing its utmost to prevent such incidents.”

Israel requested an advanced missile defense system from the US several weeks ago, according to a US defense official and a source familiar with the conversations.

This comes after the Pentagon announced Sunday that it was deploying the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery to Israel with approximately 100 US troops to operate the system. The US has only 7 THAAD systems in its inventory, according to the Congressional Research Service.

The US deployed a THAAD battery to the Middle East shortly after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, though the Pentagon declined to say where the system would be located.

The defense official says the request came at least as early as the Israeli strike that killed Hassan Nasrallah on September 27.

Nasrallah’s killing came days before Iran launched more than 180 ballistic missiles at Israel on October 1. Though many of the missiles were intercepted, a number of missiles did penetrate Israel’s aerial defense network.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a commemoration ceremony for soldiers killed during the 2014 Gaza war, also known as Operation Protective Edge, at the Memorial Hall on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on July 16.

Israel will continue to strike Hezbollah targets everywhere in Lebanon, including the country’s capital Beirut, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

“We will continue to strike Hezbollah without mercy everywhere in Lebanon — including Beirut,” he said at the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Golani Brigade Training Base in a video released by the country’s government press office.

That training base was hit Sunday evening by a Hezbollah drone launched from southern Lebanon, killing four Israeli soldiers and injuring more than 60 people.

Netanyahu expressed his condolences to the families of the four Israeli soldiers killed in Sunday’s strike, adding he would visit those who were wounded.

“Together with the entire nation, I pray for their quick recovery … We are continuing to fight. We are paying a painful price, but we have considerable achievements which we will continue to make,” he said.

Netanyahu’s remarks come after CNN learned Israeli strikes on Beirut paused in recent days amid growing “understandings” between US and Israeli officials, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Two Israeli strikes killed at least 22 people and wounded more than 100 in Beirut on Thursday. Since then, there have been no strikes on the Lebanese capital, however they have continued elsewhere, particularly in the south of the country.

The foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom have expressed concern for the safety of UN peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon amid Israel’s ground incursion.

In a joint statement, the ministers said they condemned “unequivocally any threat to the security of UNIFIL,” the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, adding that “any deliberate attack against UNIFIL goes against international humanitarian law and United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701.”

Some context: Over the past week, the UN has said the Israeli military has fired on its peacekeepers, forcibly entered a base, stopped a critical logistical movement and injured more than a dozen of its troops in southern Lebanon.

Israel has accused Hezbollah of operating in areas near UNIFIL posts. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Sunday that UN peacekeeping forces in Lebanon were in “harm’s way.”

In their joint statement, the European foreign ministers urged Israel and all parties to safeguard the well-being and operational freedom of UNIFIL personnel.

The ministers also reaffirmed the contribution of the UN in resolving armed conflicts and mitigating their humanitarian toll.

The United States’ decision to deploy an air defense system and commit about 100 soldiers to operate it is a “visible statement of our commitment” to Israel’s security, an Army secretary said Monday.

The Pentagon announced on Sunday that a THAAD battery — which stands for Terminal High Altitude Area Defense — would be deploying to Israel to help “bolster Israel’s air defenses following Iran’s unprecedented attacks against Israel.” The THAAD system can intercept short, medium and intermediate-range ballistic missiles.

Army Secretary Christine Wormuth declined on Monday to say where the air defense battery going to Israel will be deploying from or when it would arrive.

Both Wormuth and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George commented on the increasing demands on Army air defense units, which are among some of the most deployed units in the military. The air defense community is “the most stressed,” Wormuth said, which requires the Army to give US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin “the information he needs to accurately assess the strain on the force when he’s considering future operational deployments.”

A Hebrew sign shows the direction to a military base, the scene of where a drone from Lebanon attacked Israel, in Binyamina, Israel, on October 14.

Israel is looking into how a Hezbollah drone entered the country without triggering an alert on Sunday.

The attack is the second time in just two days that Hezbollah’s drones were able to penetrate deep into Israeli territory. The Israeli military on Friday intercepted one of two drones fired from Lebanon. A nursing home in the coastal city of Herzliya, central Israel, was damaged.

