Israel prepares to expand activity in Lebanon as conflict with Hezbollah escalates
Smoke from a building in the center of the city which has been hit by the IDF after an evacuation order on March 12, 2026 in Beirut, Lebanon. (Adri Salido/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — As Israel continued striking Beirut on Thursday, Israel’s military is preparing to expand its activity in Lebanon, Israel Defense Minister Israel Katz said.
The IDF issued a new evacuation order on Thursday, expanding the area in the south of Lebanon from which residents have been told to leave. The area now extends past the Litani River, all the way to the Zahrani River.
“I warned the Lebanese president that if the Lebanese government does not know how to control the territory and prevent Hezbollah from threatening the northern communities and firing at Israel — we will take the territory and do it ourselves,” Katz said in remarks at a military operations center in Tel Aviv.
“The prime minister and I instructed the [Israel Defense Forces] to prepare to expand IDF activity in Lebanon and restore peace and security to the northern communities,” Katz added.
The expanded evacuation order now includes the city of Nabatieh, with a population of at least 35,000 people.
Overnight, Israeli strikes hit Beirut’s Corniche, a seafront area where many had evacuated to, following orders by the IDF to leave southern Beirut neighborhoods, a Hezbollah stronghold that the IDF has been striking and bombing in the past 12 days. At least eight people have died and dozens more were injured in the strikes, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health.
“The IDF continues to conduct extensive waves of strikes from the air and sea in the Beirut area against the Hezbollah terrorist organization … Among the targets struck were terrorist infrastructure, weapons storage facilities, central headquarters, and the IRGC Air Force headquarters in Beirut,” the IDF said in a statement Thursday.
Around 800,000 have now been driven from their homes in southern Lebanon and Beirut, according to Lebanese officials.
The Israeli military had issued an urgent evacuation notice for parts of southern Lebanon, including Beirut, on Wednesday, days after first ordering the evacuation of residents from southern Lebanon.
The two have continued to trade fire since Israel last week began carrying out intensified attacks targeting Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy force in Lebanon, following its strikes on Iran.
On Wednesday, Hezbollah announced a new operation against its neighbor, launching dozens of rockets.
Israel has responded with an intense bombardment of the Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh.
The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday it began a “large-scale wave of strikes on Hezbollah infrastructure” after issuing an “urgent and dangerous” evacuation alert for the area.
In an update late Wednesday, the IDF said it had struck 10 Hezbollah facilities in Dahieh in 30 minutes, including an intelligence headquarters and command centers.
Since March 2, when Israel began issuing evacuation warnings amid its airstrikes, over 630 people have been killed and nearly 1,600 injured in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
Protesters rally on January 8, 2026 in Tehran, Iran. Anonymous/Getty Images
(LONDON) — Erfan Soltani is one of thousands of Iranian protesters who have been arrested amid deadly anti-government protests nationwide, according to his family and human rights organizations.
Days after his arrest last week in Fardis — near the capital of Tehran — the 26-year-old was sentenced to death following an expedited trial, according to his second cousin, Somayeh, who has drawn attention to his case as ongoing internet and communication blockages limit information coming out of Iran about the protests.
“As someone who is an activist myself and who has fought this regime for many years, I felt it was my right — and my duty — to be Erfan’s voice outside the country, despite all the pressure and sanctions that fall on families,” Somayeh, who is based in Germany, told ABC News in an interview in Persian on Wednesday.
Somayeh, who did not want to share her last name, said Soltani’s family members had been told that he would be executed on Wednesday.
She was informed through the family that he had not been executed that day, she told ABC News. Somayeh added that the family said they had not seen her cousin in person yet.
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he had been told by “very important sources on the other side” that the executions are not happening.
“It was supposed to be a lot of executions today, and the executions won’t take place,” Trump said during remarks from the Oval Office on Wednesday.
Following President Trump’s remarks, the Islamic Republic judiciary media center announced Thursday that Soltani was not sentenced to death.
The judiciary, as quoted by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), said Soltani was currently being held at the central penitentiary in the city of Karaj on charges of “gathering and colluding against the country’s internal security and propaganda activities against the regime.” If convicted, the judiciary said, Soltani would be imprisoned but not executed, as “the death penalty does not exist in the law for such charges,” according to IRIB.
Reacting to the latest Islamic Republic judiciary’s announcement, Somayeh, said she is “happy to hear the news” but is still “concerned.”
“I am happy to hear this news from the media, but there is still concern because as far as we know, no contact has been made and Erfan is still in prison. We hope that his sentence will be completely overturned and he will be released,” Somayeh told ABC News Thursday morning.
