Israel has launched an air strike against a site linked to Hezbollah within yards of the runways of Beirut airport.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) fired up to three missiles at a building located between two runways at Lebanon’s only civilian airport in the early hours of Thursday.

Footage posted on social media appeared to show several explosions at a site near the airport in Beirut after the IDF had warned nearby residents to evacuate.

All scheduled passenger flights to and from Beirut airport had already departed or landed by the time Israel struck the site.

One video claiming to be of the strike showed staff inside a hangar at the airport move into cover as a missile struck nearby and exploded.

Others showed large explosions and the sound of up to three missiles hitting the building with airport buses, steps and lorries pictured in the foreground.

Earlier, it was claimed aircraft had been moved to the other side of the airport, further from the location of the warning.

The airport has been receiving aid from different countries and is a portal for people to escape the war.

The strikes came after Hezbollah had fired more than 120 missiles at northern and southern Israel, killing a teenager and injuring several others.

The body of Sivan Sade was only discovered hours later in Kibbutz Kfar Masaryk near Acre after he suffered fatal injuries caused by shrapnel from a rocket.

The Hezbollah rocket landed within the area of Israel’s main airport as the terror group fired over 120 missiles over the border.

Sirens were heard in central and northern Israel as barrages of rockets targeted towns and cities with several injured in the village of Avivim.

Smoke was seen at Tel Aviv Ben Gurion airport, the busiest in Israel, and a crater was pictured in what appeared to be a car park.

Ben Gurion airport would normally see more than 20 million passengers a year pass through but most airlines have cancelled flights as a result of the war.

Passengers have previously been seen lying on the tarmac taking cover as air raid sirens have gone off, but it is rare for a missile to land within its boundaries.

The Israel Airports Authority said that following the rocket impact the airport was “open and working normally for arrivals and departures”.

Debris from an intercepted Hezbollah rocket also struck a parked car in the central city of Ra’anana where it was pictured lodged in the roof of the vehicle.

The IDF said that 10 rockets were fired, most of which were intercepted.

Since Israel’s ground invasion of Lebanon last month Hezbollah has continued to launch missiles and drones over the border at Israeli towns and cities.

On Wednesday morning, Israel said it had killed a Hezbollah battalion commander in the Khiam area of southern Lebanon in a recent air strike.

Hussein Abd al-Halim Harb was responsible for numerous rocket attacks on towns in the Galilee, especially Metula where five people were recently killed, according to the IDF.

The IDF said several Hezbollah operatives responsible for rocket fire on Israel were killed in air strikes directed by troops of the 36th Division.

It has said that Hezbollah’s rocket arsenal is down to about 20 per cent of what it was before the war and it was down to 30 per cent of its drones.

The latest attack comes as protests broke out in Israel on Tuesday after Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, fired Yoav Gallant, his defence minister.

Protesters took to the streets in cities including Nahariya, Haifa and in Jerusalem close to Mr Netanyahu’s residence. Israeli police dispersed protesters in Tel Aviv after they blocked highways and lit bonfires.

Mr Netanyahu claimed a crisis of trust over the management of Israel’s ongoing military operations and replaced Mr Gallant with Israel Katz, previously the foreign minister.

Mr Gallant and Mr Netanyahu, both in the Right-wing Likud party, have clashed for months over the objectives of Israel’s 13-month-old war in Gaza against Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Chris Kaba’s criminal gang has been responsible for more than 10 shootings in London this year, the Met Commissioner has revealed.

Sir Mark Rowley said the 67 gang remained one of the most dangerous organised crime groups in the capital, responsible for a large amount of drug dealing and violence.

He said his officers had also rescued more than 10 children who were being exploited by the gang and forced to sell drugs.

Kaba, a core member, was shot dead by armed officer Sgt Martyn Blake after trying to ram his way out of a police roadblock in south London in September 2022.

