Israel-Hezbollah war: Israel strikes Beirut; US warns Tel Aviv of arms supply cut; Iran appeals to UN | 10 points

Israel-Hezbollah War: The Israeli military has resumed its attacks on the Lebanese capital city of Beirut early today (October 16) after halting strikes for six days, AP said, citing eyewitness accounts.

The casualty count from Beirut was not yet clear yet, but officials said the death toll from the attacks on Qana town has risen to 15. Nuhad Bustanji, a spokesperson for the first responders, said rescue efforts were still underway and the toll could rise.

Israel-Hezbollah War Latest Updates — 10 Points

• The resumption of attacks on Beirut comes only a day after Lebanon's caretaker, PM Najib Mikati, was assured of reduced strikes on Beirut and its southern suburbs in the capital by the United States government, the AP report said.
• Israel claims it is striking Hezbollah in Beirut's southern suburbs and said today's strike hit a weapons warehouse under a residential building. The suburbs are busy residential and commercial areas, the report noted.
• An AP photographer in the area documented three strikes in the Haret Hreik neighbourhood, with the first less than an hour after the IDF posted an evacuation warning on social media platform X. 

• As per the UN’s refugee agency, Israel has now told people in an area equal to about a quarter of Lebanon to move, with 1.2 million people already displaced by the conflict. Around 1.9 million people have been displaced in Gaza.
• Meanwhile, the US has reportedly warned Israel it could cut arms supplies if the humanitarian aid going into Gaza doesn’t improve, as per a Bloomberg report.
• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote to Israeli ministers on October 13, warning that the US may have to limit weapons flow to Israel if it doesn’t allow more aid into the besieged Palestinian enclave within 30 days.

• On the Iran front, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, in a call to UN Chief Antonio Guterres, warned that if Israel attacks his country for the October 1 missile retaliation, Tehran is ready for a “decisive and regretful” response, AFP reported.
• Araghchi also reportedly appealed to the UN to use its resources “to stop the crimes and aggressions of the Israeli regime and to send humanitarian aid to Lebanon and Gaza.”
• Iran launched around 200 missiles at Israel on October 1 in retaliation for the killing of two of its closest allies—Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah—and an Iranian general.
• Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant had last week stated that his country's retaliatory measure would be “deadly, precise, and surprising”.

(With inputs from Agencies)