Israel-Lebanon latest: Intense fighting with Hezbollah as Israel sends troops across border to begin invasion
Israel says a ‘limited, localised and targeted’ ground operation has started in Lebanon, including ‘intense’ fighting along the border
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Israel is engaged in “intense fighting” with Hezbollah inside southern Lebanon after sending troops across the border as part of a major assault, the military have said.
Israel’s military Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “Urgent warning to the residents of South Lebanon. Intense fighting is taking place in southern Lebanon, with Hezbollah elements using the civilian environment and the population as human shields to launch attacks.
“For your personal safety, we ask you not to move vehicles from the northern region to the southern region of the Litani River. This warning is in effect until further notice.”
Israel announced overnight that it had launched “targeted” raids on Hezbollah positions on the border with southern Lebanon, controlled by Hezbollah.
A lieutenant commanding Israel’s Egoz unit reportedly told troops before going in that their operation was part of a “more substantial invasion” intended to halt Hezbollah’s ability to attack the northern territories across the border.
“This is a substantial matter because we have not invaded Lebanon since 2006,” the commander said.
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US State Department reiterates calls for Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire to reach ‘diplomatic resolution’
The US State Department has reiterated calls for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in order for a “diplomatic resolution” to be reached.
John Kirby, spokesman for the US State Department, also said on Monday that Israel “has a right to defend itself”.
He said: “I think sometimes people either misinterpret or have their own version of what a ceasefire is. A ceasefire is not one side in a conflict unilaterally putting down its arms and stopping the conflict. It is an agreement for both sides to stop the conflict.
“And in this case, what we have proposed is a 21-day ceasefire where both sides would stop attacking the other and we would reach a diplomatic resolution. We are going to continue to engage with our Israeli counterparts, with Lebanese counterparts, with other countries around the world to reach that objective.”
He added: “If you look at what the acting leader of Hezbollah said just today, it's that their attacks on Israel will continue. So Israel has a right to defend itself against those attacks, so that includes in targeting terrorist infrastructure inside Lebanon.”
In pictures: Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles at Lebanese border
These pictures show the meeting of tanks and armoured vehicles at Upper Galilee, on the Lebanese border, this evening. It comes amid fears from Western officials that an invsaion is imminent.
Vital to avoid any more military intervention in Lebanon, says EU’s Borrell
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has said it is vital to avoid any further military interventions in Lebanon.
“Any further military intervention would dramatically aggravate the situation and it has to be avoided,” Borrell told reporters on Monday, speaking from Mexico after an emergency video conference of EU foreign ministers.
Israel warned Iran on Monday that nowhere in the Middle East was beyond its reach and hinted at a land invasion of Lebanon after assassinating the leader of the Tehran-backed Hezbollah group, one of its biggest adversaries, in a Beirut suburb last week.
Israel declares areas around 3 northern border communities as closed military zone
The Israeli military declared the areas around the communities of Metula, Misgav Am, and Kfar Giladi in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon as a closed military zone and said entry to the areas was prohibited.
It said the decision, announced as speculation has grown of an imminent ground incursion into southern Lebanon, was taken following a situational assessment.
Israel has told US ground operations against Hezbollah are limited, State Dept says
Israel has told the United States it is conducting limited ground operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure in Lebanon near the border with Israel, the State Department said on Monday.
“This is what they have informed us that they are currently conducting, which are limited operations targeting Hezbollah infrastructure near the border,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters.
Asked to confirm they were limited ground operations, he said: “That is our understanding.”
Indications grew on Monday that Israel was on the verge of sending ground troops into Lebanon, two weeks into an assault on the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia that culminated in the assassination of its leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
A US official who spoke on condition of anonymity told Reuters the positioning of Israeli troops suggested a ground incursion could be imminent.
After two weeks of intensive airstrikes and a string of assassinations of Hezbollah commanders, Israel has suggested ever more strongly that a land invasion is looming.
The Israeli attacks on militant targets in Lebanon are part of a conflict stretching from the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the occupied West Bank to Iranian-backed groups in Yemen and Iraq. The escalation has raised fears that the United States and Iran will be sucked into the conflict.
Miller said that the United States continues to support a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah but added that military pressure can at times enable diplomacy. He cautioned that military pressure can also lead to miscalculation and unintended consequences.
UK foreign minister repeats calls for ceasefire after talk with Blinken on Middle East
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy has repeated calls for an immediate ceasefire amid reports of a potential escalation in the Israel-Lebanon conflict.
Speaking to broadcasters on Monday evening, Mr Lammy said that he had spoken to US secretary of state Antony Blinken and said they both agreed that “the best way forward is an immediate ceasefire and to get back to a political solution”.
Asked about advice he may have for Britons who are in Lebanon, he said: “We will do all that we can to assist people to get out and we have secured places on commercial flights that are flying tomorrow so that UK nationals can get out.
“I urge them to leave because the situation on the ground is fast moving.”
He added: “And of course, whilst we will do everything we can to protect British nationals – and those plans are in place to do so - we cannot anticipate the circumstances and the speed with which we could do that if things escalate in a major way over the coming hours and days.”
‘Unalloyed good Nasrallah no longer with us,’ says US State Department
The US State Department has said “it is an unalloyed good” that the leader Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah “is no longer with us” after Israel killed him over the weekend.
John Kirby, spokesman for the US State Department, said on Monday: “It is an unalloyed good that he is no longer with us.”
Lebanese army withdraws from positions on southern border with Israel, sources say
The Lebanese Army was seen withdrawing from several positions on the southern border with Israel, local residents and a security source told Reuters.
A Lebanese army spokesperson did not confirm or deny the reports.
Biden calls for ceasefire in Lebanon
US President Joe Biden has called for a ceasefire in Lebanon as a US official said Israeli troop deployments suggested a ground incursion against Hezbollah militants could be imminent.
Asked about reports that Israeli ground troops were preparing to move into southern Lebanon, Biden told reporters on Monday that he was “comfortable with them [Israel] stopping”.
Several top aides reinforced Biden's call for a ceasefire by urging a diplomatic resolution to the violence to allow tens of thousands of displaced Israelis and Lebanese to return to their homes along the border.
Washington "will continue to work with our partners in the region and around the world to advance a diplomatic resolution," Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a State Department conference.
Residents of Beirut neighbourhood tell of wishes for war to be over
The streets are filled with people and cars in the neighbourhood of Hamra in Beirut, many having fled the southern parts of the country or the capital itself amid heavy Israeli bombardments since last week.
On Monday afternoon, an Israeli surveillance drone can be heard loudly above the neighbourhood, Cosette Moljin reports for The Independent from Beirut. Many pedestrians stop for a moment and look up to the sky, searching and occasionally spotting the little white plane.
Heba, who runs a small catering shop in the area, says the drone has been around all day. “We hear it all the time, going lower, then higher, then lower again. It is annoying, and it scares us, of course.” She said some residents of Hamra have yet again received phone calls containing supposed evacuation messages. The phone calls have been debunked earlier last week already as being fake, but despite that they incite confusion and panic among Lebanese.
Despite the large number of refugees in the area, Heba said there have been no problems so far. “Thank God! I think it's safe here, there is no Hezbollah here and I don't think Israel has anything to bomb here.”
She said she wishes the war would be over. “Every five or 10 years we have a war again. It never stops. Now my children cannot go to school because they closed. All they have is online class.”
Heba hopes people abroad understand that “Lebanon is not Hezbollah. There is many different people in this country. But we all want peace. They should just implement [the UN Resolution] 1701. Then they [Israel] can live their life there, and we can do the same here.”
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