World News

The Israeli air force launched wave upon wave of punishing strikes in Beirut's southern suburbs overnight into this morning, battering the Dahiyeh area where Hezbollah's underground headquarters are based. But one enormous cacophony of explosions that shook buildings for miles around suggested Israel had deployed yet more Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) - bombs designed to penetrate deep into underground structures. Unconfirmed Israeli media reports said the IAF had targeted Hashem Safieddine, another hardline cleric and cousin of Nasrallah who many analysts believed was a shoo-in to replace the slain Hezbollah leader. It is unclear whether Saffieddine was present at the site of the attack. Israel also conducted one of its most deadly strikes in the West Bank in decades overnight, with at least 18 people said to have been killed at the Tulkarm refugee camp, Palestinian health authorities claim.

Fawzia Amin Sido was just 11-years-old when she was forced to marry a Palestinian ISIS fighter and lured into Gaza, where she was reportedly tortured by her husband's family. After years of brutal treatment and isolation from her family, the Iraqi woman, who is now 21, escaped Gaza and returned home this week to an emotional welcome from her loved ones, according to reports. Sharing news of her release, Israel 's Defence Forces said her captor was 'presumably killed during IDF strikes'. This allowed Fawzia to flee to a hideout, they said, where she was rescued in a secret mission by Israeli special operatives and international partners.

Iran fired almost 200 ballistic missiles into Israel last night, putting the country's '90 per cent effective' rocket-intercepting Iron Dome to the ultimate test. The IDF said it intercepted 'a large number' of the rockets thanks to the country's Arrow and David's Sling missile defense systems - two of Israel's three-tiered missile defence system along with the Iron Dome, and assistance from US destroyers and Jordanian interceptors in the region. The powerful short-range defence system was used to shoot down the incoming barrage of missiles and has previously helped to resist attacks from Iraq , Yemen and Hamas . The Iron Dome works to detect incoming rockets, before determining its path and intercepting them, and has blasted thousands of airborne weapons since it first went into operation in 2011. The three-part, multi-billion pound air defence system, developed by Israel with US backing after the 2006 Lebanon War, has been crucial in defending Israeli cities for over a decade and is credited with preventing serious damage or casualties. MailOnline has looked into the elaborate system and how it works.

The cause of the accident near Quetta, the capital of restive Balochistan province, was not immediately known. An investigation was underway. According to Wasim Baig, a spokesman for the health department, the bodies of the victims and 17 people who were injure were brought to a local hospital.

The Diego Garcia atoll - the biggest of the islands, which covers just 10 square miles of dry land - serves as a strategically important base for navy ships and long-range bomber aircraft. Since the island's population was exiled in the 1960s, with foreign military personnel taking their place, few have been allowed access to its shores, allowing rumours to swirl about what goes on there. Around 1,000 miles from the nearest landmass, with no commercial flights allowed to land and those wanting to step foot on the island needing a permit, very few have been allowed to stay there.

Matthew Griffiths, 22, is one of three people under investigation following the tragic sinking in August which left seven people dead - including tech billionaire Mike Lynch, 59, and his daughter Hannah, 18. The video is said to have been uploaded onto British born Griffiths Instagram on August 19 - the day the £30 million yacht sank - and shows lightning flashing across the sky and illuminating the Bayesian's trademark 75 metre mast. Rumbles of thunder can be heard as the storm approaches the yacht which is anchored off the Sicilian fishing village of Porticello near Palermo and is unwittingly accompanied by the ACDC hit Thunderstruck.