Israeli strike closes off road used to flee Lebanon

An Israeli strike on Friday morning near Lebanon's Masnaa border crossing with Syria cut off a road used by hundreds of thousands of people to flee Israeli bombardments in recent days, Lebanon Transport Minister Ali Hamieh said. 

Hamieh said the strike hit inside Lebanese territory near the border crossing, creating a four-metre (12 feet) wide crater.

An Israel Defence Forces (IDF) military spokesman had accused Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah on Thursday of using the crossing to transport military equipment into Lebanon.

"The IDF will not allow the smuggling of these weapons and will not hesitate to act if forced to do so, as it has done throughout this war," IDF spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X.

According to Lebanese government statistics, more than 300,000 people - a vast majority of them Syrian - had crossed from Lebanon into Syria over the last 10 days to escape escalating Israeli bombardment.

The escalating fighting between Hezbollah and Israel has raised fears that the United States and Iran will be sucked into the Middle East conflict raging on several fronts.

Nations worldwide have prepared contingency plans to evacuate citizens from Lebanon after a dramatic escalation in the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese armed movement Hezbollah.

US President Joe Biden said he did not believe there is going to be an "all-out war" in the Middle East, as Israel weighs options for retaliation after Tehran's largest ever assault on its arch-enemy.

However, Biden said more needed to be done to avoid a Middle East war, as Israel's military hit Beirut with new air strikes in its battle against Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

Asked by reporters in Washington on Thursday how confident he was that such a war could be averted, Biden said, "How confident are you it's not going to rain? Look, I don't believe there is going to be an all-out war. I think we can avoid it."

While the United States, the European Union, and other allies have called for an immediate 21-day ceasefire in the Israel-Lebanon conflict, Biden said the US was discussing with Israel its options for responding to Tehran's assault, which included Israel striking Iran's oil facilities.

His comments contributed to a surge in global oil prices, and rising Middle East tension has made traders worry about potential supply disruptions.

However, Biden added: "There is nothing going to happen today." Asked later if he was urging Israel not to attack Iran's oil installations, Biden said he would not negotiate in public.

On Wednesday, the president said he would not support any Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear sites.

Beirut's southern suburb of Dahiye came under renewed strikes near midnight on Thursday after Israel ordered people to leave their homes in some areas, residents and security sources said. 

The air raids targeted Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine, rumoured successor to its assassinated leader Hassan Nasrallah, in an underground bunker, Axios reporter Barak Ravid said on X, citing three Israeli officials.

Safieddine's fate was not clear, he said. Israel said Hezbollah launched about 230 rockets from Lebanon towards Israel on Thursday.

Hezbollah said it targeted what it called Israel's "Sakhnin base" for military industries in Haifa Bay on the Mediterranean coast of northern Israel with a salvo of rockets.

Late on Thursday, Hezbollah said it also targeted Israel's "Nesher base" in Haifa with a salvo of Fadi 2 rockets.