Lebanon: Fears of Escalation of Conflict between Israel and Hezbollah
Israel launched hundreds of airstrikes on southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday, killing more than 356 people in the heaviest bombardment since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, according to To the Associated Press.
According to a new tally announced by the Lebanese authorities, the Israeli raids on several areas in Lebanon left more than 356 dead, including 24 children and 42 women, and 1,246 injured, and thousands of families were displaced from the areas targeted by the Israeli raids in strikes that are considered the most violent since the exchange of fire began on both sides of the border about a year ago against the backdrop of the war in Gaza.
The heavy and extensive Israeli raids, which targeted areas for the first time, forced thousands of Lebanese in the south of the country to flee their villages and towns, after targeting safe residential homes and some roads.
This unprecedented wave of displacement included villages and towns on the second or rear lines of confrontation, including the districts of Bint Jbeil, Marjeyoun, Hasbaya, Nabatieh, Tyre, and Zahrani, all the way to the towns surrounding the city of Sidon, which is considered the gateway to the south.
The escalation between the Israeli army and the Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah raises fears of an escalation of the conflict, which is worrying the international community.
In the evening, an Israeli raid on the southern suburb of Beirut targeted the commander of Hezbollah’s southern front, Ali Karaki, but the party later said that he was not harmed and was transferred to another location.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military was “changing the security balance” in northern Israel, where it was determined to return residents displaced by cross-border shelling.
Netanyahu stressed that “Israel does not wait for the threat, but rather anticipates it.” In the evening, he warned Lebanese citizens to “stay away from dangerous areas.”
Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Monday denounced what he described as a “destructive plot” against his country, as hospitals were put on alert to deal with the influx of infected people, while schools were closed for two days across the country.
non stop hits
At the Popular Rescue Hospital in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh, Dr. Jamal Badran described what happened as a “catastrophe and a massacre,” adding, “Between one raid and another, another raid is launched. They even bombed us while we were retrieving the wounded” in the town of Deir al-Zahrani.
In Beirut and other areas, including southern Lebanon, residents received calls on Monday via landlines and mobile phones from Israel, asking them to evacuate their locations.
In the evening, displaced people from the south streamed into Beirut and Sidon, where shelters were allocated for them.
The Israeli army announced that it had bombed more than 1,000 targets belonging to Hezbollah, which has been firing rockets for about a year at Israeli territory in “support” of Hamas, which is waging a war with Israel in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said Monday evening that the strikes in southern and eastern Lebanon target “the combat infrastructure that Hezbollah has been building over the past 20 years,” adding that the army is “preparing for the next stages” of the operation.
In this regard, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation said that estimates indicate that half of Hezbollah’s long- and medium-range missiles were destroyed during the strikes.
The Israeli army announced that it is “expanding the scope” of its strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon, warning residents near weapons depots. Hezbollah In the Bekaa Valley, it is necessary to stay away from it.
Sirens in Haifa
As for Hezbollah, it announced on Monday that it had bombed an Israeli base west of Tiberias and a military headquarters with “dozens of missiles,” noting that it had targeted “the main warehouses belonging to the northern region in the Nimra base” and “the headquarters of the missile and artillery battalion in the Yoav barracks.”
On Monday, the party announced that it had bombed three targets in northern Israel.
Residents of the northern Israeli city of Haifa rushed to shelters on Monday evening after sirens sounded. The city’s streets, where fighter jets regularly fly overhead, were deserted on Monday.
“I’m not afraid for myself, I’m afraid for my three children,” said Ofer Levy, a 56-year-old customs officer who lives in Kiryat Motzkin in northern Israel. “My daughter fell one day while she was going to a bomb shelter when we heard the sirens. It worries me. No country can live like this.”
Clashes between Hezbollah and Israel have escalated since last week, following a series of bombings on Tuesday and Wednesday that targeted thousands of communication devices used by its members in an operation attributed to the Hebrew state, which resulted in the deaths of 39 people and the injury of 2,931, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
The party has received a series of blows in recent days, including the bombing of thousands of communication devices used by its members on Tuesday and Wednesday in an operation attributed to Israel, an air strike near Beirut targeting a meeting of the leadership of its elite forces, which resulted in the deaths of about 50 people, including two military commanders and a number of their comrades, in addition to intensive air strikes by the Israeli Air Force on targets in southern Lebanon over the weekend.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) warned on Monday of “far-reaching and devastating consequences,” expressing “grave concern for the safety of civilians in southern Lebanon amid the most intense Israeli bombing campaign since last October.”
“Avoid a wider war”
Amid the escalation, calls were issued for calm or for foreign nationals to leave.
The United States, Israel’s main ally, urged its citizens to leave Lebanon, while stressing that it would continue working to curb the escalation.
“We are working to contain the escalation,” US President Joe Biden said on Monday, noting that the United States “will do everything we can to avoid a wider war.”
In addition, China urged its citizens to leave Israel “as soon as possible.”
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani called from New York for an “emergency meeting” of heads of Arab delegations to the UN General Assembly to work to “stop Israel’s criminal behavior” in Lebanon.
For its part, Egypt requested the intervention of the UN Security Council to “stop the Israeli escalation” in Lebanon, while Turkey considered that the Israeli attacks in Lebanon threaten to push the Middle East into more “chaos.”
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi called on Monday for an immediate end to the escalation in Lebanon “before it is too late,” renewing his accusation that Israel is pushing the region toward a “comprehensive regional war.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Sunday of the danger of Lebanon turning into “another Gaza.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry warned Israel on Monday of “serious repercussions” of its military strikes on Hezbollah sites in Lebanon.
The war in the Gaza Strip broke out on October 7, with Hamas launching an attack that killed 1,205 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data. The figure includes hostages who died while being held in the Gaza Strip.
During the attack, 251 people were kidnapped, 97 of whom are still being held, including 33 who the army says were killed.
Israel responded with a devastating bombing campaign and ground assault on Gaza, killing at least 41,455 people, according to the Hamas health ministry. The United Nations says most of the dead were women and children.