In an interview with Fox on Wednesday, the Iranian foreign minister said there were no hangings on Wednesday, and that there won’t be for the rest of the week.
Somayeh said she is speaking out about her cousin, whom she described as a “kind soul” who is “so compassionate to people,” in hopes of having his sentence overturned.
“I felt responsible to make sure his voice was heard, so that maybe this sentence could be overturned — and beyond Erfan,” she said. “He is not the first and he will not be the last person to receive a death sentence overnight.”
According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Iran carried out an “unprecedented” number of executions last year. In 2025, there were 2,063 recorded executions, the highest annual figure over the past 11 years, according to the report from the group.
Soltani’s case has been highlighted by international human rights groups such as the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights and Amnesty International, which said the international community must call on Iranian authorities to “immediately halt all executions.”
“Amid the Iranian authorities’ unprecedented crackdown on ongoing nationwide protests, marked by mass killings and sweeping arrests, concerns are mounting that authorities will once again resort to swift trials and arbitrary executions to crush and deter dissent,” Amnesty International said in a statement on Monday that highlighted Soltani’s case. “Iran’s head of judiciary ordered prosecutors to ‘act without leniency’ against protesters heightening fears for the lives of detained protesters and other dissidents.”
The first marches took place in late December in downtown Tehran, with participants demonstrating against rising inflation and the falling value of the national currency, the rial. As the protests spread, they have taken on a more explicitly anti-government tone.
More than 2,500 people have died during nationwide protests in Iran since Dec. 28, HRANA said Wednesday. The HRANA data relies on the work of activists inside and outside the country. ABC News cannot independently verify these numbers.
The Iranian foreign minister told Fox News on Wednesday that “hundreds” are dead.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and top Iranian officials have said they are willing to engage with the economic grievances of protesters, though have also framed the unrest as driven by “rioters” and sponsored by foreign nations, prime among them the U.S. and Israel.
ABC News’ David Brennan contributed to this report.
Hundreds joined a public rally in London in support of the protestors in Iran, calling for regime change from clerical rule and for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to step down. (Lab Ky Mo/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday hit back against U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats of military action in Iran in support of anti-government protests there, shortly before Trump told reporters that Tehran wants “to negotiate” with the U.S.
In a message on his official Farsi-language X account on Sunday, Khamenei posted an image of a crumbling statue with Trump’s likeness.
“That father figure who sits there with arrogance and pride, passing judgment on the entire world, he too should know that usually the tyrants and oppressors of the world, such as Pharaoh and Nimrod and Reza Khan and Mohammad Reza and the likes of them, when they were at the peak of their pride, were overthrown,” Khamenei wrote.
“This one too will be overthrown,” the ayatollah added.
Khamenei’s post came shortly before Trump spoke with reporters aboard Air Force One, first suggesting he may follow through on his threats of new strikes on Iran before revealing that fresh negotiations with Tehran may soon be underway.
Trump said it “looks like” Iran may have crossed the administration’s red line of killing protesters, adding that the U.S. military has “strong options” at its disposal. “We’ll make a determination,” he said.
Trump has repeatedly warned Tehran against the use of force to suppress the protests. On Saturday, Trump wrote on social media, “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!”
According to a U.S. official, the president will be briefed Tuesday to review possible U.S. responses to the situation in Iran.
Trump also said Sunday that Iranian leaders contacted him on Saturday and that a meeting is being set up between them. The president cautioned that the U.S. may take action before a meeting takes place.
“They do. They called,” Trump said when asked if he thinks Iran wants to engage diplomatically.
“Iran called to negotiate yesterday — the leaders of Iran called yesterday. They want to negotiate. I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” he said.
“We may meet with them,” he added. “A meeting is being set up, but we may have to act — because of what’s happening — before the meeting, but a meeting is being set up,” Trump said.
Protests have been spreading across the country since late December. The first marches took place in downtown Tehran, with participants demonstrating against rising inflation and the falling value of the national currency, the rial. As the protests spread to cities across the nation, they took on a more explicitly anti-government tone.
The death toll from the protests had risen to 544 as of Sunday, according to data compiled by the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).
At least 10,681 people have been arrested, according to HRANA. Protests have taken place at 585 locations across the country, in 186 cities, spanning all 31 provinces, according to activists.
The HRANA data relies on the work of activists inside and outside the country. ABC News cannot independently verify the figures provided by the group.
The Iranian government has not provided any casualty figures for protesters related to the ongoing protests. State television has broadcast images of people attending morgues to identify bodies of friends and relatives.
The state-aligned Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday that 109 security personnel had been killed in the protests.
Widespread and sustained internet outages have been reported across the country amid the deepening protests and reported government crackdown. Online monitoring group NetBlocks said early on Monday that Iran’s “national internet blackout” had surpassed 84 hours.
