Israel batters suburbs of Beirut, targeting Hezbollah amid war with Iran
Smoke rises from Dahieh as the Israeli Army bombs the area after issuing a forced evacuation order in Beirut, Lebanon, on March 5, 2026. (Photo by Houssam Shbaro/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(BEIRUT) — Intense bombardments continue to hit the Dahiyeh suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, as Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah in a wave of attacks that began midnight local time Friday.
At least 217 people have been killed and 798 others have been wounded in Israeli attacks on Lebanon that began early Monday, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said Thursday.
The Israel Defense Forces said it struck Hezbollah command centers and multi-story structures in Beirut overnight. An ABC News crew on the ground observed nearly two dozen missile strikes hitting Dahiyeh alone.
A number of buildings were seen collapsing in this wave of strikes on Friday as the death toll continues to rise, an ABC News team in Lebanon observed.
The IDF said it attacked more than 500 targets in Lebanon, killing more than 70 Hezbollah members, IDF spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said at a briefing on Friday.
“Hezbollah and the Iranian regime are one. They continue to destroy the state of Lebanon and harm the lives of Lebanese residents,” he said.
Hezbollah responded with several rockets headed south toward Israel overnight, an ABC News team in Lebanon observed.
The latest wave of strikes followed a warning by the IDF to anyone south of the Litani River in Lebanon to evacuate. The IDF warned everyone living in Dahiyeh on Thursday afternoon to evacuate the neighborhood ahead of pending military strikes.
Hundreds of thousands of people were forced to flee Dahiyeh, according to Lebanese officials.
Overnight, families who fled the neighborhood were seen lighting fires for warmth. Some had tents while others were forced to sleep on the streets with blankets, ABC News observed.
The Lebanese government is actively engaging with intermediaries, including the French and the American ambassador, to try and put pressure on the Israeli government to stop the bombardments, according to Lebanese officials.
Israeli forces have said that they are stepping up their military campaign against Hezbollah infrastructure and leadership in Dahiyeh.
Ahead of the attack on Iran, Israel launched strikes against targets in Baalbek, east Lebanon, in February, saying it killed “several” members of Hezbollah’s missile unit in three different locations.
This week’s strikes were the first time Israel struck Beirut, in central Lebanon, since June 2025.
The Israeli military warned Tuesday that Hezbollah “will pay a heavy price” after the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group fired rockets into northern Israel overnight Monday into Tuesday.
Immediately after the rocket fire, the IDF “launched a large-scale attack against Hezbollah terrorist targets throughout Lebanon, including Beirut,” according to Defrin.
“We attacked dozens of the organization’s headquarters and launch sites,” Defrin said. “We attacked senior commanders. Some of the last surviving senior veterans of this organization. We are currently examining the results of the attack.”
Defrin noted that “forces are deployed along the border in front and are prepared to continue the defense and attack as long as they require.”
(LONDON) — Delegations from Russia, Ukraine and the United States are set to hold trilateral talks in the United Arab Emirates on Friday in what officials say will be the first trilateral meeting since Russia launched a full-scale invasion on Ukraine almost four years ago in February 2022.
The talks — planned for Friday and Saturday in Abu Dhabi — will be at a technical level and not include heads of state but is still a notable diplomatic engagement amid the ongoing fighting.
Administration officials for U.S. President Donald Trump have projected confidence over reaching a deal in recent days, saying territorial control of eastern Ukraine is the last remaining sticking point. But that issue is arguably the most difficult and many experts remain skeptical an agreement is possible yet.
President Trump’s lead negotiators special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner met for four hours with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin into the early hours of Friday. But the Kremlin afterwards indicated there was no breakthrough and vowed to continue fighting unless Ukraine cedes all of its Donbas region and agrees to a number of other heavy Russian demands.
Ahead of the meeting with Putin Witkoff on Thursday said that negotiations between Russia and Ukraine are now down to “one issue.”
