Israel bombed positions of Hezbollah already Syria this Thursday (17), after the forces of USA carried out several attacks on rebel installations houthis do Yemenafter almost a month of open war between Israel and the Lebanese Islamist movement.
Syria, the Yemeni rebels, the Islamist movement Hezbollah and the Palestinian group Hamas belong to the so-called “axis of resistance” against Israel, led by Iran.
The commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Hossein Salami, warned this Thursday that the country will respond with a “painful” attack in the event of Israeli reprisal for the missiles launched on October 1 by Tehran.
Salami made the statement during the funeral ceremonies for General Abbas Nilforushan, commander of the Islamic Republic’s ideological army who died on September 27 in the Israeli bombing of south Beirut that also killed the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
Iran claims the nearly 200 missiles launched at Israel were a response to the bombing that killed Nasrallah and Nilforushan
Israeli authorities have vowed to respond to the attack, raising fears that the war, fought on several fronts, will result in a regional conflict.
Syrian state media reported that Israel bombed the city of Latakia and injured two civilians, an attack that, according to the NGO Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), targeted a “Hezbollah weapons depot”.
The Israeli Army, wanted by AFPmade no comment on the bombing.
United States forces have launched several B-2 bomber strikes against underground weapons storage facilities in areas of Yemen controlled by Houthi rebels, the Pentagon said Wednesday.
The Houthi rebels said on Thursday that American bombings would not go “unanswered”.
“The destruction is total”
The conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas began on October 7, 2023, when Islamist militiamen killed 1,206 people in southern Israel, most of them civilians, according to a count based on official Israeli figures that include hostages who died in captivity in Gaza.
Hezbollah opened a front against Israel the next day in support of Hamas, which forced tens of thousands of people to leave their homes on both sides of the border.
In September, Israel moved most of its operations to the north and intensified bombings in the Lebanon from September 23rd. A week later, the country began ground operations against Hezbollah.
Israeli bombings against the city of Nabatieh, southern Lebanon left at least 16 dead and 52 injured on Wednesday.
In the Lebanese town of Qana, emergency teams linked to the Shiite Amal movement worked among the rubble following an Israeli bombing raid earlier this week.
More than 15 buildings were completely destroyed, the destruction is total in a neighborhood of Qana”, declared Mohamed Nasrallah Ibrahim, one of the rescuers.
The city of Cana, in southern Lebanon, unrecognizable after Israeli bombings.
Photo: Bilal KASHMAR / AFP
The Israeli Army ordered this Thursday residents leaving from an area of the Bekaa Valley, in eastern Lebanon, with the warning that it will attack Hezbollah targets in the region, a stronghold of the pro-Iran movement.
“Die of thirst or hunger”
Hezbollah announced that it had destroyed an Israeli tank near the border with a “guided missile” after reporting “violent fighting” on Wednesday with Israeli troops.
At least 1,373 people have died in Lebanon since Israel stepped up its offensive against Hezbollah, according to a tally by AFP based on official data, but the real balance could be much higher.
Israel faces criticism from the international community for the bombings in Lebanon, including the United States government, its main ally, which warned that the operations “must not be a threat to the lives of civilians” nor to the Israeli peacekeeping force. HIM in Lebanon (Unifil), nor for the Lebanese Army.
Last week, Unifil accused the Israeli Army of having fired at their positions in Lebanon and the UN force said on Wednesday that an Israeli tank opened fire on one of its bases in the south of the country, in an “apparently deliberate” attack.
The Israeli Army claims it did not target the peacekeepers.
In Gaza, Israeli forces have been carrying out bombings and ground operations in the north of the territory and in the Jabaliya area for a week, where they say Hamas is trying to regroup its forces.
Nidal al Arab, 40, lost 10 family members in the Israeli attacks.
“People are trapped. If they don’t die in the bombings, they will soon die of thirst and hunger,” he told AFP.
The director of Civil Defense in northern Gaza, Ahmed al Kahlut, said that more than 200,000 people have been deprived of food aid and drinking water for more than 10 days.
At least 42,438 people died, most of them civilians, in the Israeli retaliatory offensive in Gaza after the attack on October 7, 2023, according to data from the territory’s Ministry of Health, considered reliable by the UN.
