In the early hours of Wednesday, the Hezbollah militia fired a Qader-1 rocket at the headquarters of the Israeli intelligence service Mossad, which is located in Herzliya just north of Tel Aviv.
The Iranian-produced Qader rockets have a range of up to 2,000 kilometers and can be equipped with explosive charges of up to 800 kilograms.
According to Israel, it was shot down by Israeli air defense, but it is not known where this happened or whether the rocket caused any damage.
– It is the first time ever that a rocket from Hezbollah has managed to reach the Tel Aviv area, said a spokesperson for the Israeli army.
Calling in reservists
Israel claims to have struck 280 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Wednesday and says the attacks will continue.
– Fighter planes attacked 60 terrorist targets belonging to Hezbollah’s intelligence service, says an announcement from the military leadership in Israel.
The Israeli army announced at the same time that two brigades of reserve soldiers are being called up for “operational service in the north”.
The country’s defense chief Herzl Halevi hints at the possibility of sending ground forces into Lebanon.
– We have carried out attacks all day. This is both to facilitate a possible invasion and to continue to break down Hezbollah, he said during a visit to forces in the north of Israel.
Store tap
According to Lebanon’s Health Minister Firass Abiad, at least 51 people were killed and 223 wounded in the Israeli attacks on Wednesday.
More than 600 people have thus been killed since the attacks began earlier this week, among them more than 50 children, according to the health minister.
Over 2,000 have also been injured, and the capacity of the hospitals in Lebanon has been exhausted.
Israeli warplanes also attacked targets in areas where Hezbollah is not known to be strong, including the village of Maaysrah in the predominantly Christian Keserwan region in the north of the country.
According to eyewitnesses, a residential building and a cafe were hit in the attack.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), at least 90,000 Lebanese have fled southern Lebanon as a result of the Israeli attacks, and many of them have now sought refuge in schools that have been turned into makeshift receptions.
Fears a major war
The fear that the war between Israel and Hezbollah will trigger a major regional war is now increasing and a central theme during the UN’s so-called High Level Week in New York.
US President Joe Biden warned against further escalation when he spoke at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, and in an interview with the TV channel ABC on Wednesday, he did not rule out a major war.
– A total war is possible, but I also believe that there is still room for an agreement that can fundamentally change the entire region, he said.
If Israeli ground forces move into Lebanon, Lebanon’s government army will also have to take up the fight against them.
The US then risks ending up on both sides of the war, as it both militarily supports Israel and the Lebanese government army.
We become precious
An Israeli ground invasion could be very costly for the country, says Anders Persson at Linnaeus University in Sweden.
He recalls the losses Israel suffered during the years they occupied southern Lebanon.
– They have had bad experiences in Lebanon, and especially in the areas that are now relevant, says Persson to TT.
Israel also did not succeed in defeating Hezbollah when they moved into Lebanon in 2006. That ground invasion was unsuccessful and ended with a political crisis in Israel, he points out.
– In the event of a ground invasion, Israel will lose the tactical advantages they have by bombing from the air. When it comes to fighting on the ground, Hezbollah has completely different advantages, says Persson.
Israel holds the key
Hezbollah believes that it is Israel that holds the key to peace and states that the rocket attacks will continue until Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government concludes a ceasefire with Hamas and puts an end to the suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza.
There, the Israeli attacks in the last eleven months have cost over 41,500 people their lives and wounded over 96,000, the majority of them civilians.
Among Wednesday’s victims in Gaza was a Palestinian woman who was six months pregnant and her four children.
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2024-09-26 19:09:22