Khamenei and top Iranian officials have said they are willing to engage with the economic grievances of protesters, though have also framed the unrest as driven by “rioters” and sponsored by foreign nations, prime among them the U.S. and Israel.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday described the wave of protests as a “terrorist war” while speaking to foreign diplomats in Tehran.
Araghchi said that the situation is “under control” and that internet access would be restored.
The foreign minister also claimed that Tehran had gathered extensive evidence showing U.S. and Israeli involvement in the protests over recent days. “We believe what took place after 8th of January was infiltration,” he said, suggesting that “Mossad agents” are leading the demonstrations.
Araghchi also criticized Western nations for failing to condemn what he called “terrorists.”
On Monday, state television broadcast footage of pro-government rallies organized in Tehran and other major cities.
The footage showed crowds waving Iranian flags in the capital’s Revolution Square, shouting slogans including “death to America,” “death to Israel,” and “I’d sacrifice my life for the leader.”
State television described the Tehran demonstration as an “Iranian uprising against American-Zionist terrorism.”
Dissident voices abroad, meanwhile, have encouraged further demonstrations. On Sunday, Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi addressed protesters in a post to X, announcing what he said was “a new phase of the national uprising to overthrow the Islamic Republic and reclaim our beloved Iran.”
“In addition to taking and holding the central streets of our cities, all institutions and apparatuses responsible for the regime’s propaganda and for cutting communications are to be regarded as legitimate targets,” Pahlavi wrote.
“Employees of state institutions, as well as members of the armed and security forces, have a choice: stand with the people and become allies of the nation, or choose complicity with the murderers of the people — and bear the nation’s lasting shame and condemnation,” he added.
“We are not alone. International support will soon arrive,” Pahlavi wrote.
Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The family of a Colombian fisherman who died in a U.S. military boat strike in September has filed a formal complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights alleging the U.S. government illegally killed him.
Alejandro Carranza was killed in a strike in the Caribbean on Sept. 15, according to the petition, filed on Tuesday.
“From numerous news reports, we know that U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was responsible for ordering the bombing of boats like those of Alejandro Carranza and the murder of all those on such boats,” according to the petition. “Secretary Hegseth has admitted that he gave such orders despite the fact that he did not know the identity of those being targeted for these bombings and extra-judicial killings.”
In the petition, Carranza’s lawyer Dan Kovalik said the fisherman’s family “has no recourse to adequate and effective remedies in Colombia to obtain redress for the injuries they have suffered due to the actions of the United States.”
While the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights can investigate the complaint and issue findings, any ruling it makes would not be legally binding on the U.S.
A Pentagon official told ABC News the department does not comment on pending litigation.
The filing comes after Colombian President Gustavo Petro accused the U.S. government of committing murder for the strike that killed Carranza.
“U.S. government officials have committed a murder and violated our sovereignty in territorial waters. Fisherman Alejandro Carranza had no ties to the drug trade and his daily activity was fishing,” Petro said on X last month. “The Colombian boat was adrift and displaying the distress signal due to having an outboard motor. We await explanations from the U.S. government.”
Three people total were killed in the Sept. 15 strike in the Caribbean, U.S. officials said.
President Donald Trump said at the time that he ordered the military strike against a boat that he insisted was carrying illegal drugs from Venezuela to the U.S., telling reporters the operation left “big bags of cocaine and fentanyl” floating around in the ocean.
Since September, Trump and Hegseth have ordered more than 20 military strikes against suspected drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. The Trump administration has alleged with little evidence that the boats were smuggling drugs from Venezuela and Colombia. The controversial campaign so far has killed more than 80 people, according to officials.
Hegseth has maintained that the strikes are all legal and claims that the military has evidence that the boats were carrying drugs.
On Capitol Hill, some leaders from both parties have questioned the legality of the strikes and whether the president has the constitutional power to authorize them.
The first such incident, which occurred on Sept. 2, has been under scrutiny following a recent Washington Post report that cited two people with direct knowledge of the operations saying a second strike was ordered on the boat that killed two survivors.
One person familiar with details of the incident confirmed to ABC News that there were survivors from the initial strike on the boat and that those survivors were killed in a subsequent strike.
Democrats say that alone could be enough to suggest a war crime occurred. The laws of war require either side in a conflict to provide care for wounded and shipwrecked troops.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who oversaw the initial attack, has defended the strike as legal.
The defense secretary told reporters at the White House on Tuesday that he watched the first strike unfold before leaving for meetings. He says he did not see survivors or any strikes that followed and said the admiral who, he said, ordered the second strike made the “right call.”