Here’s what we know so far about what happened:

What Hezbollah has said:

Strikes in Lebanon: At least 19 people were killed after an Israeli strike hit the northern Lebanese village of Aitou on Monday, according to the Lebanese Red Cross. Rescue operations and debris removal are still ongoing.

In Gaza: Over the past nine days, Israeli bombardment of the Jabalya refugee camp has killed at least 300 people. Israel has issued evacuation orders to hospitals and blocked food supplies as part of its escalated offensive in the area. Israeli strikes in Gaza also killed at least 41 people, including at least 13 children, on Sunday, according to hospitals.

UN peacekeeper post breached: United Nations peacekeepers said Israeli soldiers breached one of its posts in southern Lebanon in violation of international law. The Israeli military later said one of its tanks backed into the post as it was evacuating wounded soldiers. A string of Israeli military actions have wounded peacekeepers in Lebanon in recent days, drawing global condemnation.

US sending defense system: The US will send an advanced anti-missile system and US troops to operate it to Israel “to help bolster Israel’s air defenses following Iran’s unprecedented attacks against Israel on April 13 and again on October 1,” the Pentagon said Sunday. The defense system is specifically meant for anti-ballistic missile defense and could help Israel better defend itself against a future Iranian attack.

An Israeli soldier secures a road after a drone attack that caused mass casualties on October 13, in Binyamina, Israel. More than 60 people were reportedly injured following a drone strike launched by Hezbollah.

On Sunday night, a drone, launched from southern Lebanon, was able to penetrate Israeli air defenses undetected and hit the Golani Brigade’s base some 40 miles into Israel from the border.

It struck on Sunday just after 7 p.m. — at dinner time — and while the military has not released any details about the impact site, photos from the scene make it clear the drone hit the base’s dining hall. The strike killed four soldiers and injured more than 60 others, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.

Israel’s air defense systems are impressive, intercepting and destroying most projectiles fired towards the country. But they have been designed and developed primarily to counter rockets and missiles, not drones that can be launched from anywhere, fly low and slow, and change directions quickly.

And while the IDF has not said what type of aircraft was used in Sunday’s attack, experts told CNN it was most likely a Mirsad drone, a type known in Iran as Ababil drones.

Orna Mizrahi, a senior research fellow at the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, told CNN that such unmanned aerial vehicles are harder to detect because they “are small in size, very light, with very low radar signature.”

Iran and its allies are seeking to overwhelm Israel’s defense systems, Mizrahi said, adding drones to the equation after identifying them as “a weakness” for Israel.

For not the first time, the drone sent by Hezbollah at the weekend managed to slip through without triggering Israel’s alert systems. The soldiers in the dining hall were attacked without any warning.

Read more about how Hezbollah is using drones here.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Monday that indirect talks between Iran and the United States, facilitated by Oman, have been paused due to escalating tensions in the region.

Speaking during a visit to Oman’s capital, Muscat, Araghchi said the negotiations, known as the “Muscat process,” have been halted “due to the specific circumstances of the region.”

“Oman has always played a significant role in addressing regional issues and has actively facilitated dialogue between Iran and the US,” Araghchi remarked.

He emphasized, however, that the current regional turmoil has rendered further talks impossible for the time being. “We do not see any ground for these talks until we can get past the current crisis,” he said, leaving the door open for the process to resume at a later stage.

Asked whether any message was conveyed to the US during his visit, Araghchi said: “No message has been sent to other countries during this trip.”

Araghchi said the US and European nations, as well as regional actors, must recognize Iran’s stance on recent developments. “Our position is crystal clear,” Araghchi said. “We do not seek war or conflict, but we are fully prepared for it. We believe that diplomacy must be used to prevent escalation.”

The halt in talks comes amid mounting tensions since Iran launched a barrage of missiles toward Israel on October 1, a retaliatory move after the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander in Beirut. Israel had targeted Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in a strike on Tehran two months prior.

With Israel vowing a response, concerns about a wider regional conflict are intensifying.

Lebanese Red Cross vehicles are parked at a site damaged by an Israeli air strike in the Christian-majority region of Aitou in north Lebanon on October 14.

The death toll from an Israeli strike on the northern Lebanese village of Aitou on Monday has risen from nine to 19, the Lebanese Red Cross told CNN. The organization added that nine more people had been injured.

