At least five people have been killed in an Israeli strike on a medical facility in Beirut, according to Lebanese officials. The Health Authority Centre was affiliated with Hezbollah
The announcement comes after a series of loud blasts have been heard by BBC reporters in the Lebanese city, as the Israeli military says it conducted "precise strikes" there
Three explosions were heard in Dahieh, in the city's southern suburbs - with a fourth blast at a building close to central Beirut
It comes as the IDF and Hezbollah report ground fighting inside southern Lebanon, a day after Israel announced it was invading
It later reports the deaths of eight Israeli soldiers in combat - the first inside Lebanon since the invasion began
Earlier, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran would "pay", after Iran fired around 180 missiles at Israel on Tuesday
Lebanese officials say more than 1,000 people have been killed in the past two weeks, while around a million may now be displaced
Watch: Analysing where Iran's missiles struck in Israel
Nikos Papanikolaou
BBC News
Further to our previous post, a Greek citizen who lives in Jerusalem was among those killed in the gun and knife attack in Tel Aviv yesterday.
According to sources, the victim was a 20-year-old man born in Thessaloniki, Greece.
"We unequivocally condemn yesterday's terrorist attack in Tel Aviv's Jaffa district," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Image source, ReutersIsraeli medics at the cite of Tuesday's attack in Tel Aviv
Israeli authorities have released more details about the deadly stabbing and shooting attack in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, which happened as Iran was carrying out its massive missile attack.
In a joint statement, the Israeli police and the Shin Bet security service said seven Israelis were killed and another 16 injured.
"According to the preliminary investigation, two terrorists entered a light rail train cart that had made a stop, opened fire on passengers, and continued attacking pedestrians on foot until they were neutralised by city patrols and civilians using personal firearms...
"The joint Israel Police and Shin Bet investigation revealed that the terrorists were 19-year-old Muhammad Mask, who was killed at the scene, and 25-year-old Ahmad Haymani, who was critically wounded."
The attackers - both residents of Hebron - had in their possession an M16 rifle, multiple magazines, and a knife, the statement says.
Frank Gardner
Security correspondent
Forcefully, it says. The restraint which its international allies urged on it following the previous Iranian missile barrage in April is unlikely to be in evidence this time.
Israel’s current strategy appears to be a two-track one: to eliminate its enemies through assassinations and air strikes and then deterrence – demonstrating to Iran and its proxies that every attack on Israel will be met with even greater force.
Former Israeli intelligence officer Avi Melamed says Iran’s attack "is poised to provoke a significant Israeli counterstrike… we will likely see a significant and immediate response from Israel against Iranian targets."
So what will that retaliation look like?
Israel will have long had plans in the drawer for strikes on Iran. Its defence chiefs will now be assessing when and how hard to hit the Islamic Republic.
The most obvious military targets are the land bases which launched Tuesday’s volley of ballistic missiles. So, not just the silos, but the command-and-control centres, even the refuelling facilities. Then there are all Iran's petro-chemical sites.
It could even try to activate its network of agents inside Iran to go after those who ordered and carried out the missile attack. Additionally, if Israel decides to escalate even further, it could target Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Either way, an Iranian counter-attack would then be almost inevitable, with both countries perpetuating the current cycle of attack and revenge.
Jon Donnison
Reporting from north of Tel Aviv
We’ve come to just north of Tel Aviv, Israel’s biggest city, and the site of one of the Iranian ballistic missile strikes.
We’re outside some sort of commercial centre. There are two or three badly damaged cars and right next to the road a big pile of earth.
Last night here, there was a huge crater, maybe 8 to 10 metres deep. It’s already been filled in but you get a sense of the power of the blast.
Israel’s missile defence system did manage to intercept many of the rockets - but plenty still got through.
If any of the almost 200 ballistic missiles fired had hit a residential tower block, a sports stadium or a shopping mall, there could have been scores - possibly hundreds - of casualties.
The headquarters of Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, is close to here so it’s possible that was the target.
The question now, after this unprecedented Iranian attack is how will Israel respond? My colleague Frank Gardner is looking at that next.
The scene near Tel Aviv this morning
It's been a busy morning so far, in the aftermath of Iran's massive attack on Israel yesterday:
Image source, ReutersDisplaced migrants waiting outside St Joseph's Church in Beirut, earlier today
Ghoncheh Habibiazad
BBC Monitoring
Image source, Getty ImagesIran's supreme leader, pictured earlier this month, is said to remain in a secure location, the Reuters news agency reports
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, met a group of elites in Tehran today.
