Israel vows to continue dealing “severe blows” to Hezbollah

(Beirut) The Israeli army said Thursday that it would continue to inflict “severe blows” on Hezbollah, after three days of ground fighting against the armed Islamist movement in southern Lebanon which cost the lives of nine soldiers.

After a campaign of massive aerial bombardments, which killed several Hezbollah leaders and left hundreds dead across Lebanon, Israel has been carrying out a ground offensive since Monday in several places in the south of the country, one of the bastions of the powerful Lebanese movement supported by Iran.

On Thursday, airstrikes particularly targeted Beirut and its southern suburbs, one of which hit Hezbollah’s “intelligence headquarters” near the Lebanese capital, the army announced.

According to the army, “15 Hezbollah terrorist targets” were struck Thursday in Beirut, including “weapons production sites and weapons storage sites.”

A source close to Hezbollah also claimed that a bombing had targeted a warehouse near Beirut airport.

Almost a year after the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, triggered by the unprecedented attack carried out on October 7, 2023 by Palestinian Hamas on Israeli soil, Israel announced in mid-September that it would move most of of its operations towards the northern front, on the Lebanese border.

Israel has said it will fight Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, to “victory” to allow the return of around 60,000 border region residents displaced for a year by the movement’s incessant rocket fire. the north of its territory.

Oil on the rise

The army chief of staff, General Herzi Halevi, assured Thursday that “the severe blows dealt to Hezbollah” in Beirut, in the Bekaa valley, in the east, and in the south of Lebanon were going to “continue”, in a video broadcast by Israeli television.

Israel will not allow Hezbollah to “settle” again in southern Lebanon, he said.

The Israeli army announced the death of a soldier, bringing to nine the number of soldiers killed since the start of the ground offensive on Monday.

For its part, the Lebanese army claimed to have, for the first time in a year, responded to Israeli fire in southern Lebanon after the death of two of its soldiers.

Under UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which in 2006 declared the end of the previous war between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese army deployed in southern Lebanon alongside the Blue Helmets of the UN.

But Hezbollah has maintained its discreet presence in the region, where it has, according to experts, dug a large network of tunnels.

The now open war between Israel and Hezbollah is accompanied by an escalation between Israel and Iran, which fired 200 missiles into Israeli territory on Tuesday, leading to cross threats of reprisals between the two countries and new fears over a conflagration of the Middle East.

Iran claimed to respond to the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah who died on September 27 in an Israeli strike near Beirut, and that of Ismaïl Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas killed on July 31 in an attack in Tehran attributed to Israel.

US President Joe Biden said Thursday that he was “in discussions” with Israel about possible strikes against the oil installations of Iran, a country which is one of the ten largest oil producers.

Oil prices jumped after this statement.

The G7 countries expressed their “deep concern” about “the deteriorating situation” in the Middle East.

“Above our heads”

On the fourth day of its ground operations in southern Lebanon, which it described as “limited,” the Israeli army said Thursday that 15 Hezbollah fighters had been killed in an air raid on “the building of the municipality of Bint Jbeil”, near the border, where “quantities of weapons were stored”, according to her.

The army has launched a new call to evacuate 25 villages in southern Lebanon.

For its part, Hezbollah claimed to have repelled two Israeli incursions, setting off explosive devices for one of them.

He also said he fired rockets Thursday at Tiberias, a city in northern Israel.

Thursday is a public holiday in Israel for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year holiday.

Before dawn, an airstrike hit the heart of Beirut, killing seven people according to Hezbollah emergency services.

“We are civilians. Do you see any fighters around? Why do they want to destroy the roof over our heads? “, exclaimed Hassan Ammar, 82, who lived in the affected building after fleeing southern Lebanon.

The Lebanese news agency ANI also reported strikes on the south and east of Lebanon, but also on localities located outside these traditional Hezbollah strongholds.

Strikes on Gaza

According to official figures, nearly 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon in a year of cross-border violence between Hezbollah and the Israeli army, including more than a thousand since the start of massive aerial bombardments on September 23.

More than 40 rescue workers and firefighters have been killed since Monday by Israeli strikes, authorities announced Thursday.

The government estimates the number of displaced people to be around 1.2 million.

“We want to emigrate. Anywhere. We are afraid for our children, and the war is going to be long,” testified Fatima Salah who fled the southern suburbs of Beirut with her four children.

Meanwhile, the Israeli offensive continues on the Gaza Strip, devastated and besieged for a year, even if the bombings have decreased in intensity.

On Thursday, seven people were killed by Israeli strikes in different areas of Palestinian territory, according to Civil Defense.

Furthermore, on Thursday evening, the Palestinian Authority announced that 18 people had been killed following an Israeli strike on the Tulkarem refugee camp, a town in the northern West Bank where the Israeli army said it had carried out a raid. air.