Red Cross teams are continuing to clear the rubble with more people believed to be still trapped underneath, according to Alexy Nehme, the group’s emergency medical services director.

Monday’s strike destroyed an entire building housing people who fled the bombardment in southern Lebanon, Nehme said.

CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment on the strike.

Aitou is almost 100 kilometers (or about 62 miles) north of Beirut. The village sits in the Zgharta District in northern Lebanon, with a predominantly Christian population.

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni arrives for an informal EU leaders summit in Brussels, Belgium, on June 17.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has condemned the Israeli military’s strikes on UN peacekeeping bases in southern Lebanon, including a hit on a base where around 1,100 Italian troops are stationed.

Meloni’s office said Monday she called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday to condemn the attacks. During the call she “reiterated that it is unacceptable for UNIFIL to have been attacked by Israeli armed forces, recalling that the mission works on the basis of a Security Council mandate to help with regional stability. She stressed that the safety of UNIFIL personnel must absolutely be guaranteed at all times,” according to a statement posted on the government’s website.

“Meloni renewed Italy’s commitment in this regard, expressing her conviction that full application of Resolution 1701 can contribute to stabilization of the Israel-Lebanon border and guarantee that all displaced persons can return home.”

Meloni also highlighted what she called the “urgent need” for de-escalation in the region.

On Friday, Meloni, speaking in a televised interview, said: “The attacks on UNIFIL are unacceptable.”

The prime minister’s comments come after Italy’s Defense Minister Guido Crosetto summoned the Israeli ambassador to Rome to lodge a formal complaint last Thursday, calling the attacks on UNIFIL bases “a war crime.”

UNIFIL said in a statement that five of its 10,000 peacekeeping forces had been injured since Israel started bombing southern Lebanon and that 15 suffered smoke inhalation-related distress in an incident Sunday. “Despite putting on protective masks, fifteen peacekeepers suffered effects, including skin irritation and gastrointestinal reactions, after the smoke entered the camp,” UNIFIL said.

Israel has accused Hezbollah of operating in areas near UNIFIL posts.

Israel’s Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant briefed US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin overnight about the deadly Hezbollah attack on an army base deep inside Israeli territory.

Gallant’s press office said in a statement that the minister highlighted the severity of the drone attack, which left four soldiers dead and more than 60 injured, eight of them seriously.

He said that Israel would take a “forceful response” against Hezbollah.

Gallant also told Austin that Israel was taking “measures to maintain coordination with UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) and to avoid harm to both UNIFIL troops and civilians in the area,” according to the readout published by Gallant’s press office on Monday.

The issue of UNIFIL has become a point of contention between Israel and its allies after the UN said that the Israeli military has fired on its peacekeepers, forcibly entered its base, stopped its logistics and injured more than a dozen of its troops in southern Lebanon.

The phone call between the two officials came hours after the US announced it would deploy its THAAD missile defense system to Israel. Gallant called the decision “yet another clear reflection of the United States’ commitment to Israel’s security and to Israel’s defense against aerial threats posed by Iran and its proxies.”

UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon) armoured personnel carriers depart a base to patrol near the Lebanon- Israel border on October 5.

Over the past week, the UN said that the Israeli military fired on its peacekeepers, forcibly entered its base, stopped logistics and injured more than a dozen of its troops in southern Lebanon.

Israel’s attacks on the peacekeeping mission, which has operated in Lebanon for more than 45 years, have been widely condemned by the international community. UNIFIL — the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon — has called the violations “shocking” while Israel has accused Hezbollah of operating in areas near UNIFIL posts.

So, what is UNIFIL and what does it do?

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was established by the UN Security Council following Israel’s first invasion into southern Lebanon in 1978.

Its mandate was to confirm the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the country, restore international peace and security, and assist the Lebanese government to restore its effective authority in the area. In June 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon for a second time and subsequently established a security zone inside the country, which remained until its withdrawal in 2000.

In 2000 UNIFIL established the Blue Line — an area spanning 120 kilometers (around 75 miles) along southern Lebanon to ensure the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces. It acts as a de-facto border between the two countries since Lebanon and Israel have an ongoing border dispute.

