Beirut, Lebanon – Israel announced dozens of new Air. Attacks on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon On Tuesday, Lebanese authorities said 558 people, including 50 children, were killed in the deadliest bombing since the devastating 2006 war. Israel's latest strikes on southern Lebanon come after it said it had killed “large numbers” of militants. Targeted 1500 suspected Hezbollah targets across the country.
Hezbollah On Tuesday, it said it launched a volley of missiles at Israeli military bases, sending 180 projectiles and an unmanned vehicle into Israeli airspace hours after it sent people fleeing into the city of Haifa. The Israeli military said more than 50 projectiles were fired at northern Israel in less than 10 minutes on Tuesday morning, most of which were intercepted.
Israel's military said on Tuesday that the commander of Hezbollah's missile and rocket forces, Ibrahim Muhammad Qubaisi, was killed in an attack in Beirut.
“Over the years and during the war, he was responsible for firing missiles at Israeli civilians,” the military said. had a close relationship.”
Harrowing images of a man's mutilated, charred body atop a relatively unprotected SUV quickly spread on social media after reports of a strike in the Lebanese capital's suburb of Ghoberi, with claims that a nearby building had been destroyed. Three floors were destroyed in one strike. by an Israeli fighter jet.
Muhammad Azaker/Reuters
Lebanon's public health ministry said six people were killed in the attack, but did not identify them. The Israeli military did not immediately confirm who was targeted in the attack, or the intended target.
Monday's raids killed 558 people, including 50 children and 94 women, according to Health Minister Firas Abiad, who said “the vast majority, if not all, of those killed in yesterday's attacks were in their homes.” were unarmed.”
The Israel Defense Forces said it had sent thousands of text, audio and video warnings to Lebanese civilians to evacuate from targeted areas, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Hezbollah in an address to Lebanese civilians. that they are keeping their “rockets in your living rooms and missiles in your garage.”
“These rockets and missiles are aimed directly at our cities, directly at our citizens,” he said, as the Israeli military posted videos online showing secondary explosions following its airstrikes. are shown – proof that Israel is destroying hidden weapons.
On Tuesday, Hezbollah issued a warning through its media center to Lebanese citizens not to scan the QR code on a leaflet dropped by an Israeli plane in southern Lebanon. The leaflets urge residents to scan the code for information on which buildings are to be targeted, but Hezbollah claimed it was an attempt at espionage by Israel.
“Do not open or circulate the barcode. You should destroy the booklet immediately as it is very dangerous and can access information from your phone,” the group claimed without any evidence.
What are Hezbollah and Israel fighting for?
Hezbollah, one of the largest and most powerful of the so-called Iranian proxy groups The Islamic Republic, which it supports throughout the Middle East, has been locked in a near-daily exchange of fire across the border with Israel for nearly a year. Hamas The Allies launched an unprecedented terrorist attack on Israel on October 7.
Hezbollah, which has waged war against Israel for decades, and other Iranian-backed groups in the region have joined the fight. gave Houthi rebels in YemenFor example, it has fired dozens of missiles at commercial and military ships in the main shipping lanes of the Red Sea, and has claimed that, like Hezbollah, it is acting in support of the Palestinians. The war-torn Gaza Strip.
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Monday's bombing of Lebanon was the largest and deadliest since the Israel-Hezbollah war in the summer of 2006, not just last year.
The battle killed 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers, and destroyed large parts of Hezbollah strongholds.
Mass migration to Lebanon, flights cancelled
The United Nations has said that tens of thousands of Lebanese have left their homes since Monday due to the intensity of the Israeli bombardment.
“Tens of thousands of people have been displaced from their homes over the past day and night, and the number is continuing to rise,” said Matthew Saltmarsh, a spokesman for the UN refugee agency, adding that “the loss of civilians is unacceptable. is.”
Muhammad Azkar/Reuters
Cars choked Lebanon's highways as people tried to flee north to the capital Beirut overnight.
“It was a day of terror,” housewife Thuraya Harb, 41, told AFP at a makeshift center for displaced families in Beirut after fleeing her home in southern Lebanon.
“I didn't want to leave my house, but the kids were scared,” said the mother of four, adding that the family “fled with nothing but the clothes on our backs.”
While most of those who fled their homes were trying to reach safe areas in Lebanon, a Syrian security official told AFP that about 500 people had crossed the border into the country, where in 2011 Violence has continued since the start of the civil war. Monday alone.
Getting out of Lebanon is becoming increasingly difficult, with several airlines already suspending flights to and from the country amid fears that the security situation will worsen.
Beirut's Rafiq al-Hariri airport said more than 30 flights were canceled on Tuesday, with Qatar Airways, Air France, Lufthansa and Delta Airlines halting travel to and from the Lebanese capital. Some airlines have also started canceling flights to Israel, fearing a major crisis.
UN and EU worry: “Almost in total war”
Israel has dubbed its attacks on Hezbollah “Operation Northern Arrow” after announcing earlier this month that it was shifting the focus of its firepower from Gaza to Lebanon.
Hezbollah's backer Iran, which arms, trains and funds the U.S.-designated terrorist group, condemned the raids with its president Massoud Pizshakyan saying on Tuesday that its ally “does not stand alone” against Israel. Could be”.
“Hezbollah cannot stand alone against a country that is being defended and supported and supplied by Western countries, European countries and the United States,” Pyzhashkian said in an interview with CNN. We must not allow Lebanon to become another Gaza at the hands of Israel.
Other leaders have expressed alarm at the rapidly escalating tensions, with a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres saying he was “deeply alarmed” and the EU's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, warning that “We're almost in an all-out war.”
The Pentagon said it was sending a small number of additional US troops to the Middle East after thousands were previously deployed with warships, fighter jets and air defense systems.
A US official said on condition of anonymity that Washington opposed an Israeli ground attack targeting Hezbollah and had “strong ideas” on how to defuse the crisis.
China's top diplomat Wang Yi expressed support for Lebanon and condemned what he described as “indiscriminate attacks against civilians”.
“Extremely dangerous situation” as Gaza war continues
Israel's armed forces chief Herzi Halvi said Monday's attacks hit Hezbollah's battle structures that it had been building for two decades, while Defense Minister Yves Galant called Monday “an important peak” in the operation.
“This is the most difficult week since Hezbollah was founded – the results speak for themselves,” he said.
Netanyahu said Israel was working to change the “security balance” in the north, while Hezbollah said it was in a “new phase” of conflict with Israel.
The war in Gaza began with Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel, in which the terrorists killed nearly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli officials. Of the 251 hostages taken by the militants, 97 are still being held in Gaza, with 33 dead, according to the Israeli military.
At least 41,467 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Gaza in Israel's military response, according to figures provided by the Health Ministry of the Hamas-controlled territory. The United Nations has declared these figures reliable.
Since the start of the Gaza war, clashes along the Lebanon-Israel border have forced tens of thousands of people from both sides to flee their homes.
Violence between Israel and Hezbollah escalated dramatically last week, after coordinated communications device bombings blamed on Israel by the militants killed 39 people and injured nearly 3,000.
Then on Friday, an Israeli attack on Hezbollah's stronghold of South Beirut killed the commander of its elite Rizwan Force, Ibrahim Aqil.
An Israeli military official, who could not be identified, said the army was trying to “minimize the threat” from Hezbollah, pushing them back across the border and destroying infrastructure.
“It's a very dangerous situation, but one that for me has room for diplomacy to avoid the worst,” said Michael Horowitz, an Israeli political analyst.
Chris Livesey and Tucker Reales contributed to this report.