The third day of military operations between Hezbollah and Israel passed with the expansion of the scope of confrontations to new areas, and with the use of new types of weapons.
This escalation has so far resulted in a large number of deaths and injuries, especially in Lebanon, and the destruction of civilian and military facilities on both sides.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health announced that the death toll from the Israeli raids that targeted large areas of the south, including Keserwan, Chouf and Bekaa, on Wednesday, reached 72 dead and 392 wounded.
Israeli raids on the towns of Baalbek-Hermel and Bekaa killed 12 people and injured 73 others, while 22 people were killed and 48 injured in raids targeting the areas of Maaysra, Joun, and Ras Osta. As for the raids on the South Governorate, they resulted in the killing of 18 people and the injury of 183 others, while the Nabatieh Governorate witnessed the killing of 20 people and the injury of 88 others.
Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee said the army had launched a large-scale attack on Lebanon, striking “about 2,000 targets, including terrorist infrastructure, military installations and numerous combat assets.”
US diplomatic efforts to end fighting in Gaza and Lebanon
US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that a comprehensive war is possible in the Middle East, but there is also the possibility of settling Israel’s conflict in Gaza and with Hezbollah.
In contrast, Hezbollah said in statements on Wednesday that it had targeted the Mossad headquarters on the outskirts of Tel Aviv with a ballistic missile, describing the headquarters as responsible for the assassination of a number of its leaders and the bombing of pagers and wireless communications devices. The party announced targeting the Branit barracks and spy equipment at the Ramya site, in addition to bombing an explosives factory in the Zichron area, and targeting the Kiryat Motzkin settlement.
Displacement…and diplomatic efforts
The military escalation between Hezbollah and Israel has led to the displacement of large numbers of Lebanese, who were forced to leave their towns towards safer areas away from Hezbollah strongholds. Some of the displaced were able to rent houses, while others found only shelters to receive them in light of the difficult circumstances the country is witnessing.
The National Committee for the Coordination of Disaster and Crisis Response Operations announced, on Wednesday, an updated list of schools and institutes designated to receive displaced persons from the affected areas, which reached 387 centers until the date of issuing the statement.
During a press conference at the Grand Serail, the caretaker Minister of Environment and coordinator of the government’s emergency plan, Dr. Nasser Yassin, revealed that “the number of displaced people in shelters has reached 52,900 people, which represents about 30% of the total number of displaced people,” estimating that the number of displaced people from Lebanese regions, especially from the south and the Bekaa, “has exceeded 150,000 people so far.”
“Unity of Arenas” in the Lebanese Test… What Does Iran Want Now?
When the war broke out in the Gaza Strip, the “unity of arenas” that the Iranian axis parties were promoting was put on a “test track”, and its results were quickly reflected on the ground in a different form that the former leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah called “support fronts”.
Amid growing concern among Lebanese about the escalation of violence between Hezbollah and Israel, Reuters reported, citing six informed sources, that “the United States is leading new diplomatic efforts to end the fighting in both the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, as part of a single initiative whose details are being worked out at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.”
The White House National Security Council has yet to comment on the initiative. Sources said, “This is the first time the two fronts have been linked in US diplomatic efforts.”
As part of the ongoing diplomatic efforts to reach a solution to end the conflict that erupted on October 7, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati held a series of diplomatic meetings in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
Mikati met with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, in the presence of Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Abdullah Bou Habib, and US Presidential Envoy Amos Hochstein.
US President Joe Biden stressed that Washington is determined to prevent a wider war in the Middle East that “engulfs the entire region.”
In his speech to the General Assembly’s general debate on Tuesday, Biden said that “all-out war is in no one’s interest. Even as the situation escalates, a diplomatic solution remains possible,” and that it is “the only path to lasting security and to allowing the people of both countries to return to their homes on the border safely.”
