(Beirut) Israel intensified its strikes in Lebanon on Sunday and is carrying out ground fighting against Hezbollah in areas close to the border, with the Israeli Prime Minister calling on the UN to “immediately shelter” the peacekeepers who are buffer between the two countries.
“Mr Secretary General [de l’ONU]put the forces of UNIFIL [la Force intérimaire des Nations unies au Liban] sheltered. We must do it immediately, immediately,” said Benjamin Netanyahu, whose country is under international criticism after UNIFIL accused it of firing on its positions in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah reported for the first time “close fighting” in southern Lebanon and said it had repelled two infiltration attempts by Israeli troops.
For its part, the Israeli army spoke of “face-to-face combat” with Hezbollah.
PHOTO AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the village of Khiam, southern Lebanon, October 13, 2024.
It reported the capture of a Lebanese movement fighter in a tunnel in southern Lebanon, the first such announcement since the launch of its cross-border ground offensive in late September.
After weakening Hamas in Gaza, Israel moved the front of the war to Lebanon in September, with the aim of moving Hezbollah away from the border and allowing the return of some 60,000 displaced residents to northern Israel. by rocket fire, triggered by the Lebanese armed formation from October 8, 2023 in support of the Palestinian Islamist movement.
The war in Lebanon and that of Gaza, triggered by an unprecedented attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023 on Israeli soil, are accompanied by an escalation between Israel and Iran, with Israeli leaders threatening to retaliate to an Iranian attack of missiles on 1er october.
Visiting Baghdad, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned Sunday that his country has “no red lines” when it comes to defending its interests, saying Iran is “totally ready to to face a war situation.
“Like an earthquake”
In southern Lebanon, an Israeli strike targeted a market in the town of Nabatiyeh on Saturday evening, according to the official Lebanese news agency ANI.
Between the walls of collapsed stores, the columns of acrid smoke and the mountains of charred debris, rescuers were still working on Sunday morning. A few onlookers noted, startled, the damage caused by the strike.
PHOTO MOHAMMAD ZAATARI, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hezbollah rescue workers use an excavator to remove rubble from buildings destroyed Saturday evening by Israeli airstrikes, in the town of Nabatiyeh, southern Lebanon, October 13, 2024.
Among them, Tareq Sadaqa, still can’t believe his eyes: “it’s as if an earthquake had ravaged the market,” he told AFP. “Everything was destroyed, even the little bistro on the corner where we drank our coffee in the morning. »
The Israeli army recently called on residents of 25 towns in southern Lebanon, including those of Nabatiyeh, to move north. On Saturday, she called for the evacuation of around twenty others as well as on Sunday.
After the intensification of Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon on September 23, tens of thousands of families fled this region, according to the UN.
According to ANI, since midnight Israel has intensified its bombings on villages in the south of the country, a traditional stronghold of Hezbollah, where an old mosque was “completely” destroyed by a strike in Kfar Tebnit.
The Lebanese Red Cross reported that several of its rescuers were injured in a strike on a house in southern Lebanon.
The front opened in October 2023 by Hezbollah against Israel, in support of Hamas, transformed into open war on September 23 with the start of intense Israeli bombings on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon, killing in particular the leader of the movement Hassan Nasrallah.
The Israeli army then launched a ground offensive on September 30 in southern Lebanon, stoking fears of a regional conflagration.
“Repeated” shots
On Friday, UNIFIL accused Israeli troops of “repeatedly” and “deliberately” firing on its positions, provoking an international outcry.
Five peacekeepers were injured in 48 hours, according to UNIFIL.
We regret that the UNIFIL soldiers were injured and we are doing everything in our power to prevent this from happening again. But the simplest and most obvious way to do this is simply to get them out of the danger zone.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister
Before him, his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant assured his American counterpart Lloyd Austin that Israel would continue to take measures to protect the Blue Helmets despite an “operational challenge”.
Since October 2023, more than 2,100 people have been killed in Lebanon, including more than 1,200 since September 23, according to an AFP count based on official figures. The UN has recorded nearly 700,000 displaced people.
Offensive in Jabalia
In the devastated and besieged Gaza Strip, the Israeli army continued its offensive, mainly shelling the region of Jabalia (North), where it accuses Hamas of seeking to reconstitute its forces.
PHOTO OMAR AL-QATTAA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A young Palestinian reacts to seeing the bodies of his loved ones killed during an overnight Israeli airstrike in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on October 12, 2024.
On Sunday, his army said it had eliminated “dozens” of fighters in Jabalia and struck “40 targets”. According to Mr. Netanyahu, the army is “dismantling Hamas strongholds” in the area.
Hamas condemned a “criminal military campaign” in the north of the Gaza Strip.
The Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people in Israel, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures and including hostages who died or were killed in captivity in Gaza.
At least 42,227 Palestinians were killed, the majority civilians, in the Israeli offensive in Gaza, according to data from the Hamas government’s Health Ministry, deemed reliable by the UN.