Israel-Lebanon latest: Israeli military launches fresh strikes on Hezbollah as thousands forced to flee homes
Israel says it’s ‘not looking for wars’ but army is ‘in full readiness’ to push Hezbollah back from border
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Israel has fired dozens more rockets at what it says are Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon after the deadliest day of strikes in the area in nearly two decades.
After almost a year of war against Hamas in Gaza on its southern border, Israel is shifting its focus to the northern frontier, where Hezbollah has been firing rockets into Israel in support of Hamas, also backed by Iran.
The Israeli military said it struck a Hezbollah militant cell and its artillery and tanks hit other Hezbollah targets in the south overnight in the latest round of strikes.
Hezbollah on Tuesday morning said it had attacked several Israeli military targets, including an explosives factory 60 km (37 miles) into Israel.
It comes as thousands were pictured fleeing southern Lebanon in loaded cars, vans and trucks. Highways north were gridlocked. Images also showed scores of civilians sleeping on beaches and walkways after having fled last night.
Lebanese authorities said Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon on Monday had killed nearly 500 people and sent tens of thousands fleeing for safety.
Israeli airstrikes kill nearly 500 and injure 1,600, Lebanon says – in deadliest day for country since 2006
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Israeli military says warning sirens sound in northern West Bank
Warning sirens have sounded in the northern part of the occupied West Bank as Hezbollah rocket fire extended further south from the border areas in northern Israel, which have been most heavily targeted in the latest exchange of fire.
Alarms were also sounded in areas across northern Israel, the military said.
US concerned by Israel shuttering Al Jazeera office in Ramallah, State Department says
The United States is concerned by the Israeli military’s raid and shutdown of media network Al Jazeera’s office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, a State Department spokesperson has said.
“This action is inconsistent with US support for freedom of the press in the West Bank and all over the world,” the spokesperson said.
The US is still gathering information about the Israeli military operation on Sunday, they added.
Watch the video below for context:
Breaking: Israeli military says it has conducted strike on Lebanon capital Beirut
The Israeli military has said it had conducted a targeted strike in Beirut. It gave no details on the target.
A security source told news agency Reuters an Israeli strike hit Beirut’s southern suburbs on Monday evening, but said it was not immediately clear what type of strike was used or what was hit.
The Lebanese minister coordinating the crisis response, Nasser Yassin, said tens of thousands of people are fleeing southern Lebanon “due to Israeli atrocities”.
The security source also told the news agency the strike targeted senior Hezbollah leader Ali Karaki, the head of the southern front. He condition is currently unknown
Watch: Dashcam footage captures moment Hezbollah rocket hit city in northern Israel
Netanyahu says Israel is changing security balance on northern border
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel faced “complicated days” as it stepped up strikes against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and he called on Israelis to stay united as the campaign unfolded.
“I promised that we would change the security balance, the balance of power in the north - that is exactly what we are doing,” he said in a message issued following a situational assessment at military headquarters in Tel Aviv.
At least 21 children and 31 women among the 274 dead from Israeli airstrikes, Lebanese health minister says
At least 274 people, including 21 children and 31 women, were killed and 1,024 wounded in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon on Monday, the country’s health minister said during a press conference.
Explainer: What happened during 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war?
The 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war was a 34 day armed conflict in Lebanon, northern Israel and the Golan Heights.
The conflict, primarily fought between Hezbollah and the Israeli military, began on 12 July 2006, and continued until a UN-brokered ceasefire came into effect on 14 August.
It is estimated some 1,300 Lebanese people were killed during the war, and 165 Israelis, according to a report by The Independent at the time.
Around one million Lebanese people were displaced during the war.
Today’s strikes on Southern Lebanon from Israel is the deadliest barrage since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.
Comment: Why has Israel’s president denied the pager attack on Hezbollah?
The Israeli president has said that he “rejects out of hand any connection” between his state and the wave of detonating pagers and walkie-talkies that hit Lebanon’s Hezbollah in particular, but a lot of bystanders too.
It is not clear what led Isaac Herzog to contradict that otherwise universally accepted connection, which has been cheered on by some, and deplored by others.
Read the full Voices article by Mark Almond below:
Why has Israel’s president denied the shocking pager attack on Hezbollah?
Tensions within the country’s political elite have bubbled to the surface over the presentation of its strategy against insurgents, writes Mark Almond
Top UN officials say ‘atrocities must end’ in Gaza
Top United Nations officials have demanded “an end to the appalling human suffering and humanitarian catastrophe” in the Gaza Strip nearly one year into the war between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas.
“These atrocities must end,” the heads of UN agencies said in a statement as world leaders gathered in New York for the annual UN General Assembly.
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