Israel Strikes in Lebanon Against Hezbollah Kill Hundreds as Conflict Spirals
(Bloomberg) -- Israeli air strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon killed 274 people on Monday, local authorities said, as escalating hostilities between the two sides stoke international concern about the eruption of a full-on war.
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The attacks injured more than 1,000 people, including women and children, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. Israeli medics said eight people were wounded in northern Israel as a result of Hezbollah’s own salvos.
Israel targeted several southern towns including Tyre and Bint Jbeil, Lebanese media said, while Jbeil in the north — some 170 kilometers (106 miles) from the border — reported its first missile hit. The Israeli military said it would next launch an extensive wave of air strikes on the eastern region of Bekaa.
The two sides have been exchanging cross-border rocket fire almost daily since Israel’s war with Hamas erupted last October, but the conflict has stepped up in the past week. The US is urging restraint and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has spoken to Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant several times in recent days, stressing “the importance of achieving a diplomatic solution,” the Pentagon said.
Israel is looking to destroy Hezbollah’s launchers, missiles and rockets to degrade its military capabilities and is focusing on an aerial campaign for now, an Israeli military official said, indicated a ground invasion isn’t imminent.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he also prefers diplomacy to stop Hezbollah’s attacks on that country. But he and his officials have said that such efforts are failing. His cabinet made the return of tens of thousands of displaced civilians from the north a primary war objective last week. The military says its increasingly shifting its focus from Gaza and Hamas to the northern front and Hezbollah.
“I want to clarify Israel’s policy: we do not wait for the threat, we are ahead of it,” Netanyahu said on Monday, predicting “complicated days” ahead. “Everywhere, in every arena, at any time. We eliminate senior officials, eliminate terrorists, eliminate missiles — and there’s more to come.”
Netanyahu is scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly at its summit in New York on Thursday, though his travel itinerary hasn’t yet been finalized.
Bomb Shelters
In northern Israel, hundreds of thousands of people rushed to bomb shelters after 150 projectiles were fired on Monday. Iran-backed Hezbollah has access to a new type of rocket that can reach as far as 100 kilometers and carry 170 kilograms of explosives in its warhead, the group said on its Telegram channel over the weekend.
Hezbollah said it targeted Israeli army sites north of Haifa as sirens sounded, including in civilian areas. Israeli police reported a house being hit and rockets falling in several locations in the Lower Galilee.
Until last week, Israel and Hezbollah largely focused their strikes on military targets and those near the border area.
Yet Israel has grown increasingly frustrated with its inability to stop Hezbollah’s missile and drone attacks, or enable the displaced civilians from the north to go back home.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, Hezbollah and Lebanon blamed Israel for blowing up thousands of pagers and walkie talkies mostly used by members of the group. The two-day operation in Lebanon killed at least 39 people, including civilians and children, and injured thousands.
On Friday, Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander, Ibrahim Aqil, in an air strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs, where the group has a strong presence.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on the UN and world powers to act quickly to stop Israel and Hezbollah “falling into the unknown.”
Hezbollah is a Shiite militant group that, like Hamas, Iran has trained and funded. It is considered the most powerful non-state actor in the Middle East, with tens of thousands of missiles and fighters at its disposal. It’s also a political party with substantial support in Lebanon.
The latest flare-up has helped push up oil prices, with traders concerned an all-out war between Hezbollah and Israel would force Iran and the US to get involved directly to support their allies.
On Monday, Israel urged civilians in the south of Lebanon to immediately move away from any known Hezbollah outposts or facilities.
Residents of some villages said they received phone calls telling them to leave their homes. Many soon headed north, with heavy traffic reported on the highway leading to Beirut.
Sinwar Whereabouts
Also on Monday, an Israeli military spokesperson said it’s possible Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar has been wounded or killed in air strikes on Gaza, after local media reported he has recently been incommunicado.
“Regarding what has surfaced over the last day about Sinwar, I do not rule it out nor do I confirm it,” Daniel Hagari said.
The Israeli government says Sinwar masterminded the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the ongoing war in Gaza. Last month, he was promoted to succeed the group’s political head, Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran, and is now the point-man for long-running truce talks mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt.
Hezbollah started firing on Israel on Oct. 8 in solidarity with Hamas. Both groups are backed by Iran and designated as terrorist organizations by the US.
The US has said that a cease-fire in Gaza will help calm regional tensions, including between Hezbollah and Hamas. Israel’s government says it cannot wait for a truce in the Palestinian territory before neutering the threat of Hezbollah.
Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostage with its attack on Oct. 7. Israel’s subsequent air and ground offensive has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry there.
--With assistance from Galit Altstein, Dan Williams and Omar Tamo.
(Updates with more detail. An earlier version corrected the location of Hamas’ attack in the final paragraph.)
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