“And we have discussed iterations of that issue, and that means it’s solvable,” Witkoff said in Davos Thursday.
When Trump was asked what concessions Putin needs to make during the upcoming talks, Trump didn’t mention any specifics but did indicate that concessions from Putin are on the table.
“He’ll make concessions,” Trump said. “Everybody’s making concessions to get it done.”
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with U.S. President Donald Trump in Davos at the World Economic Forum on Thursday. The talks between the two lasted for about an hour.
“This is the last mile, which is the most difficult,” Zelenskyy said following the meeting. “The dialogue is not easy, but it was positive,”
After the meeting, however, Zelenskyy issued a sharp rebuke to Europe for not doing enough to stop Russia.
“Too often, Europeans turn against each other — leaders, parties, movements, and communities — instead of standing together to stop Russia, which brings the same destruction to everyone. Instead of becoming a truly global power, Europe remains a beautiful but fragmented kaleidoscope of small and middle powers,” Zelenskyy said.
“Instead of taking the lead in defending freedom worldwide — especially when America’s focus shifts elsewhere — Europe looks lost, trying to convince the U.S. president to change,” he continued.
Witkoff and Kushner met with Putin along with Josh Gruenbaum, who has been newly appointed by Trump as a senior adviser to his Board of Peace.
On the Russian side, the meeting was attended by presidential aide Yuri Ushakov and investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev, according to the Kremlin.
Speaking to journalists afterwards, Ushakov indicated Putin will still only accept an agreement that hands control of Donbas to Russia, as Moscow alleges was outlined during the summit between Putin and Trump in Alaska last summer.
“The main thing is that during these negotiations between our president and the Americans, it was once again stated that without resolving the territorial issue according to the formula agreed in Anchorage, one should not expect to achieve a long-term settlement,” Ushakov continued.
Ushakov maintained that the Russian Federation is sincerely interested in resolving the Ukrainian crisis through political and diplomatic methods, but wouldn’t retreat on the battlefield during negotiations.
“While this is not the case, Russia will continue to consistently achieve the goals set for the special military operation on the battlefield, where the Russian armed forces have a strategic initiative,” Ushakov said.
Russia’s invasion has killed hundreds of thousands of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers, razed whole Ukrainian cities and forced over 5 million to flee the country, according to the United Nations.
The American delegation shared with Putin “first-hand” their assessments of the meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy in Davos, according to the Russian delegation.
“Our security negotiating group has already been formed and will fly to the Emirates in the coming hours. It includes representatives of the leadership of the Ministry of Defense, headed by Admiral Kostyukov, Chief of the Main Directorate of the General Staff, ” Ushakov said.
In Davos, Zelenskyy suggested he doubted Russia is ready to reach a peace deal, saying “I am not sure Putin wants to end this war in the situation where he is.”
“Maybe they want to find compromises. We are open to different steps, and I said that there are two sides that compromise,” said Zelenskyy. “Russians will not win this war. They did not win and will not.”
ABC News’ Mariam Khan, Patrick Reevell and Will Gretzky contributed to this report.
People walk through the streets of Sumy during emergency power cuts on December 9, 2025 in Sumy, Ukraine. (Maksym Kishka/Frontliner/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Millions of Ukrainians have been plunged into frequent darkness and cold as Russian drones and missiles wage a systematic long-range campaign against the country’s energy grid for the fourth consecutive winter.
Even at the offices of Ukraine’s mammoth state-owned Naftogaz oil and gas conglomerate in Kyiv, emergency generators have been keeping the lights on.
“What I can see from my window — there is an absolutely dark city with only some lights,” CEO Sergii Koretskyi told ABC News during a video interview. “I’m sure people recognize this winter as the most difficult since the full-scale invasion started. We can see power cuts from four up to 10 hours a day.”
Russia’s nightly bombardments have increasingly targeted energy infrastructure in recent months, Ukrainian officials say, often involving hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles.
