Fierce fighting between the Israeli army and Hezbollah prompted many countries to evacuate their citizens in Lebanon
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, October 5 (Xinhua) According to reports from Xinhua News Agency’s foreign correspondents: The Israeli army and the Lebanese Hezbollah continued to engage in fierce exchanges of fire in southern Lebanon on the evening of the 4th and the early morning of the 5th local time. Hezbollah said the Israeli attack was repelled and there were Israeli casualties. At the same time, many countries have successively evacuated their citizens in Lebanon, and some countries have reiterated that Israel should immediately stop its current military operations.
Lebanese Hezbollah said in a statement on the 5th that an Israeli ground force attempted to advance towards the Lebanese border town of Adessa at 23:00 on the 4th. Hezbollah members exchanged fire with them, causing casualties and forcing the Israeli army to retreat. Afterwards, at 1:50 a.m. on the 5th, the Israeli army once again tried to approach Adisa. Hezbollah blocked the Israeli army’s advance, and the conflict continued.
According to a report on the 5th by Beacon TV, a subsidiary of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Hezbollah fired rockets at three Israeli military strongholds in northern Israel in the early morning of the 5th. The report also said that an Israeli drone attacked a house in a refugee camp near the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, causing the commander of the Qassam Brigade, an armed faction of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), and Said Atala Ali, Three relatives died.
The Israel Defense Forces issued a statement on the 4th saying that Mohammed Rashid Sakafi, the head of the Lebanese Hezbollah communications network, died in an Israeli air strike on the 3rd. According to information from the Lebanese security department, Israeli warplanes carried out an air strike on a cross-border highway near the Meisna border port in eastern Lebanon early on the 4th, cutting off Lebanon’s road to Syria. The Israeli military said on the 3rd that Lebanese Hezbollah smuggled weapons from Syria through the border crossing.
During his visit to Lebanon on the 4th, Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi warned Israel that if Israel launches an attack on Iran, Iran will launch stronger and more severe retaliation. Araghchi held a meeting with Lebanese officials such as Nabi Berry, Speaker of the Lebanese National Assembly, in Beirut that day. According to the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Araghchi visited Syria on the 5th.
According to reports from the Islamic Republic of Iran Radio and Television, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei held a ceremony in Tehran on the 4th to commemorate Nasrallah, the leader of Lebanese Hezbollah who was killed in an attack recently. He said that the Iranian armed forces carried out a military attack on Israel on the evening of the 1st. The action was “minimum punishment” for the crimes committed by Israel and the United States. “We will do this again in the future if necessary,” he said.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Abdul Atty had a phone call with Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Faisal on the 4th, condemning Israel’s attack on Lebanon and saying that Egypt and Saudi Arabia will continue to coordinate to deal with the risks brought by Israeli military actions to the region. Egypt and Saudi Arabia stressed that the top priority is to provide humanitarian assistance to the Lebanese people.
According to the Oman News Agency, Omani Foreign Minister Badr wrote an article on the 4th that only by ending Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine can the current crisis be fundamentally resolved. Badr urged Israel to halt its military operations in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and Lebanon, and called on the international community to take collective action to end Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine.
At the same time, many countries have successively organized the evacuation of their citizens in Lebanon. The first batch of more than 100 Dutch citizens evacuated from Lebanon arrived on a military plane in the southeastern Dutch city of Eindhoven on the evening of the 4th; the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that it had assisted in the evacuation of 219 German citizens in Lebanon; the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on the 5th that 96 Three South Korean citizens have returned home on South Korean military aircraft; Japan dispatched two transport planes to Lebanon on the 3rd to evacuate Japanese citizens in Lebanon. Australia, Poland, Romania, Russia, the United Kingdom, etc. are also organizing operations to evacuate their citizens.
Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Affairs, told reporters at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on the 3rd that the United Nations peacekeeping troops stationed in the southern border area of Lebanon have decided to continue to be stationed in place for the time being. Previously, Israel said it was about to launch ground operations against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and required peacekeepers in southern Lebanon to withdraw as soon as possible.
