The Israeli military continued its strikes in southern Lebanon on Saturday, bringing the cumulative Lebanese death toll to 4,358 since March 2, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Lebanese sources.
The IDF said in post on X that the operation targeted Hezbollah weapon storage facilities that were "intended to plan and direct terror attacks against IDF soldiers in the Security Zone and Israeli civilians."
The strikes were launched to "remove an immediate threat," the statement said.
The IDF described the action as a response to an earlier attempt by Hezbollah militants to launch a drone toward Israeli-held positions in southern Lebanon's "security zone." Israeli soldiers intercepted the drone on Friday, with no injuries reported. A Lebanese woman was killed and five other people injured Saturday in the Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA).
According to Lebanon's Emergency Public Health Operations Center, the cumulative death toll from the Israeli attacks between March 2 and Sept 5 had reached 4,358, with 12,359 others injured.
Israel continues strikes in southern Lebanon; Lebanese death toll rises to 4,358 since March
A super El Nino event officially formed in September 2026, monitoring data from China's National Climate Center showed on Friday.
Zhao Junhu, chief forecaster at the center, said that the equatorial central and eastern Pacific entered an El Nino state in May this year, with sea surface temperatures in the key monitoring region rising rapidly and continuously from May to September.
The three-month running mean of the sea surface temperature (SST) index in the monitoring region has remained above 0.5 degrees Celsius for five consecutive months. The index exceeded 2.5 degrees Celsius for the July-September period, meeting the threshold for a super El Nino event.
The event is classified as an eastern Pacific-type El Nino, in which the warmest sea surface temperatures are concentrated in the equatorial eastern Pacific.
Monitoring data showed that sea surface temperatures across most of the equatorial Pacific in September were above average of the same period, with temperatures in the warm pool of the eastern Pacific exceeding the climatological average by more than 3 degrees Celsius.
The SST index for the monitoring region reached 2.94 degrees Celsius in September, up 0.35 degrees Celsius from August. The average index for the July-September period stood at 2.54 degrees Celsius.
Based on a combination of domestic and international dynamical climate models and statistical forecasting methods, the center expects sea surface temperatures in the equatorial central and eastern Pacific to continue rising over the next three months, peaking in late autumn or early winter, Zhao said.
The event is expected to become the strongest El Nino on record since systematic monitoring began, he added.
Super El Nino event formed in September: China's National Climate Center
Super El Nino event formed in September: China's National Climate Center
