About 600 dead, including about 150 women and children and 2,000 wounded, is the latest toll of a 24-hour bombardment yesterday, the Lebanese Ministry of Health announced. It was the country’s bloodiest day since the end of the previous Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006, Lebanese officials said.
It was the deadliest 24 hours since the 15-year civil war ended in 1990, others said.. A World Health Organization official said some hospitals were literally overwhelmed by the high number of dead and injured, adding to last week’s pager/buzzer and wireless blasts that killed dozens and injured thousands. others. This attack was widely attributed to an Israeli attempt to target Hezbollah operatives, although Israel has not officially claimed responsibility for the mass sabotage of electronic devices.
Hostilities between Israeli armed forces and Hezbollah continued yesterday. Israeli warplanes bombed a suburb of Beirut again, with a new toll of around 10 dead and dozens injured. The target of the new precision strike in the operation, as reported by an Israeli army spokesman, was reportedly another high-ranking Hezbollah commander.
Hezbollah’s military commander in southern Lebanon, Ali Karaki, is believed to have been the target of one of Monday’s attacks, while Ibrahim Akil, the group’s second-in-command, was “neutralized” in a similar operation last week.
On the Lebanon-Israel border, a representative of the Israeli army announced that about 300 rockets were fired into Northern Israel yesterday, with no casualties reported. On the other hand, the “targeted” attacks against “terrorist positions” of the pro-Iranian organization continued. About 1,600 targets were neutralized on Monday and hundreds more yesterday, Tel Aviv said.
In the meantime, caravans of tens of thousands of civilians, who fear that they will experience the tragedy of the Palestinian civilians of Gaza, have continued to leave South Lebanon in order not to fall as collateral casualties of the conflict, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned them yesterday. “We are not at war against you, but against Hezbollah who are using you as human shields.”
New business phase
Yesterday, Herzi Halevi, Chief of the General Staff of the Israeli Army, added that “defense operations will be accelerated and escalated. Hezbollah will not breathe.” “The next phase is already here. Of the targeted attacks, Israel has spent the past few days on blind strikes following last week’s deadly Hezbollah bomb blasts. It is obvious that Tel Aviv insists on escalation,” replied Lebanese Health Minister Firas Abyad.
Through a representative, the g.c. of the UN, Antonio Guterres, stressed that he is “indeed very concerned by the escalation of the situation” along the Israel-Lebanon border, especially by the large number of civilian casualties and the thousands of displaced people. Israeli spokesman Rear Admiral Hagari said in a video message yesterday that: “In Gaza, we aim to dismantle Hamas and bring home all the hostages. And in the North, to nullify the threat posed by Hezbollah and allow residents from Northern Israel to return safely to their homes.”
THEY ARE PREPARING FOR DEPARTURE OF THEIR CITIZENS
America’s concern about regional conflict
The United States is sending a small number of additional troops to the Middle East after a sharp escalation in violence between Israel and Hezbollah, without further details on the exact number of forces or what they will do. However, a senior US official contacted by the signatory revealed that the number of troops will be in the tens and their primary task will be to prepare for a possible military departure of US citizens, should a larger regional war break out. “If an evacuation is needed, the US military has Marines deployed nearby who could carry out the mission. We have more capabilities and personnel in the region today than we did on April 14, when Iran carried out its drone and missile attack against Israel,” he concluded.
The US is looking for a solution to detente
Washington is working at a feverish pace, in constant consultation with all partners, to find a way to de-escalate the tension in Lebanon, as well as in the Gaza Strip, assured the American president, Joe Biden, the leader of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, during their meeting at the White House, as reported by Reuters yesterday. “We want the bloodshed to stop immediately on both fronts and allow all civilians to return to their homes,” the US president said.
“During the UN General Assembly in New York, the US government will present ‘concrete ideas’ in this direction to be discussed,” added a State Department official, underlining that the US does not agree with the prospect of a ground intervention by the Israeli Armed Forces Forces in Lebanon as well.
“We estimate that we are closer than ever to the outbreak of a regional war in the Middle East after October 7, and we are doing everything possible to prevent it,” another high-ranking official of the US State Department emphasized at the same time, speaking to reporters yesterday, in margin of the General Assembly, maintaining his anonymity.
Washington estimates that after Israel’s latest round of operations against Hezbollah in the last two weeks, the goal of weakening the organization has been achieved and there is no reason for further dangerous escalation, which could have unpredictable consequences for the region.
“We have to be clear. We cannot witness a generalized war in the Middle East. Everyone will pay a heavy price,” former US Defense Secretary Leo Panetta told CNN.
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