It has since emerged that Kaba – who had served a prison sentence for firearms offences – gunned down a rival in a nightclub a week before his death and was also suspected of involvement in two other shootings.

Speaking at a plenary meeting of the London Assembly, Sir Mark said it was regrettable that Kaba had lost his life, but said he had died because of the choices he had made when he was stopped by armed police.

He said it was clear that the gang of which Kaba was a member was responsible for a huge amount of gun violence in the capital.

Sir Mark said: “The 67 gang are a dangerous gang. They are among the most dangerous gangs in London. We reckon they have got about 95 core members.”

He added: “They are responsible for, certainly into double figure shootings, this year. That gang and our interventions against them and other gangs like them in London is always going to be really contentious.

“I wish, and I know that Martyn Blake wishes, that Chris Kaba’s behaviour hadn’t caused the confrontation it did on that night and he had spent the next ten or 20-years in prison, everyone would have wished that was the answer but Chris Kaba made some choices that led to Martyn Blake feeling he had no choice but to do what he did.”

Sgt Blake was charged with murdering Kaba but was cleared by a jury of the charge after a trial at the Old Bailey.

Despite being acquitted of the criminal charge the officer could still face a gross misconduct charge which could result in him losing his job.

Iraq is poised to slash the legal age of consent from 18 to to nine, allowing men to marry young children.

The proposed legal change also deprives women of rights to divorce, child custody and inheritance.

Iraq’s parliament, which is dominated by a coalition of conservative Shia Muslim parties, is preparing to vote through an amendment that would overturn the country’s “personal status law”.

The legislation, also known as Law 188, was heralded as one of the most progressive in the Middle East when it was introduced in 1959 and provides an overarching set of rules governing the affairs of Iraqi families, regardless of their religious sect.

As well as bringing down the legal marriage age, the amendment would also remove women’s rights to divorce, child custody and inheritance.

The governing coalition says the move aligns with a strict interpretation of Islamic law and is intended to protect young girls from “immoral relationships”.

The second reading of the amendment to Law 188 was passed on September 16.

It isn’t the first time Shia parties in Iraq have tried to amend the personal status law – attempts to change it failed in 2014 and 2017, largely due to a backlash from Iraqi women.

But the coalition now has a large parliamentary majority and is on the brink of pushing the amendment over the line, said Dr Renad Mansour, a senior research fellow at Chatham House.

“It’s the closest it’s ever been,” he told The Telegraph. “It has more momentum than it’s ever had, primarily because of the Shia parties,” he said.

“It’s not all Shia parties, it’s just the specific ones that are empowered and are really pushing it.”

Dr Renad added that the proposed amendment was part of a wider political move by Shia Islamist groups to “consolidate their power” and regain legitimacy.

“Stressing the religious side is a way for them to try and regain some of the ideological legitimacy that has been waning over the last few years,” he told The Telegraph.

It is not yet clear exactly when the amendment will go before parliament for a vote, but it could come at any moment, he said.

An attack on women, girls… and Iraq’s social fabric

Experts and activists say the amendment would effectively erase the most important rights of women in the country.

“The amendment would not just undermine these rights,” said Sarah Sanbar, Iraq researcher at Human Rights Watch. “It would erase them.”

Athraa Al-Hassan, international human rights legal adviser and director of Model Iraqi Woman, told The Telegraph she is “afraid” Iraq’s system of governance will be replaced with a new system known as the Guardianship of the Jurist – a Shia system that puts religious rule above the state.

The system is the same one that underpins the regimes in Afghanistan and Iran, where a Guardian Jurist serves as supreme leader of the country.

Iraq already has high rates of child marriage. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), some 28 per cent of women in Iraq are married by 18.

This is because of a loophole in the personal status law which allows religious leaders, instead of the courts, to officiate thousands of marriages each year – including those involving girls as young as 15, with permission from the father.

These unregistered marriages are widespread in economically poor, ultra-conservative Shia communities in Iraq.

