2024-09-25 23:49:25
Israel announced on Wednesday that it is preparing a “possible” ground attack in Lebanon, after several days of bombings against the positions of the Islamist movement Hezbollah in progress that could lead to “total war” in the Middle East, according to US President Joe Biden.
“You can hear the planes from here; We are attacking every day. Both to prepare the ground for a possible entry, and to continue attacking Hezbollah,” said the head of the Israeli Army, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, in front of a tank group.
“Your entry there with power (…) will appear [a Hezbolá] what it’s like to meet a professional fighting force,” he added.
The Israeli army has previously announced the mobilization of two reserve brigades and their deployment in the north of the country, to “continue the fight” against Hezbollah.
Shortly after those announcements, Biden warned that “all-out war is possible,” but added that “the chance to reach a deal is still at risk,” he told ABC.
The head of French diplomacy, Jean-Noël Barrot, proposed at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council “a temporary suspension of 21 days to allow negotiations.”
“All media”
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, thanked “all those who are doing the right thing with diplomacy to prevent progress,” but added that they will use “all means” to achieve their goals.
For now, Israel says its goal is to ensure the return to their homes of northerners displaced by clashes with Hezbollah, which began since the outbreak of war in Gaza.
“We will not rest until [los desplazados del norte] return to your homes,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In the third consecutive day of heavy bombing by Israel, 72 people died this Wednesday and nearly 400 were injured, the Ministry of Health of Lebanon said in its latest report.
More than 90,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in Lebanon since Monday due to Israeli attacks, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), a UN agency reported.
The Israeli army indicated that during that time it had bombed “more than 2,000” Hezbollah positions, including “several hundred” on Wednesday.
On Monday, the first major Israeli attacks in Lebanon killed 558 people and wounded more than 1,800, according to Lebanese authorities, the highest number in a day since the end of the country’s civil war (1975-1990).
Since October, a total of 1,247 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Lebanon in clashes between Hezbollah and Israel.
In Baalbek, in eastern Lebanon, a “climate of terror” has started since the beginning of these bombings, said Nur Hamad, a 22-year-old student.
“We spent four or five days without sleep, not knowing if we would wake up in the morning. “Kids are scared, adults too,” he said.
Missile to Tel Aviv
Hezbollah, which has also increased its missile launches against Israel, fired a missile this Thursday at Tel Aviv, a hundred kilometers from the border, where anti-aircraft sirens were fired in the morning.
“This is the first time a Hezbollah missile has reached the Tel Aviv area,” said the Israeli military, which blocked the project.
The Islamist branch confirmed that the target of the missile was the agency of the Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence services, which it blamed for the “assassinations” of its leaders “and the explosions of pagers and texts ” of the past week, which remains dozens.
In the evening, the Iranian-backed organization of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed responsibility for a drone attack on the port city of Eilat, in southern Israel.
The Israeli military said it had intercepted a plane coming from the east and another had crashed near Eilat, while rescuers reported two minor injuries in the attack.
Iran, the main sponsor of this coalition of armed groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, warned that the Middle East is “on the brink of a great disaster” and promised to support Lebanon by “all means,” its Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. said the United Nations.
“Hell”
UN Secretary General António Guterres said that “hell is breaking out in Lebanon” and stressed that “the world cannot allow Lebanon to become another Gaza.”
Pope Francis also condemned in the Vatican the “great escalation” in Lebanon, calling it “unacceptable.”
The Lebanese Islamist movement opened a front against Israel in October in solidarity with its Palestinian counterpart Hamas and has vowed to continue fighting “until the end of the aggression in Gaza.”
This conflict occurred with a Hamas attack that left 1,205 dead in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures that include prisoners who died or were killed in exile in Gaza.
Of the 251 people abducted, 97 are in Gaza, 33 of which the army has declared dead.
In retaliation, Israel launched an attack on Gaza that has left 41,495 dead, most of them civilians, according to data from the Hamas government’s Ministry of Health, deemed reliable by the UN.
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