Wednesday, 16 October, 2024
Israel expanded its targets in its conflict with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon on Monday, carrying out an airstrike in the north that killed at least 21 people, according to health officials. Meanwhile, millions of Israelis took shelter from projectiles launched across the border.
Until now, Israel’s military operations in Lebanon have primarily focused on the south, the Bekaa Valley in the east, and the suburbs of Beirut.
The strike in the Christian-majority town of Aitou hit a house that had been rented to displaced families, the town's mayor Joseph Trad told Reuters. In addition to the deaths, eight people were injured, the Lebanese health ministry said.
Rescue workers at the site of the strike searched through piles of rubble on Monday, where burned vehicles and trees could be seen strewn across the ground.
Israel ordered residents of 25 villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate to areas north of the Awali River, which flows some 60 km (35 miles) north of the Israeli frontier.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visiting a military base in central Israel where four soldiers were killed on Sunday by a Hezbollah drone strike, vowed that Israel would continue its attacks on the Iran-backed group “without mercy, everywhere in Lebanon – including Beirut.”
At the Masnaa border crossing with Syria, Jalal Ferhat, his wife Amal Tefayeli, and their five children were among those unloading belongings from buses as they prepared to leave Lebanon.
“There are strikes in our neighbourhood, and they’ve hit near my house,” said Ferhat, 40, from Baalbek, a Hezbollah stronghold in eastern Lebanon. “I have children; you can’t just stay where you are.”
In central Israel, residents scrambled to shelters as sirens blared. The military reported that three projectiles crossing from Lebanon were intercepted, with no injuries reported. According to the Israeli military, Hezbollah fired approximately 115 projectiles into Israel from Lebanon on Monday.
Lebanese army soldier stands near destroyed vehicles at a site damaged by an Israeli air strike in the Christian-majority region of Aitou in north Lebanon, the Lebanese health ministry said, October 14, 2024.
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which resumed a year ago when Hezbollah began launching rockets at Israel in support of Palestinian group Hamas during the Gaza war, has intensified significantly in recent weeks.
Lebanese government reports indicate that Israeli strikes have killed at least 2,309 people in Lebanon over the past year, most of whom have died since late September when Israel escalated its military campaign. The figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
Israel maintains that its operations in Lebanon aim to secure the return of the tens of thousands displaced from northern Israel.
The Israeli military announced that it had killed Muhammad Kamel Naim, commander of Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force anti-tank missile unit, in a strike in the Nabatieh area of southern Lebanon. Hezbollah has not yet commented.
As Israel intensifies its efforts to eliminate Hezbollah's presence and military infrastructure in southern Lebanon, tensions have escalated with the UN peacekeeping force, UNIFIL.
The UN reported that Israeli tanks breached its base on Sunday.
On Monday, Netanyahu dismissed allegations that Israeli troops had intentionally targeted UNIFIL peacekeepers as “completely false” and reiterated a call for them to vacate combat zones near the Israeli border. He claimed that Hezbollah uses UNIFIL sites as cover for its attacks, including a drone strike on Sunday that killed four Israeli soldiers.
“Israel has every right to defend itself against Hezbollah and will continue to do so,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
He expressed regret for any harm to UNIFIL personnel but stated that the best way to ensure their safety was “to heed Israel's request and temporarily relocate out of harm's way.”
UNIFIL’s spokesperson, Andrea Tenenti, posted a video on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, affirming that the peacekeeping mission would remain in place.
“We are staying ... we are in the south of Lebanon under a Security Council mandate. So it’s important to maintain an international presence and keep the UN flag flying in the area,” Tenenti said.
The Israeli military took foreign journalists into southern Lebanon on Sunday, showing them a Hezbollah tunnel less than 200 meters (650 feet) from a UNIFIL position, as well as weapons caches discovered by Israeli troops.
“We are standing in a Hezbollah military base very close to the UN,” Brigadier General Yiftach Norkin said, pointing to a tunnel trapdoor in an area covered by undergrowth and overlooked by a UN observation post.
Since initiating its ground operations near the border, the Israeli military claims to have destroyed dozens of Hezbollah tunnel entrances, rocket launchers, and command posts.
UNIFIL has said that previous Israeli strikes have hindered its ability to monitor the situation, and UN sources express concern that monitoring for violations of international law in the conflict may become impossible.
Meanwhile, the Middle East remains on high alert for a potential Israeli retaliation against Iran following an October 1 missile barrage launched in response to Israeli strikes in Lebanon.
On Sunday, the Pentagon announced it would deploy US troops to Israel along with an advanced anti-missile defense system.
The US embassy in Lebanon on Monday urged American citizens to leave immediately, warning that additional government-organized evacuation flights, which have been in operation since September 27, would not continue indefinitely.