But because the nuptials are not recognised by law, the girls and any children they have are denied a plethora of rights.

For example, hospitals can refuse women admitted for childbirth without a marriage certificate.

The amendment would legitimise these religious marriages, putting young girls at increased risk of sexual and physical violence, as well as being denied access to education and employment, according to human rights watch.

The proposed amendment is the latest move by the governing coalition to curb the rights of women.

In April it also made same-sex relationships punishable with up to 15 years in prison, after failing to impose the death penalty.  And last year, it ruled that media outlets replace the term “homosexuality” with “sexual deviance” on all platforms. The term “gender” was also banned.

The Iraqi parliament will formally debate the latest amendments before putting them to a vote.

The action has ignited an outcry on social media, with women’s rights activists accusing the government of attempting to “legalise child rape”.

In August, protests erupted in Baghdad and other cities across the country. The demonstrations were organised by Coalition 188, an Iraqi group of female activists opposed to amending the personal status law.

“What they aspire to in parliament is not in the interest of society, but their personal interest,” said  Ms Al-Hassan, one of the leading voices in the country’s feminist movement.

There are fears that the amendment will deepen Iraq’s already sectarian divides.

“We are defending the rights of women and girls [and] protecting Iraqi society from disintegration and the establishment of sectarianism among the social fabric,” said Ms Al-Hassan.

Sectarian conflict has long been rife in Iraq, with the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003 ultimately increasing Iranian Shia influence.

Dr Mansour said amending Law 188 would further entrench divisions.

“It would bring everything back to the sect,” said Dr Mansour. “But many Iraqis don’t want to be defined politically by their sect. They want to be defined by their government and their state.”

The proposed amendments would give Muslim citizens the option of selecting either the current, largely secular personal status law, or religious law – depending on their sect – as the basis for governing their personal affairs.

But, ultimately, this decision lies solely with the men.

“It’s explicitly written in the draft that when there’s a dispute between the couple, the sect of the husband takes priority,” said Ms Sanbar. “This is going to remove a lot of protections for women … it will undermine the principle of equality before the law.”

She was also concerned the amendment would give Iraqi women belonging to certain sects greater privileges and economic independence, while others remain trapped in poverty or abusive marriages.

“[These women] will have to stay in harmful situations because they fear losing custody of their children,” Ms Sanbar said.

Ms Al-Hassan denounced the amendment as “very dangerous”, adding that its interference in the affairs of the Iraqi judiciary was a “violation of the constitution.”

“Iraq is a civilised civil state that cannot be otherwise. The first female minister in the Arab countries was Iraqi and the first female judge was Iraqi,” said Ms Al-Hassan. “We aspire to progress, not regress.”

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When Aziz Nisanov and three other tour guides were presented with their certificates for an off-road driving course in December 2023, there was little to arouse suspicion.

In reality though, according to Israeli police, this was all part of the cover story of one of the biggest Iranian spy cells in recent years, which went on to receive $300,000 and complete 600 missions.

Mr Nisanov and six other Jewish Israeli citizens have been charged over their alleged involvement in the plot, including his son, an alleged Israel Defense Forces deserter, and two teenagers, aged 16 and 17.

The case is among several to emerge in recent weeks which have seen dozens arrested. Intelligence officials are alarmed that Israeli Jews were persuaded to spy and even more worried that in some cases they were  apparently at large for years.

Iran is using an army of handlers to recruit Israelis on social media with offers of money for initially harmless, trivial tasks or exploiting minor daily gripes about the country.

However, it is claimed that once “hooked” the missions have grown from putting up banners criticising Benjamin Netanyahu to assassination plots or surveillance of sites later attacked by Hezbollah and Iran.

Mr Nisanov, 43, is said to be the ringleader of a cell in the northern port city of Haifa, which allegedly documented sites including Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence systems.

Carrying Nikon cameras, tripods and GoPros, they are accused of travelling the country in 4x4s posing as tour guides should they get caught.