He blamed the regional tension and wars on "US and some European countries" which "falsely claim they bring peace and tranquillity to the region".
He said they must "get lost" from the region so that the countries in the region can live in peace.
He said that he is "mourning" over the death of Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah, but did not postpone his meeting with elites because Iran's mourning is a "reviving and driving" force.
The order to launch missiles at Israel on Tuesday was made by the country's supreme leader - who remains in a secure location, a senior Iranian official told Reuters news agency.
Chris Partridge
BBC News weapons analyst
Image source, ReutersA projectile seen from Tel Aviv last night, as Iran carried out its missile attack
More details have been emerging about Iran's attack, with information coming out of the Pentagon in the United States.
Around 200 missiles were launched and the majority of them were ballistic, which makes them more difficult to intercept and defeat because of their high speed and angled trajectory.
Twice as many ballistic missiles were fired yesterday compared to Iran's attack in April, when it launched around 300 weapons at Israel - drones, cruise missiles (which are slower and have a flatter trajectory) and some ballistic missiles.
Back then some 99% were said to have been successfully intercepted, with minimal damage.
US forces, as well as the UK, were involved in repelling yesterday’s attack on Israel. Pentagon Press Secretary Major General Pat Ryder said two warships launched around a dozen interceptors - defence missiles - at ballistic targets.
"You don't launch that many missiles at a target without the intent of hitting something,” said Maj Gen Ryder.
We can now bring you new images from Israel and Lebanon.
Last night, Iran launched a barrage of missiles at Israel, causing some damage in central Israel, as well as killing a Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank.
Meanwhile, Israel has continued its strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Image source, ShutterstockA woman inspects damage from Iran's rocket barrage in Gedera, central Israel
Image source, ReutersSmoke rises over Beirut, Lebanon, on Wednesday morning following Israeli air strikes
Image source, ReutersPeople queue at check-in counters in Beirut airport - but most carriers have cancelled their flights
Image source, ReutersArtillery is fired into Lebanon from northern Israel on Wednesday morning
The Lebanese prime minister said yesterday around a million people have been displaced as Israel's air strikes continue across Lebanon.
With emergency shelters in Beirut unable to accommodate all those arriving from the south, many are sleeping by the road, in public squares, or on the beach.
"We were forced to leave our villages and homes and come to Beirut, but there are no available houses or schools, all are overcrowded," a man tell our colleagues on BBC Arabic.
"If we survive the bombings, we risk dying from the cold weather and diseases. We can't afford medicine should we fall ill. Many suffer on the streets," he adds.
Another man says he now lives on the street and does not know what to do: "We left everything behind and arrived here with no clothes or resources."
"Apartment rents have skyrocketed beyond our means, leaving us on the streets with our children in the cold winter," another person says. "We are enduring a truly tragic situation.”
Image source, ReutersSome displaced people are living in shelters on the beach (this picture does not show those quoted in the above post)
Sirens warning of incoming rocket fire have sounded across northern Israel this morning.
The Israel Defense Forces issued alerts to communities around Haifa and Western Galilee, near the Israel-Lebanon border.
As many as 100 rockets have been fired at northern Israel so far today, Israeli media reports, citing the IDF.
The Israel Defense Forces has issued a new warning for people in around 25 southern Lebanese villages to evacuate.
It follows a warning issued yesterday for a similar number of areas – about five of the villages included in the latest message were also included in yesterday's warning.
The warning from the IDF's Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee, posted on social media, comes after reports of fighting inside southern Lebanon.
Addressing the affected Lebanese residents, Adraee says the Israeli military does not intend to harm them and they should immediately evacuate to north of the Awali River – which meets the coast about 50km (30 miles) from the border with Israel – to "save your lives".
Nafiseh Kohnavard
BBC Persian Middle East correspondent, Beirut
Yesterday, we arrived at the scene of one of Israel’s attacks on Beirut only about an hour after it happened.
There was heavy traffic, as debris from the building had fallen onto one side of the highway that goes towards Beirut Rafiq Hariri International airport.
The building was located in Bir Hasan area, in a packed residential neighbourhood. It was clear this was another targeted attack by Israel: only two floors of the 11-storey building were badly damaged.
