Clashes between Israel and Lebanon: Since the start of the Gaza War on October 7, Israel has launched its largest ariel offensive against Iran-backed Shiite militant group Hezbollah, which has resulted in the deaths of nearly 500 civilians in southern Lebanon. According to the Lebanese health ministry, over 100 women and children were among the fatalities and another 1,650 people were injured.
Along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, minor skirmishes and clashes occurred everyday as Hezbollah continued to fire hundreds of missiles into Israel. The group declared that its activities are a show of support for the Palestinian people who are enduring Israel’s ruthless military campaign in Gaza.
Hezbollah’s use of drones and rockets as payback for Israel’s July execution of its top commander, Faud Shukr, caused tensions to spike in August. Following hundreds of pagers and radios going off in succession across Lebanon, the militant organization announced a “open-ended battle of reckoning” with Israel on Sunday and launched more than 100 rockets once more. Lebanon attributed the incident targeting Hezbollah members to Israel and its top intelligence organization, Mossad.
Israel had asserted that an all-out war might be the only means of putting an end to Hezbollah’s attacks on its northern borders and allowing its citizens to return to their homes because diplomatic attempts to stop the attacks are failing.
Here are latest updates on Israel-Lebanon conflict
- Masoud Pezeshkian, the president of Iran, accused Israel of seeking to plunge the entire Middle East into a full-scale conflict and issued a dire warning of “irreversible consequences.” He declared, “We do not want to be the source of instability in the Middle East because its effects would be irreversible.”
- Antonio Guterres, the secretary-general of the United Nations (UN), expressed his “grave alarm over the escalating situation” in Lebanon. He expressed concern over Hezbollah’s ongoing attacks into Israel as well as Israel’s bombing campaign. “A diplomatic solution must be the focus of all efforts,” he declared.
- The Israeli military declared that it would expand its campaign of aircraft assaults against what it perceives to be Hezbollah’s weapons sites in eastern and southern Lebanon. According to an Israeli military officer, the campaign’s main goal is to weaken the group’s military power, suggesting that a ground invasion is not likely.
- Speaking, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated, “I want to clarify Israel’s policy: we do not wait for the threat, we are ahead of it,” and foresaw “complicated days” coming.
- In a video address to the Lebanese people, Netanyahu urged them to “get out of harm’s way now” and stated that Israel’s campaign is not directed towards them. “Hezbollah has been exploiting you as human shields for a long time. It positioned missiles in your garage and rockets in your living rooms. These are straight shots at the people and cities in our region. We have to take those weapons in order to protect our people from Hezbollah strikes,” he continued.
- To stop the violence from spreading, the US announced that it will talk about “concrete ideas” with partners and allies. According to President Biden, the US is attempting to defuse the situation in Lebanon.