Middle East latest: Hezbollah now in 'open-ended battle of reckoning' with Israel, deputy leader says

Britain will keep Israeli sanctions over review, says foreign minister

Britain's foreign secretary David Lammy says he is "very worried" about inflamed tensions in the Middle East.

And, speaking at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, added that the UK will keep possible new sanctions against Israeli settlers in the West Bank under review.

Britain announced sanctions against Israeli settlers in February and May this year over what it said was extremist groups perpetrating settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. 

Mr Lammy said further sanctions were possible in the future.

"We are very worried about escalatory behaviour, very worried about inflamed tensions," he said.

"I'm absolutely clear: if we have to act, we will act, and I'm in discussions with G7 partners particularly and European partners on that.

"I'm not announcing further sanctions today, but that is kept under close review, and as you would expect, I am deeply, deeply concerned."

Mr Lammy also reconfirmed the UK's call for a two-state solution in the Middle East, saying he "believes in the right of Israel to be safe and secure".

"I also believe in the justice of the Palestinian cause. It is only once Palestinians and Israelis have the same fundamental rights - sovereignty, security and dignity - in their own independent recognised states that we can achieve a just and lasting peace for all." 

Hezbollah says confrontation with Israel now 'open-ended battle of reckoning'

Hezbollah deputy secretary-general Naim Qassem has said that the group had entered a new phase of its battle with Israel, which he described as an "open-ended battle of reckoning".

The comments were made during a funeral for a top commander killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburb.

Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate against Israel for a wave of explosions that hit pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah members on Tuesday and Wednesday, killing at least 37 people - including two children - and wounding about 3,000.

The attacks were widely blamed on Israel, which has not confirmed or denied responsibility.

Israel and Hezbollah say they don't want war, but their actions suggest otherwise

The unwritten rules of engagement in the Middle East are being stretched by Israel and Hezbollah, Sky News's international correspondent John Sparks says.

Leaders from both sides have said they do not want a full-scale war with each other, but "their actions on the ground suggest otherwise".

Both sides have ramped up their cross-border attacks in the last week, with Hezbollah firing three waves of rockets into northern Israel overnight.

"[Hezbollah] say these attacks, these rocket barrages, are an initial response to the massacre of Tuesday and Wednesday," Sparks says.

"That's a reference to the exploding pagers and walkie-talkies. Those operations were carried out, we believe, by the Israelis."

Hezbollah's rocket attacks caused extensive damage in the residential district north of the centre of Haifa, which is the deepest location Hezbollah has struck at since the conflict began.

That, Sparks adds, represents an intensification in the conflict, and will be "a major provocation for the Israelis".

"We're seeing the unwritten rules of engagement around this conflict. They're being stretched, arguably, as did the Israeli missile strike in the southern suburb of Beirut on Friday."

Anxious families line the pavement as dozens remain missing in Beirut

There is a crushed pile of rubble where a nine-storey building once stood in Beirut.

It's all that's left after an Israeli missile ripped through it.

Nearly 20 families had lived in the apartment block – almost certainly there would have been plenty of children among them too.

All around there are other high-rise residential buildings, many of them showing serious signs of degradation from the missile impact.

On the other side, a huge hole had appeared underneath a second building. Multiple exterior walls had disappeared exposing in one case rows of women’s clothing still hanging on a shop rack.

Israel is now fighting on two fronts – both Gaza and Lebanon – and there are few signs there will be any let-up soon.

Hamas praises 'Islamic Resistance in Lebanon' for its actions against Israel

Hamas has released a statement praising the "Islamic Resistance in Lebanon".

The group says it salutes their "steadfastness and courage in confronting the Zionist war machine".

It also praises the determination shown by Lebanon's "resistance men" in fighting in support of the Palestinian people.

It says attacks from Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen "strengthens the steadfastness" of Palestinians and "confuses the occupation government".

Israel will do 'everything necessary' to return evacuated residents to their homes

Israel's defence minister Yoav Gallant has said that strikes on Lebanon will continue until it is safe for evacuated people in the north of Israel to return to their homes.

"Hezbollah has begun to feel some of the capabilities of the Israel Defence Forces, and there is already a very strong feeling of being persecuted, and we are seeing the results," he said during a tour of Israeli Air Force facilities. 

"These moves will continue until we reach a situation where we safely return the residents of the north to their homes - this is the goal, this is the mission, and we will do everything necessary to meet it," he added.

Mr Gallant previously vowed to begin "a new phase in the war" in order to return tens of thousands of residents evacuated from northern border areas to their homes.

-SKY NEWS