Middle East latest: Fears of wider war in Middle East grow as Israel and Iran trade threats

Jerusalem: The Middle East moved closer to a long-feared regional war on Wednesday, a day after Iran fired a barrage of missiles at Israel and Israel said it began limited ground incursions into Lebanon targeting the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia.

Israel said it intercepted many of the missiles, and officials in Washington said US destroyers assisted in Israel’s defence. Iran said most of its missiles hit their targets. There have been no reports of casualties.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed late Tuesday to retaliate against Iran, which he said “made a big mistake tonight and it will pay for it”. An Iranian commander threatened wider strikes on infrastructure if Israel retaliates.

The United Nations Security Council called an emergency meeting for Wednesday to address the spiralling conflict.

Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since the day after Hamas’ cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 others hostage.

Israel declared war on the militant group in the Gaza Strip in response. More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory, and just over half the dead have been women and children, according to local health officials.

Here is the latest:

US sanctions Iranian man and Chinese firms accused of helping Houthis

WASHINGTON — The US has imposed sanctions on an Iranian man and three Chinese firms that Washington believes helped the Houthi militant group acquire materials needed to manufacture and deploy advanced missiles and drones against the US and its allies.

Iranian citizen Hasan Ahmad Hasan Muhammad al-Kuhlani is named in the sanctions announced on Wednesday. He is accused of facilitating weapons smuggling for the Houthis.

Treasury’s Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley T. Smith says the Houthis “continue to leverage their networks of companies and procurement operatives to sustain their reckless attacks on civilian vessels, their unarmed crews, and civilian populations”.

UN chief demands an end to the escalating violence in the Middle East

UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations chief is demanding a halt to the escalation of “tit-for-tat violence” that he warned is leading people in the Middle East “straight over the cliff”.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Wednesday that in just a week the alarming situation in Lebanon has gone from bad “to much, much worse”.

 “It is absolutely essential to avoid an all-out war in Lebanon, which would have profound and devastating consequences,” he said.

Guterres strongly condemned Tuesday’s Iranian missile attack against Israel. He also criticized attacks against Israel by Hamas from Gaza and Hezbollah from Lebanon, and he lambasted Israel for the “most deadly and destructive military campaign in my years as secretary-general” — referring to the conflict in Gaza in response to Hamas’ October 7 attacks.

 “It is high time for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza,” he said. “It is high time for a cessation of hostilities in Lebanon. … It is high time to stop the sickening cycle of escalation after escalation that is leading the people of the Middle East straight over the cliff.”

Israel says 7 soldiers have been killed in combat in southern Lebanon

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says seven soldiers have been killed in combat in southern Lebanon.

The deaths were announced Wednesday, a day after Israel said it had launched a ground incursion across its northern border.

Fighting between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants is ongoing in southern Lebanon, both sides said in separate statements.

The news comes as Israel sends more troops and artillery to the border area.

Israel eases restrictions on public gatherings near the Lebanese border

JERUSALEM — Israel has eased restrictions on gatherings for its residents living in the country’s north near the Lebanese border.

The Home Front Command said up to 50 residents can gather in outside spaces in northern Galilee and the Israeli-held Golan Heights. Gatherings of up to 250 people are allowed in closed spaces.

In the coastal Haifa area, outside gatherings of up to 60 people are allowed, it said Wednesday.

Limits on gatherings were imposed because of near-daily fire by Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group into northern Israel, where evacuation orders for Lebanese living closest to the border remain in place.

Russia and China urge restraint in the Middle East

MOSCOW — The Kremlin says the situation in the Middle East is developing into the “most alarming scenario” and has called for restraint.

 “We urge all sides to show restraint against the backdrop of the ongoing events, and of course, we condemn any actions that lead to the deaths of civilians,” spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry also urged both sides to exercise restraint.

 “All parties involved should abandon provocative actions and show restraint and a responsible approach in line with the well-known decisions of the United Nations and its Security Council,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said at a news conference.

In Beijing, China’s Foreign Ministry said it “opposes the violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity and oppose moves that fuel antagonism and escalate tensions”.

It didn’t single out any country by name.

 “China calls on the international community, especially major countries with influence, to play a constructive role and avoid further turmoil,” the statement said. “China believes that the protracted fighting in Gaza is the root cause of this round of turmoil in the Middle East, and all parties need to work urgently for a comprehensive and lasting cease-fire.”

Hezbollah says it killed and wounded Israeli soldiers in Lebanon clashes

BEIRUT — The Lebanese militant Hezbollah group says its fighters killed and wounded an unspecified number of Israeli soldiers in clashes in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah said they detonated an explosive device as Israeli troops tried to cross deeper into Lebanon toward the southern village of Yaroun on Wednesday.

Hezbollah did not provide a breakdown of the alleged Israeli casualties and there was no immediate reaction from the Israeli military, which earlier announced the death of a soldier — the first to be killed in the ground incursion.

Germany criticises Israel for barring UN chief from entering the country

BERLIN — Germany says Israel’s decision to bar UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from entering the country is unhelpful.

Earlier on Wednesday, Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, said he was declaring Guterres “persona non grata”, deepening an already wide rift with the United Nations.

German Foreign Ministry spokesperson Sebastian Fischer acknowledged those tensions and said “this step isn’t particularly helpful, because in the end more talks are needed and not fewer talks”. Germany is a staunch ally of Israel.

He said “we shouldn’t deprive ourselves of channels of dialogue that could possibly contribute to bringing about a solution”.

Also on Wednesday, Iran’s charge d’affaires in Berlin was summoned to the German Foreign Ministry, where German officials condemned Iran’s missile barrage against Israel on Tuesday and demanded that Tehran and its allies refrain from further attacks.

Neighbouring Austria also summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires in Vienna to its Foreign Ministry.

Israeli military announces its first combat death in Lebanon incursions

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military has announced its first combat death since launching ground operations in Lebanon this week.

The military said on Wednesday that Captain Eitan Itzhak Oster, a 22-year-old in a commando brigade, was killed in combat in Lebanon.

The military didn’t immediately provide other details.

Lebanese army says Israeli troops carried out a brief incursion into Lebanon

BEIRUT — The Lebanese army says Israeli forces breached approximately 400 meters (yards) into Lebanese territory on Wednesday and then withdrew “after a short period”.

The statement was the first official acknowledgement from Beirut that Israeli forces are carrying out a ground incursion into Lebanon.

The Israeli military said Wednesday that ground forces backed by air power killed militants in “close-range engagements”, without saying where.

Earlier Wednesday, Hezbollah’s chief spokesman, Mohammed Afif, told reporters touring sites of Israeli airstrikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs that Hezbollah “fought a heroic battle this morning” in the southern villages of Odaisseh and Maroun al-Ras against Israeli soldiers who launched a ground incursion into Lebanon.

Afif promised the destroyed areas would be rebuild “better and more beautiful than they were before” — echoing what former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike last week, said in 2006, when the militant group fought a monthlong war with Israel.

Israel’s foreign minister bars the UN chief from entering Israel

JERUSALEM — Israel’s foreign minister says he is barring the United Nations secretary-general from entering Israel, accusing him of being biased against the country.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday that he was declaring Antonio Guterres “persona non grata” and that he would be prevented from entering Israel.

The move deepens an already wide rift between Israel and the United Nations.

Israeli police say 7 people died in Tuesday’s shooting attack in Tel Aviv

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli police says seven people were killed in a shooting attack in Tel Aviv minutes before the Iranian missile barrage.

Two Palestinian men from the Israeli-occupied West.