It is believed their actions caused genuine harm. Locations said to have been visited included the Nevatim air base which was targeted in two Iranian missile attacks and the Golani training base, where a drone attack killed four people in October.

The spy network is also accused of carrying out surveillance on a football stadium and a museum with rewards paid in cryptocurrency or in cash from Russian “tourists”.

As they travelled as far south as the resort city of Eilat on the Red Sea, it is claimed they answered to an Azerbaijani-born handler and an Iranian agent called “Orkhan”.

Targeted because of financial difficulties, Mr Nisanov went on to recruit the other members including his son Yigal Nissan, 20, who is said to have deserted the air force 15 months after joining.

As the Iranians’ ambitions grew, the group was even instructed to charter a “yacht with a skipper” in September with plans to set sail for Cyprus to observe Israeli ports.

It was abandoned because of their handler’s worries about cost and they were later arrested.

While the Haifa outfit was at its peak, 70 miles south in the city of Lod a married couple were said to have been working for a man who appears to be the same Azerbaijani handler.

Rafael Guliyev, 32, was lured in by a “test mission” to take a picture of the Moldovan embassy before carrying out a series of orders, some with the assistance of his wife Lala, 29.

Asked to photograph bomb shelters

Mr Guliyev, a citizen of 25 years, was said to have been paid $26,000 (£20,000) for his efforts which included driving round the Glilot Junction area, home to Mossad, while filming from his dashboard.

In orders that suggest Tehran has considered targeting civilians, he was asked to photograph public bomb shelters in Tel Aviv late in 2023 and posters of hostages.

Mr Guliyev was allegedly paid $1,200 (£924) to photograph graves of victims of the Oct 7 massacre at military and civilian cemeteries in Petah Tikva, Kfar Saba, Jerusalem and Be’er Sheva.

He told a court he “didn’t mean to harm the country” but was “tempted by easy money” and said in some cases he thought he “could trick the Iranians and only took mock photos”.

Others were caught as their orders from Tehran escalated rapidly. Rami Aliyan, 23, and six others from the Arab neighbourhood of Beit Salafa, were arrested around two weeks after their Iranian handler first made contact on Telegram.

After initial missions to hang signs, spray graffiti and torch cars, within days they were being offered $50,000 (£38,500) to assassinate a nuclear scientist, kill their family and burn their home.

There was allegedly a midnight reconnaissance mission to the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot where the scientist worked while other members of the gang sourced grenades and a Glock 19 handgun.

However, their frugal handler ordered them to find a cheaper weapon instead suggesting a Carlo, an improvised submachine gun made by Palestinian terrorists.

They were arrested before the alleged assassination could take place but despite the advanced nature of the plot, experts said the spy cells involving Jewish Israelis were most concerning.

“I interrogated a lot during my life, I can tell you that I didn’t find a network like those seven that were [allegedly] spying for Iran,” Michael Koubi, the former chief interrogator for Shin Bet, said. “They got everything from Israel and after that the Iranians convinced them to work with them.”

He said security services would usually know immediately when spies had been recruited and it should not have taken two years for the cell to be discovered.

“It’s a fault that we didn’t catch them,” he said, adding that it was “really critical information they gave to Iran who transfer all of that to Hezbollah”.

Beni Sabti from the INSS, a think tank, said that Iran’s recruitment tactics were usually low level and involved spamming people’s social media accounts with an offer of a small fee for a trivial task such as a picture of a landmark.

“Two, three times, the bigger missions come and he’s already hooked. It’s kind of like narcotics. They are addicted. Sometimes you don’t know at all who you are working for, sometimes you lie to yourself.”

He added that Iran’s spying had “escalated in these last two, three years” and that Tehran was focused on the quantity of threats.

“It’s not so sophisticated. They go for everyone. Iran is a very big country and they have a lot of time to waste, they have a lot of money to waste,” he added.