Ukrainian President Voloydmyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly appealed for more Western military aid to help blunt such strikes. “The Russians’ goal is to hurt millions of Ukrainians,” the president said in a social media post on Saturday.
Between October and December so far, Naftogaz recorded 11 “massive attacks on gas infrastructure across Ukraine,” Koretskyi said. “Our gas production infrastructure has suffered significant damage and destruction,” he added.
Naftogaz estimates the combined cost of covering its gas shortfall and repairing its production and storage infrastructure at more than $3 billion, Koretskyi said.
“We can see that the scale and intensity of strikes have changed dramatically,” Koretskyi added. This year’s bombardments have been even more punishing than those in the back end of last winter, he added, when Ukraine had 42% of its domestic gas production knocked out.
Throughout its full-scale invasion — which began in February 2022 following eight years of lower-intensity cross-border Russian aggression — Moscow has denied intentionally targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure.
The Russian Defense Ministry says it attacks Ukrainian fuel and energy targets that support the Ukrainian armed forces and Ukraine’s military-industrial enterprises.
Ukraine is also waging its own long-range strike campaign against Russian energy targets, particularly oil storage and refining facilities. Kyiv says the lucrative proceeds from Russian oil exports help fund Moscow’s ongoing invasion.
Koretskyi declined to say what proportion of the country’s gas production and storage capacities had been taken offline during this winter’s attacks, citing operational security and Moscow’s use of public statements and statistics to guide its strike campaign.
But virtually all of Ukraine’s regions now routinely face rolling blackouts, imposed to help protect the country’s grid while repairs are carried out, leaving millions with only hours of power.
Naftogaz says it supplies gas to 12.5 million households across Ukraine. Around 80% of the population using gas to heat their homes. Each night of Russian attacks threatens new blackouts for tens of thousands and sometimes hundreds of thousands of people.
“Their goal is clear — this is pure terrorism,” he said, “to put us into the darkness without heat during this winter season.”
Analysts have suggested that Western support could prove vital in helping Ukraine through this winter.
“Without substantial Western support — particularly air defense systems, transformers, and financial assistance for emergency repairs — blackouts are likely to be more regular, people will suffer in the cold, and economic activity may slow,” political consultant Kateryna Odarchenk wrote for the Center for European Policy Analysis this month.
Zelenskyy and his top officials have consistently pressed Western allies to provide more air defense systems and ammunition, to help Ukrainian defenders protect civilian centers, military sites and critical infrastructure.
Yuriy Boyechko, the CEO of the Hope For Ukraine charity, told ABC News that the current energy crisis is a result of inadequate air defenses in the face of “the relentless deluge of Russian missiles and drones.” He added, “The only viable solution is immediate, comprehensive air defense support from Western allies.”
The bombing has wrought holes in Ukraine’s energy network. As of December, Naftogaz estimated that Ukraine needed to import 4.4 billion cubic meters of gas through to the end of this heating season — which Ukraine’s government estimates will end by around March 31.
This is expected to cost some €1.9 billion — around $2.2 billion — Koretskyi said. Zelenskyy and his government have mobilized to secure the funding from foreign partners and financial institutions, but Naftogaz’s chief said a hole of around €600 million remains.
Kyiv is turning to private companies in gas-rich nations like the U.S. to help fill the gap. Companies require two permits to export natural gas — one from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and one from the Department of Energy.
This year already, more than 500 million cubic meters of American liquid natural gas (LNG) have been imported, with another 300 million cubic meters agreed for import earlier next year.
Through 2026, Koretskyi said, Ukraine would like to bring in another 1 billion cubic meters of American LNG. “We would like to build long-term relationships with U.S. LNG suppliers,” he said.
A recent agreement to import U.S. LNG through the Soviet-era Trans-Balkan pipeline running from Greece is also part of this drive, Ukrainian officials have said.
But as Russia’s attacks grow larger and more sophisticated, the cost and complexity of recovery grows. Naftogaz’s list of equipment needed for repairs is now 190 items strong, Koretskyi said. The estimated cost of this badly needed equipment is more than $900 million, he added.
