Israel’s military also carried out an airstrike in the Lebanese capital Beirut, which media reports said was aimed at a high-ranking Hezbollah commander. The Israeli military said it had attacked more than 1,300 targets in Lebanon – and the attacks were still ongoing on Monday evening. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a message directly to the Lebanese people: “Israel’s war is not with you, but with Hezbollah,” he said. “Hezbollah has used you as human shields for far too long.” In order to defend Israel against Hezbollah attacks, the militia’s weapons must be rendered harmless, Netanyahu argued.
According to the Israeli military, Hezbollah fired more than 150 missiles at civilian areas in Israel. Some of them were intercepted by missile defense systems, while others landed in open areas. There were initially no reports of injuries or damage to property.
Following the massive air strikes in Lebanon, the Israeli government declared a nationwide state of emergency in anticipation of counterattacks. According to media reports, the decision means, among other things, that the size of gatherings can be restricted.
According to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the attacks destroyed “tens of thousands of Hezbollah rockets that threatened Israel’s citizens.” Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said the military was attacking the infrastructure that Hezbollah had built up over the past 20 years for its fight. “This is very significant,” he stressed. Israel was attacking targets and preparing “the next phases” of the fight, about which he would say more shortly.
It remained unclear what the next steps were. So far, Israel has been attacking Lebanon massively from the air and with artillery across the border, but there are no Israeli troops in Lebanon.
On October 7, 2023, terrorists from Hamas, an ally of Hezbollah, and other extremist groups killed more than 1,200 people in Israel and took about 250 others hostage in the Gaza Strip. This was the trigger for the Gaza War. Since then, Hezbollah has been attacking Israel with rockets almost every day. Israel wants to drive Hezbollah out of the border area in order to ensure the safety of its citizens in the north and to enable the return of displaced people.
In view of the attacks, the Lebanese government accused Israel of waging “a war of extermination in every sense of the word.” “We as a government are working to stop this new war by Israel and prevent a descent into the unknown,” said caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
Israel’s army said it had carried out a “precise” attack on a target in Beirut. Rescue workers rushed to an area in southern Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold. Ibrahim Akil, a high-ranking military commander of the militia, had already been killed there on Friday. According to unconfirmed Israeli media reports, the target of the new attack was Hezbollah commander Ali Karaki, who was responsible for the southern front and was supposed to replace Akil.
If Karaki’s death is confirmed, it would be a “massive blow” against Hezbollah, wrote expert Maha Yahya from the Carnegie think tank on Platform X. This would leave only one other commander on Israel’s “hit list” besides Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Following the intensive bombings in the south by Israel’s air force, positions in the Bekaa Valley in northeastern Lebanon were also attacked in the afternoon, according to security sources. Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets at positions in northern Israel. The militia targeted, among other things, arms industry facilities near the port city of Haifa and military bases. Long-range rockets were also used.
There had previously been reports of warnings to the civilian population in Lebanon through robot calls with pre-recorded messages or via SMS. They were told to stay away from villages where Hezbollah weapons were stored until further notice. The Lebanese Ministry of Information described the action as “psychological warfare” by Israel.
Israel’s army has already expanded its attacks in the neighboring country in recent days. This also resulted in dozens of deaths and injuries. The army has so far avoided questions about whether a military ground offensive is also possible. If Israeli troops invade Lebanon, an even greater involvement of allied militias from Hezbollah in the region or Iran cannot be ruled out.
Around 150,000 people on both sides of the border had to leave their homes. The warlike conflict has intensified after the explosion of thousands of communication devices in Lebanon and an Israeli attack on the Hezbollah leadership near Beirut that left more than 50 people dead, including civilians, last week.
Many residents were panicking after the recent air strikes in southern Lebanon. Many people were fleeing from the suburbs of the southern city of Tyre, among others. Some rushed to the center of the coastal city and to the site of the UN observer mission UNIFIL there. The streets were filled with cars of people who apparently wanted to drive towards Beirut or other places in the north of the country. Traffic jams occurred on the roads.
There was “panic and chaos,” eyewitnesses reported. In the coastal city of Sidon, which lies about halfway between Tyre and Beirut, traffic came to a complete standstill at times. Drivers shared videos on social media showing masses of Lebanese driving north.
Israel and Hezbollah have already waged war against each other in 1982 and 2006. The Iranian-backed militia is now much more heavily armed than it was during the war almost 20 years ago. It says it is acting in solidarity with the Islamist Hamas, which is fighting against Israel in the Gaza Strip. Hezbollah and Hamas are supported by Iran.
Israel has recently reduced the number of its attacks in the Gaza Strip and is increasingly concentrating on Hezbollah. Israel wants the militia to withdraw behind the Litani River, 30 kilometers from the border – as stipulated in UN Resolution 1701, which marked the end of the war in 2006. According to the resolution, Hezbollah is not allowed to have a presence along the border. However, this is not being enforced by either the UN observer mission or the Lebanese army. Israel has declared the return of its residents to their homes in the north to be one of the goals of the Gaza war, which began with the Hamas terror attack on October 7 last year.
As Austrian Airlines told APA on Monday evening, connections to and from Tel Aviv and from and to Tehran will remain suspended until October 14th due to the unstable situation in the region. Connections to Amman and Erbil will continue as planned. Affected passengers will be offered rebooking and cancellation options, it said.
2024-09-23 18:29:08