Thick smoke over Dahieh as Israeli strikes hit southern Beirut
published at 00:05 British Summer Time
00:05 BST

Nafiseh Kohnavard
BBC Persian Middle East correspondent, Beirut

Thick smoke over Dahieh
From my balcony in Beirut I can see a thick smoke over Dahieh. I've heard at least seven strong explosions already.

Our neighbourhood is considered safe but even here I can see my neighbours are still up and awake.

With every blast rumbling they are coming to their balconies to look towards Dahieh. Beirut, and I think all of Lebanon, is sleepless.

I have received many messages from family and friends in Iran, my home country, and Turkey and Iraq, countries that I was based in previously, asking me if there will be a bigger regional war now.

I don’t have a definitive answer for it yet. It is getting difficult to predict and analyse what is coming next.

But what is obvious is that this is going to be a long night for Lebanon and the region.


Iran accuses US of 'complicity' in Israeli strikes
published at 23:48 British Summer Time
23:48 BST
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has accused the US of "complicity" in Israeli strikes in Gaza and Lebanon.

"One cannot disregard the US complicity in the crime," Araghchi told the UN Security Council.

It comes as Israel says it's carrying out strikes on buildings in Beirut which it claims store weapons belonging to Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran.

US President Joe Biden earlier confirmed that "the United States had no knowledge of or participation in the (Israeli) action" in Lebanon today, which was reiterated by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.