Smoke was rising and there was fire inside the apartments that were targeted. It is still not clear who was targeted or how many people were killed. There has been no statement on possible casualties by Hezbollah or other allied groups.
A Hezbollah security member at the scene told us two missiles were fired from a drone. One exploded and one did not. He said many people were in their homes in this building and others nearby when the explosion happened.
The building was just next to Al Zahra hospital - which is considered a Hezbollah-affiliated hospital - and several members of the group injured in the pager blasts and Israel’s air strikes have been treated there.
This was not the only attack that happened yesterday in this area. A floor in another building very close to this one was similarly targeted.
A five-minute drive away are the schools in Bir Hasan that are now sheltering thousands of displaced people who fled from southern Lebanon and Dahieh - a Beirut suburb and Hezbollah stronghold.
When we went back to the school, people told us the explosions had caused a massive panic among people who had already fled bombing - especially children.
Smoke still billows from an apartment building that was hit in recent days in Beirut
In his latest message, the UK Defence Secretary John Healey says British forces "played their part" in helping Israel repel Iran's missile attack on Tuesday, thanking them for their "courage and professionalism".
The BBC understands UK fighter jets were involved, as happened in April when Iran last attacked Israel.
The US also helped Israel - the Pentagon said the US fired about a dozen interceptors at Iranian ballistic missiles on Tuesday, with President Joe Biden saying it was at his direction.
After another night of Israeli strikes on Beirut, Lebanese politician Michel Helou tells the BBC the city is "tense".
In addition to the casualties, the attacks are "traumatising", the secretary general of the independent National Bloc party in Lebanon tells the World Service's Newsday programme.
"Last night none of us slept much because it was the fifth night in a row that the southern suburb is struck.
"Every hour the Israeli army sends a Twitter post warning people to evacuate, but how and where and how could it be possible for them to evacuate in half an hour before a strike hits.
"It's very traumatising obviously psychologically, on top of the human toll of those strikes."
In Beirut, Israel has primarily been targeting the southern suburb of Dahieh, a Hezbollah stronghold. It says it's taking steps to minimise the risk of harming civilians – accusing Hezbollah of hiding its infrastructure amid civilian populations.
Image source, ReutersSmoke in southern Beirut, as seen on Wednesday morning
As we've been reporting, Israel announced a ground invasion on southern Lebanon on Tuesday - and details from the ground remain limited.
But in a recent update, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), says "additional forces" are joining "the limited, localized, targeted raids on Hezbollah targets" in southern Lebanon.
They will join the ground operation and will be drawn from the 36th Division and other forces, the IDF says.
Earlier, Hezbollah said that it repelled an Israeli ground attack in a southern Lebanon border village on Wednesday, but the Israeli military has not commented.
Jeremy Bowen
International Editor
When Iran attacked Israel in April, it seemed like they were making a point – but they virtually gave notice, and everything was pretty much shot out of the air by Israeli and American defences.
This time around was different. They looked like they wanted to do some serious damage and were making a much more aggressive point.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said they were retaliating to the killings of senior leaders in Hamas and Hezbollah, and warned that if Israel retaliated, in turn they would strike back.
Last time around, Joe Biden said to Netanyahu – "take the win", don’t carry out a big response, and they didn’t.
This time around in Israel the mood is very different.
Look at the tweet from former prime minister Naftali Bennett last night, using very strong language, saying "this is the greatest opportunity in 50 years to change the face of the Middle East". He said Israel should go after Iran’s nuclear facilities, in order to "fatally cripple this terrorist regime".
Now he’s not prime minister (although he is widely tipped to be a future one, so he was making a point to show he is tough) but it does reflect a certain mood in the country.
I would not rule out attacks by Israel on anything at the moment – nuclear sites, petrochemical facilities, anything that could cause damage to the Iranian economy.
The scenario always was that Iran had a forward defence in the shape of Hezbollah in Lebanon, with a massive arsenal of sophisticated weapons, to be used, in theory, if Iran and its nuclear facilities were attacked.
But in the last couple of weeks, Israel has decapitated the Hezbollah organisation, destroyed half of its weapons, according to American and Israeli authorities, and invaded Lebanon.
The deterrent Iran had, you could argue, is not just gone – it’s smashed into a thousand pieces.
So I think the Israelis are feeling more free to act. And Joe Biden is moving another carrier battle group to the Mediterranean, signalling to the Iranians that if you hit Israel, you hit the US too.