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Israel expanded its targets in its conflict with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon on Monday, carrying out an airstrike in the north that killed at least 21 people, according to health officials. Meanwhile, millions of Israelis took shelter from projectiles launched across the border.
Until now, Israel’s military operations in Lebanon have primarily focused on the south, the Bekaa Valley in the east, and the suburbs of Beirut.
The strike in the Christian-majority town of Aitou hit a house that had been rented to displaced families, the town's mayor Joseph Trad told Reuters. In addition to the deaths, eight people were injured, the Lebanese health ministry said.
Rescue workers at the site of the strike searched through piles of rubble on Monday, where burned vehicles and trees could be seen strewn across the ground.
Israel ordered residents of 25 villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate to areas north of the Awali River, which flows some 60 km (35 miles) north of the Israeli frontier.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visiting a military base in central Israel where four soldiers were killed on Sunday by a Hezbollah drone strike, vowed that Israel would continue its attacks on the Iran-backed group “without mercy, everywhere in Lebanon – including Beirut.”
At the Masnaa border crossing with Syria, Jalal Ferhat, his wife Amal Tefayeli, and their five children were among those unloading belongings from buses as they prepared to leave Lebanon.
“There are strikes in our neighbourhood, and they’ve hit near my house,” said Ferhat, 40, from Baalbek, a Hezbollah stronghold in eastern Lebanon. “I have children; you can’t just stay where you are.”
In central Israel, residents scrambled to shelters as sirens blared. The military reported that three projectiles crossing from Lebanon were intercepted, with no injuries reported. According to the Israeli military, Hezbollah fired approximately 115 projectiles into Israel from Lebanon on Monday.
Lebanese army soldier stands near destroyed vehicles at a site damaged by an Israeli air strike in the Christian-majority region of Aitou in north Lebanon, the Lebanese health ministry said, October 14, 2024.
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which resumed a year ago when Hezbollah began launching rockets at Israel in support of Palestinian group Hamas during the Gaza war, has intensified significantly in recent weeks.
Lebanese government reports indicate that Israeli strikes have killed at least 2,309 people in Lebanon over the past year, most of whom have died since late September when Israel escalated its military campaign. The figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
Israel maintains that its operations in Lebanon aim to secure the return of the tens of thousands displaced from northern Israel.
The Israeli military announced that it had killed Muhammad Kamel Naim, commander of Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force anti-tank missile unit, in a strike in the Nabatieh area of southern Lebanon. Hezbollah has not yet commented.
As Israel intensifies its efforts to eliminate Hezbollah's presence and military infrastructure in southern Lebanon, tensions have escalated with the UN peacekeeping force, UNIFIL.
The UN reported that Israeli tanks breached its base on Sunday.
On Monday, Netanyahu dismissed allegations that Israeli troops had intentionally targeted UNIFIL peacekeepers as “completely false” and reiterated a call for them to vacate combat zones near the Israeli border. He claimed that Hezbollah uses UNIFIL sites as cover for its attacks, including a drone strike on Sunday that killed four Israeli soldiers.
“Israel has every right to defend itself against Hezbollah and will continue to do so,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
He expressed regret for any harm to UNIFIL personnel but stated that the best way to ensure their safety was “to heed Israel's request and temporarily relocate out of harm's way.”
UNIFIL’s spokesperson, Andrea Tenenti, posted a video on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, affirming that the peacekeeping mission would remain in place.
“We are staying ... we are in the south of Lebanon under a Security Council mandate. So it’s important to maintain an international presence and keep the UN flag flying in the area,” Tenenti said.
The Israeli military took foreign journalists into southern Lebanon on Sunday, showing them a Hezbollah tunnel less than 200 meters (650 feet) from a UNIFIL position, as well as weapons caches discovered by Israeli troops.
“We are standing in a Hezbollah military base very close to the UN,” Brigadier General Yiftach Norkin said, pointing to a tunnel trapdoor in an area covered by undergrowth and overlooked by a UN observation post.
Since initiating its ground operations near the border, the Israeli military claims to have destroyed dozens of Hezbollah tunnel entrances, rocket launchers, and command posts.
UNIFIL has said that previous Israeli strikes have hindered its ability to monitor the situation, and UN sources express concern that monitoring for violations of international law in the conflict may become impossible.
Meanwhile, the Middle East remains on high alert for a potential Israeli retaliation against Iran following an October 1 missile barrage launched in response to Israeli strikes in Lebanon.
On Sunday, the Pentagon announced it would deploy US troops to Israel along with an advanced anti-missile defense system.
The US embassy in Lebanon on Monday urged American citizens to leave immediately, warning that additional government-organized evacuation flights, which have been in operation since September 27, would not continue indefinitely.
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