Israel Expands Offensive in South Lebanon as Hezbollah Fires Rockets at Haifa

Tue Oct 08 2024
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BEIRUT: The Israeli military expanded its ground offensive against Hezbollah along the southern section of Lebanon’s coast on Tuesday, deploying more troops and warning civilians near the Mediterranean region to evacuate.

Hezbollah said it fired rockets at the Israeli port city of Haifa after the Israeli army reported 85 projectiles crossing from Lebanon.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue the war against Hezbollah and Hamas until defeating both groups. Israel and Hezbollah have been involved in near-daily cross-border fire since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack.

Israel expanded operations in Lebanon nearly a year after Hezbollah began exchanging fire in support of Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel has vowed to secure its northern border with Lebanon to allow tens of thousands of Israelis displaced by Hezbollah’s cross-border fire to return home.

Both Hamas and Hezbollah have vowed to maintain their resistance against Israel. On Tuesday, Hezbollah’s deputy leader, Naim Qassem, stated that the group would ensure that returning Israelis would face severe challenges.

Since Israel launched a wave of strikes against Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon on September 23, the conflict has resulted in over 1,110 deaths and displaced more than a million people in Lebanon.

While the Lebanese coast has not been spared, Israel’s latest evacuation warning suggests it is extending its offensive northwards. On its Telegram channel, the Israeli military said its 146th Division began ” localized operational activities” in southwestern Lebanon.

A day earlier, the military had warned people to stay away from the southern part of Lebanon’s Mediterranean coast south of the Al-Awali River. A spokesperson said that Israel would soon conduct operations in maritime areas.

In Sidon, local fishermen expressed distress over the impact of the conflict on their livelihoods, with one fisherman, Issam Haboush, lamenting, “If we don’t go out to sea, we won’t be able to feed ourselves.”

The Israeli military said it hit Hezbollah’s south Beirut bastion, where a strike last month killed the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Hezbollah later said it repelled Israeli troops who “infiltrated from behind” a UN peacekeepers’ position in the southern border village of Labboune.

Despite the increasing pressure from Israeli strikes, Hezbollah maintains that its leadership remains intact and its military capabilities are operational. Qassem countered Netanyahu’s claims about the return of displaced Israelis, warning that many more residents would likely be forced to flee.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant characterized Hezbollah as a “battered and broken organization,” asserting that its command structure had been weakened following the death of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, last month.

Since October 7 last year, Israel has conducted extensive bombing campaigns in Gaza killing at least 41,965 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the territory’s health ministry.

Netanyahu reaffirmed Israel’s commitment to its military objectives, stating, “As long as the enemy threatens our existence and the peace of our country, we will continue to fight.”

The situation in Gaza remains dire, with reports indicating that swathes of the territory have been reduced to rubble and nearly all of its 2.4 million residents have experienced displacement at least once. On Tuesday, an Israeli strike on a refugee camp in central Gaza killed at least 17 Palestinians, including children.

As Iran awaits what Israel has said will be retaliation for an Iranian missile barrage last week, Tehran hailed the October 7 attack.

Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, lamented that the ongoing war had turned Gaza into a “graveyard.”

 

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