“There are two lists of equipment — the first one for repairing or replacing those damaged or even destroyed, and the second is for a strategic reserve for upcoming potential attacks,” he explained. U.S. and European suppliers, Koretskyi said, could prove pivotal in filling the gaps.
“The lead time — of production time, delivery and installation — will take between eight and 18 months,” Koretskyi said. “So, we should be ready not just for this winter season, but for the next heating season.”
Meanwhile, the strikes and blackouts continue.
On Dec. 4, for example, the Kherson central heating plant in the southern frontline city was knocked offline after days of attacks by various Russian weapons systems. Kherson military administration head Oleksandr Prokudin said that disruption left more than 40,000 without heat.
“It’s like a nightmare,” Koretskyi said of life under rolling blackouts for many Ukrainians. “I do believe Ukrainians recognize the risk, the challenge, that Russia will continue bombing us.”
“Nobody can imagine what will happen in the coming months or weeks,” he added, suggesting that Ukrainians may have to summon reserves of resilience already tapped by almost four years of full-scale war.
“This is not a sprint, it’s a marathon,” Koretskyi said. “The war changes, upgrades and becomes different every day. The measures for survival, for protection, should be changed as well … That’s how we live.”
A screen grab from a video released on U.S. President Donald Trump’s Truth Social account shows Donald Trump making statements regarding combat operations on Iran on February 28, 2026 in Pal Beach, Florida, United States. (Photo by US President Trump Via Truth Social/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(LONDON and NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump said that the U.S. military has begun “major combat operations” in Iran and calling on the Iranian people to rise up and seize the opportunity for regime change.
“Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people,” Trump said in a video statement on Truth Social early Saturday morning.
The “massive” operation comes as the U.S. has been trying to negotiate with Iran over its nuclear and missile programs and hours after Trump said he was “not happy with the negotiation.”
And it comes amid questions about the potential justification for a U.S. strike on Iran since Trump has said the Iranian nuclear weapons program was “obliterated” in a U.S. strike last year.
“Its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas and our allies throughout the world. For 47 years, the Iranian regime has chanted “death to America” and waged an unending campaign of bloodshed and mass murder targeting the United States, our troops and the innocent people in many, many countries,” Trump said.
The military operation against Iran was a preemptive joint attack by the United States and Israel and could last several days, U.S. officials said, with potential targets including Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps military sites, government buildings, Iranian intelligence assets and defense installations.
“Iran is the world’s number one state sponsor of terror and just recently killed tens of thousands of its own citizens on the street as they protested,” Trump said. “It has always been the policy of the United States, in particular my administration, that this terrorist regime can never have a nuclear weapon. I will say it again. They can never have a nuclear weapon.”
Trump, who campaigned on a message of keeping the U.S. out of foreign entanglements, gravely suggested that “the lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties.”
“That often happens in war. But we are doing this not for now, we are doing this for the future and it is a noble mission,” Trump continued.
At the end of his message, Trump called on the Iranian people to seize this opportunity for regime change.
“Finally, to the great, proud people of Iran, I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand,” Trump said.
He added, “When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations.”
Appearing to speak to the Iranian people, Trump said: “No president was willing to do what I am willing to do tonight. Now you have a president who is giving you what you want, so let’s see how you respond. America is backing you with overwhelming strength and devastating force. Now is the time to seize control of your destiny and to unleash the prosperous and glorious future that is close within your reach.”
Meanwhile, some Democratic members of Congress have begun demanding answers.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D.-FL) said on social media that he is “formally requesting” that the State Department and Department of War “fully brief Congress on the rapidly evolving situation in Iran.”
Senator Ruben Gallego (D.-Ariz.), a Marine veteran, also posted on X, saying “I lost friends in Iraq to an illegal war. Young working-class kids should not pay the ultimate price for regime change and a war that hasn’t been explained or justified to the American people.”