This is why people were talking about the fear of the war spreading: the instability, the turbulence that comes from everything that’s been happening – now we are seeing it play out and it leaves very little room for diplomacy at this moment.
Nick Beake
Reporting from northern Israel
Overnight, we heard a constant drum beat of explosions as Israeli pummelled Hezbollah positions just across the border inside Lebanon.
Israeli jets and helicopters have been busy overhead, flying out and then returning to base.
Here, in this part of northern Israel, like across the country, people are preparing to mark the Jewish New Year - which starts today.
But it’s clear from the people we talk to, the mood is muted. Many have been forced out of their homes for nearly a year now because of the threat of Hezbollah rockets fired from inside Lebanon.
Instead, these families have been living in places where the threat of rocket attack is deemed to be lower.
Few would confidently predict what the next 12 months has in store for Israel, Lebanon and the wider Middle East.
But in the very short term there are few positive signs.
Israel is vowing to deliver “grave consequences” for last night’s Iranian missile attack and Tehran is promising an even bigger barrage next time in response to any big Israeli retaliation.
Image source, ReutersSmoke billows over Beirut, after overnight Israeli air strikes, as seen from Sin El Fil, Lebanon
On Tuesday, Israel launched a ground invasion of Lebanon: The Israeli military said troops had begun "limited, localised and targeted raids against Hezbollah terror targets"in Lebanese border villages. Hezbollah claimed early on Wednesday it had successfully repelled an Israeli infantry incursion
Later on Tuesday, Iran prepared a missile attack on Israel: After receiving reports of an "imminent" Iranian missile attack, the IDF urged Israelis to go to "protected spaces if sirens heard"
Mass shooting in Tel Aviv: As Israel prepared for the Iranian strike, gunmen opened fire on a street in Tel Aviv, killing at least seven and wounding several others – police said the two attackers were "neutralised"
Iran then launched a massive missile attack on Israel: The Israeli military said it intercepted most of the 180 rockets fired at the country - one Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank was killed during the barrage, and a school in central Israel and restaurant in Tel Aviv were hit
Netanyahu said Iran "would pay": The Israeli prime minister said his country was determined to retaliate, adding that Tehran "made a big mistake tonight". Joe Biden reiterated US support for Israel, saying he was "fully supportive" of Israel
Strikes on Beirut continued overnight: The Israeli military issued several evacuation orders overnight, as it continued to target the capital's southern suburbs of Dahieh, a Hezbollah stronghold
Hezbollah says it carried out a series of attacks against Israel this morning, including a rocket attack on an Israeli military barracks.
In three attacks that occurred between 07:15 to 07:20 local time, missiles struck Israeli troops gathered in the settlements of Shtula and Maskaf Am and "a gathering of the Israeli enemy forces in the Shomera barracks", according to statements released Hezbollah in the last few minutes.
The group says that the strikes achieved several "direct" and "accurate" hits.
This comes shortly after Hezbollah said it repelled forces at the Lebanese town of Adaisseh.
Israel has not yet commented on Hezbollah's claims.
Hugo Bachega
Middle East correspondent, in Beirut
It was another night of heavy Israeli air strikes in Beirut, with the explosions lighting up the sky. The target was, again, Dahieh, Hezbollah’s base in the city’s southern suburbs.
The Israeli military had issued several evacuation orders, saying it would hit buildings linked to the group. Some of the warnings came in the middle of the night, at 03:00 and 04:00 local time, when most people would be sleeping.
This used to be the beating heart of Hezbollah in Beirut but, when I visited in on Sunday, it looked like a ghost town, with streets empty, shops closed and more people trying to flee.
In southern Lebanon, we still do not know the extent of the Israeli ground invasion, which the Israeli military has described as a “limited and targeted” operation.
This morning, Hezbollah claimed it clashed with troops trying to infiltrate the town of Adaisseh, right next to the border, forcing them to retreat. There has not been confirmation from the Israeli military.
Southern Lebanon is an area with a heavy Hezbollah presence. The group has spent years building infrastructure that includes extensive underground tunnels. It also has thousands of battle-hardened fighters, who know this area well.
Hezbollah has been weakened after two weeks of Israeli air strikes that have displaced around one million residents across the country. The authorities say that 1,900 people have been killed since the start of the Hezbollah-Israel conflict, last October.
But the group has not been defeated, saying its fighters are ready to confront any invasion.