2024-10-08 22:55:00
Benjamin Netanyahu doubles pressure on Lebanon. The Israeli prime minister yesterday threatened “a long war of destruction and suffering similar to what we see in Gaza” if the country of cedars does not get rid of Hezbollah, a Shiite militia supported by the Iranian government and Tehran’s main ally in the area “They have the possibility of saving Lebanon before it falls into the abyss”, he immediately warned, using language similar to that of the beginning of Gaza’s war against the Strip.
“We have damaged Hezbollah’s capabilities; we have eliminated thousands of terrorists, including Nasrallah himself, Nasrallah’s successor and successor to Nasrallah’s successor,” the Israeli leader confirmed in a statement. Yesterday in Lebanon at least 36 people died and 137 were injured. Just one year after the start of cross-border clashes, the death toll stands at 2,119 and over 10,000 injured.
Meanwhile, Israel strengthens itself at the border and plants its flag in Lebanon. The Jewish Army announced yesterday that the 146th Armored Division began carrying out “limited, localized and targeted operational activities” in southwestern Lebanon the day before. In turn, a group of soldiers raised the Israeli flag in the Lebanese border village of Maroun al-Ras, where fighting with Hezbollah has concentrated in recent days. Netanyahu claimed to have killed Hashem Safieddine, Hasan Nasrallah’s presumed successor in command of Hezbollah, and a possible replacement for the latter, during his bombing campaign in Lebanon.
Four divisions on the border
Shiite militia launched largest rocket barrage against Israeli city of Haifa, while Israeli airstrikes against Cedar Land; its capital, Beirut, and the Gaza Strip do not stop. As of yesterday, the Jewish army already has four divisions stationed on the northern border with Lebanon. Israeli media say the total number of soldiers deployed in the Cedar Land could exceed 15,000.
The latest division is in reserve and joins three permanent divisions already operating in the central and eastern areas of southern Lebanon: the 98th, 36th and 91st, the latter recalled yesterday. At the moment, Israeli forces’ ground invasion in southern Lebanon is not penetrating the interior of the country, but is focused on other villages near the border fence. At the same time, Israeli planes do not stop attacking border villages, creating a curtain of fire and large-scale destruction.
Right in the ruins of Maroun al-Ras, is where a group of soldiers raised an Israeli flag. After 24 years, for the first time, the Star of David framed by two blue lines rises over Lebanon, as shared by the Abir 91 team of the BLM unit. The Israeli army said forces from the 98th Division killed hundreds of Hezbollah operatives in southern Lebanon and destroyed several offensive tunnels, one of which ran through Israeli territory.
“The enemy thinks he will win,” Hezbollah deputy secretary general Naim Qassem said in his second televised address since Nasrallah’s death ten days ago. “The only solution is the resistance, steadfastness and unity of our people around us, and this is our choice of victory, we will defeat Israel and it will not achieve its goals,” declared the group’s number two.
Qassem stressed that his movement supports efforts to reach a ceasefire and for the first time omitted any mention of a ceasefire agreement in Gaza as a condition for a ceasefire against Israel. Netanyahu also spoke yesterday.
The biggest attack
More than 100 rockets were fired from Lebanon into Haifa and other areas of northern Israel, causing some shrapnel wounds. This is the largest missile bombing ever carried out to date against this important Israeli city. In turn, the Israeli army announced that it had killed Suheil Hussein Husseini, head of Hezbollah’s headquarters. His unit was in charge of the group’s budget and the organization of other Hezbollah affiliates.
Israeli planes continued to bomb Beirut’s southern neighborhoods. In turn, Jewish forces have sent tanks into the heart of the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip in an attempt to empty the northern Palestinian enclave of civilians.
Around 25 Palestinians, including five children and two women, were killed in Israeli airstrikes in central Gaza, and 18 others in the rest of the enclave. A year and a day of war against Gaza has resulted in the deaths of a total of 41,965 Palestinians.
Debate in Strasbourg
Borrell asks to take advantage of the weakness of the Shiite group
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The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, asked yesterday to take advantage of this opportunity of “Hezbollah’s weakness” after the attacks against its command by Israel to “strengthen the political structures of Lebanon” . During a debate in the European Chamber on the offensive carried out by the Jewish army in the east of the country, the head of European diplomacy underlined that “the Lebanese political class must be called to respond” because “without it, certainly, no country has a solution.” Lebanese government institutions have been in a state of suspension for years due to the country’s complicated political system and the inability of various parties to reach an agreement.
Borrell also insisted on the need for a ceasefire and condemned the Israeli bombing. “History shows that there are no military solutions to conflicts that are deeply rooted in the structures of a region like the Middle East,” he noted, before urging us to “prevent Lebanon from becoming a new Gaza”. Borrell also called for a “stronger” mandate for UNIFIL, the United Nations mission in Lebanon, “to ensure peace on the border,” something he said “seems unrealistic in the current circumstances.”
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