BEIRUT – Israel’s military pounded targets in south and east Lebanon yesterday, and said more strikes were coming, warning Lebanese to stay out of harm’s way, despite international calls for restraint.
Hezbollah has said it is ready for “all military possibilities”.
Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari made a first-of-its-kind appeal to people in Lebanon.
He told them to avoid potential targets linked to the Iran-backed Hezbollah as new strikes were launched yesterday that would “go on for the near-future”.
He said Israel’s military “will engage in (more) extensive and precise strikes against terror targets, which have been embedded widely throughout Lebanon”.
He urged Lebanese civilians “to immediately move out of harm’s way for their own safety”.
After nearly a year of tit-for-tat cross-border fire between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, exchanges over the weekend reached their most intense since the outbreak of conflict between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip last October. Hezbollah said it is acting in “support” of Hamas. Ahead of the annual General Assembly, United Nations chief Antonio Guterres warned of the risk of Lebanon becoming “another Gaza”, and said it was “clear that both sides are not interested in a ceasefire” in the Gaza conflict.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency yesterday said “enemy warplanes launched… more than 80 airstrikes in half an hour”, targeting south Lebanon, at the same time as “intense raids in the Bekaa” Valley area in the east, where it said a shepherd was killed. AFP correspondents in the south and east reported the sound of heavy strikes.
After intense rocket fire from Lebanon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said Israel has dealt “a series of blows on Hezbollah that it could have never imagined”.
Hezbollah’s deputy chief Naim Qassem said the group was in a “new phase” in its battle against Israel.
They spoke after attacks on northern Israel forced Israelis to seek shelter, and caused damage in the area of Haifa, a major city on Israel’s north coast.
“No country can tolerate attacks on its citizens,” Netanyahu said as Israel turned its focus on Hezbollah, nearly a year into its Gaza conflict, sparked by Hamas Palestinian militants’ attack on Israel. The conflict has drawn in Iran-backed groups across the Middle East, including Hezbollah.
Since the near-daily border exchanges began in October, hundreds of people have been killed in Lebanon, mostly fighters, and dozens in Israel and the annexed Golan Heights.
Tens of thousands of people on both sides have fled their homes. Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant yesterday said military action “will continue until we reach a point where we may ensure the safe return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes”. Israel’s ally and leading weapons supplier, the United States, said military escalation is not in Israel’s “best interest”. President Joe Biden said his administration was “going to do everything we can to keep a wider conflict from breaking out”.
– Nampa/AFP