The mission is made up of more than 10,000 personnel from 50 countries, the majority of whom are troops. Indonesia, Italy, India, Nepal, Ghana and Malaysia contribute the most troops. The UNIFIL troops are tasked with monitoring border violations and keeping the area, which includes Hezbollah strongholds — secure.

Read more about UNIFIL and what it does here.

As Israel investigates how a Hezbollah drone evaded its air defenses and killed four soldiers in an attack on a military base on Sunday, experts say the Iran-backed Lebanese group is hoping to overwhelm the Jewish state by pelting it with cheap, hard-to-detect suicide drones.

Relatively cheap to produce and easy to operate, drones are more difficult to detect and intercept by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, Orna Mizrahi, a senior research fellow at the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv, told CNN. This is mainly because they “are small in size, very light, with very low radar signature,” she said, adding that Israel’s radar systems will not always detect them the way they detect missiles, which are bigger.

Neither Hezbollah nor Israel have said which drones were used in Sunday’s attack. Hezbollah in a statement said it used “various drones, some used for the first time.”

But experts say they were likely the Mirsad variety, known in Iran as the Ababil drones. This drone is “a low and slow flying one-way attack drone with an estimated 40-50 kg (88-110 lbs) warhead,” Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, DC, told CNN.

Adding to the difficulty to track the drones is the fact they do not always have a fixed direction, Mizrahi said. “Drones can change direction along the flight,” she said, adding that “you cannot understand where they are going eventually,” or what they will hit.

Knowing that Israel is pouring funds into its anti-missile system, Hezbollah is adding drones to the equation, having identified it as “a weakness” for Israel, Mizrahi said.

Ben Taleblu noted that the drone attack and the rocket barrages on northern Israel over the weekend suggest that “despite reportedly loosing half of their arsenal, Hezbollah remains undeterred and is intent on continuing to prod for gaps in Israel’s layered air defenses.”

Palestinian children receive drops as part of a polio vaccination campaign, in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, on October 14.

The United Nations has begun the second round of an emergency polio vaccination drive in Gaza, the UN International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) said Monday.

The campaign started in the middle area in Gaza, UNICEF said, with the help of the Palestinian health ministry, the World Health Organization and the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

The effort kicks off as vaccinations in one school were canceled after sustaining “severe damage” from an airstrike, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said Monday.

The UN last month began the polio vaccination campaign after Israeli strikes destroyed water and sanitation systems, leading to a resurgence of the deadly disease in the besieged strip.

The drive, facilitated by a series of pauses in fighting agreed to by Israel, came after the highly infectious virus was found in sewage samples in the strip in June. Then in August, a baby boy became the first person in Gaza in 25 years to be diagnosed with polio.

Nine people were killed and one was injured after an Israeli strike hit the northern Lebanese village of Aitou Monday, Lebanon’s health ministry said, adding that rescue operations and debris removal are still ongoing.

This is the first occasion the village has been struck since the current war began a year ago, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA).

“A military aircraft launched a raid, for the first (time) since the beginning of the Israeli aggression, on a residential apartment in the town of Aitou,” NNA reported Monday.

CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment.

Aitou is almost 100 kilometers (or about 62 miles) north of Beirut. The village sits in the Zgharta District in northern Lebanon, with a predominantly Christian population.

The United Nations has canceled polio vaccinations due to take place at a UN school in Gaza after it sustained “severe damage” from an airstrike, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said Monday.

Officials from Gaza’s Al Awda and Al Aqsa hospitals said on Sunday that at least 22 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Al Mufti school in Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp. More than 5,000 displaced people were sheltering there, Gaza’s civil defense said.

“Gaza is a never ending hell. All of this must not become the new norm,” Lazzarini added.

CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment.

More on the vaccinations: The UN last month began a polio vaccination campaign after Israeli airstrikes destroyed water and sanitation systems, leading to a resurgence of the deadly disease in the besieged strip. The UN’s polio campaign, facilitated by a series of pauses in fighting agreed to by Israel, came after the highly infectious virus was found in sewage samples in the strip in June. Then in August, an 11-month-old boy became the first person in Gaza in 25 years to be diagnosed with polio.