Israel bombed, this Thursday(10), positions of the Islamist movement Hezbollah in Beirut and other regions of the Lebanonwhere fighting continues in the south, and in Gaza, an attack on a school left at least 28 people dead, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The Israeli Army intensified the offensive against Hezbollah on September 30 with ground attacks in southern Lebanon, after a year of clashes on the border with this pro-Iran militia and ally of the Palestinian Hamas movement.
Israeli bombing continued to hit the southern suburbs of Beirut, one of Hezbollah’s strongholds, on Thursday, where attacks devastated entire neighborhoods.
In the southern city of Derdghaiya, rescue teams were searching the rubble of a Civil Defense center after an Israeli bombing that killed five rescuers.
On the outskirts of Tyre, close to the border, a cloud of smoke rose after Israeli shelling and the official ANI news agency reported attacks in the south and east of the country.
Israel has also stepped up attacks on Syria and bombed a road to Lebanon, aimed at blocking Hezbollah supply routes.
Despite the death of several commanders and the leader of the pro-Iran movement, Hassan Nasrallah, on September 27 in an Israeli bombing, the group claims it remains operational.
Hezbollah said on Thursday it destroyed an Israeli tank, causing casualties. The vehicle was advancing towards the Lebanese city of Ras al Naqura, close to the border, where the Israeli Army had said it was reinforcing troops.
Limit impact on civilians
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone on Wednesday with American President Joe Biden.
The main topic was Israel’s response to the missile attack launched last week by Iran, an ally of Lebanese Hezbollah and Palestinian Hamas.
Biden asked Netanyahu to “limit the impact on civilians as much as possible” in Lebanon, the White House said.
Netanyahu this week called on the Lebanese to “liberate” their country from Hezbollah, a militia that is also a party with significant representation in Parliament.
The Israeli leader warned that Lebanon could fall “into the abyss of a long war” with a level of “destruction” similar to that in Gaza.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said he “does not anticipate any type of military action in Lebanon similar to that in Gaza, or that would leave a similar result.”
At least 28 dead in Gaza
Hezbollah opened a front against Israel a year ago to support Hamas, which went to war with Israel after the October 7, 2023 attack.
The conflict between Israel and Hamas erupted after the unprecedented attack by Islamist militants on Israeli soil, which caused the death of 1,206 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP report based on official Israeli figures.
In response, Israel launched a relentless offensive in the Gaza Strip, governed by Hamas, in which more than 42,065 Palestinians have died, most of them civilians, according to data from the Ministry of Health, which the UN considers reliable.
In the small Palestinian territory, at least 28 people were killed in a bombing of a school in central Deir el Balah, an attack that the Israeli army claims was directed against “terrorists (…) in a command post”.
After weakening Hamas in Gaza, the Israeli army moved most of its operations to Lebanon in September to combat Hezbollah and allow the return of those displaced by violence on its northern border.
Since the start of artillery duels between Israel and Hezbollah, more than 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon, of which 1,200 died after the intensification of Israeli bombings on September 23, according to a count carried out by AFP based on official figures.
Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, UN special coordinator for Lebanon, warned on Wednesday that the country faces a “catastrophic” situation with almost 600,000 internally displaced people, more than half of them minors.
