AT LEAST 492 people were killed and more than 1,600 others injured in intense Israeli airstrikes on southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday (23/9), as Israel expanded its attacks on the country after warning Lebanese to stay away from Hezbollah targets.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said several women, children and paramedics were among the dead. Israeli warplanes carried out dozens of airstrikes in southern Lebanon on Monday, the heaviest in months.
Strikes were reported in several southern cities and villages, including the districts of Sidon, Nabatieh and Tyre. Heavy traffic was reported on all roads leading south to Beirut, as people fled the areas targeted by the attacks.
In a statement on Monday (23/9) Interior Minister Bassam al-Mawlawi ordered cities in several areas, including the Bekaa Valley in the east, Tripoli in the north, and Beirut and its surroundings to open schools and turn them into shelters to protect children and accept them as refugees.
Meanwhile, missiles fell in Lebanon’s Byblos Jbeil district in Mount Lebanon, more than 100 kilometers from the border with Israel, according to local media, for the first time since Israel-Hezbollah fighting broke out last October.
The missile fell in an uninhabited mountainous area between the cities of Almat and Ehmej, causing no casualties, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.
Read also: Children, Women, Medics Killed in Israeli Attacks on Lebanon
The source of the missile was not identified. But the attack came amid a massive Israeli air campaign in southern and eastern Lebanon, from the northeastern town of Hermel, south to the Bouday, Shamstar and Wadi Umm Ali valleys.
Hezbollah, for its part, announced that it had launched dozens of rockets at various military sites in northern Israel, including the Northern Command reserve headquarters, the Galilee Division reserve base and its logistics warehouse at the Amiad base, as well as the Rafael military industrial complex in the Zvulun area north of Haifa.
Israel’s reminder
The Israeli military said it was expanding its attacks on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and that it struck more than 300 Hezbollah targets on Monday (23/9).
Read also: More than 100 Killed a Day in Israeli Attacks on Lebanon
“The Israeli army will carry out broader and more precise strikes against terror targets spread across Lebanon,” Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a video statement on Monday, adding that the strikes would begin soon.
He further warned that civilians from Lebanese villages located inside and next to buildings and areas used by Hezbollah for military purposes, such as those used to store weapons, immediately move away from danger for their own safety.
“An attack on houses in Lebanon where Hezbollah stores weapons is imminent,” an Israeli military spokesman said.
Also read: World Leaders Prevent Widespread War, Hezbollah Ready to Face Israel
In a video statement on Monday (23/9), Netanyahu accused Hezbollah of using local residents as human shields and warned that anyone who has weapons in their homes or is near locations or homes where Hezbollah has hidden its weapons should leave the area immediately.
Coinciding with Israel’s warning, several Lebanese citizens, including interim Information Minister Ziad Makary, received phone calls from Lebanese landlines and text messages purportedly from Israeli soldiers.
They advised him to leave the area immediately. The escalation came after days of intense Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon as Israel appeared to push forward operations against Hezbollah to allow residents to safely return to the northern region.
The Israeli military stepped up its attacks after two consecutive strikes on Tuesday and Wednesday that set off thousands of pagers and hundreds of wireless radios used by Hezbollah members across Lebanon, killing at least 37 people and wounding nearly 3,000.
Although Israeli President Isaac Herzog denied his country’s involvement in the attack, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah blamed Israel and vowed to respond immediately.
Two days after the wireless device explosion, four Israeli strikes hit buildings in a densely populated area on Beirut’s southern outskirts on Friday killing at least 52 people and leaving 66 others injured, according to Lebanon’s Civil Defense.
Among the fatalities were Ibrahim Akil, a commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Unit, and several members of other units.
Speaking at Akil’s funeral in Dahiyeh on Sunday (22/9), Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem said his group had entered a new phase with Israel. “We are ready to face all military possibilities,” he said.
Some 60,000 Israelis have been evacuated from northern Israel since cross-border hostilities with Hezbollah began on Oct. 8, 2023, according to Israeli media. In Lebanon, nearly 112,000 people have been displaced by the fighting, according to the UN humanitarian agency OCHA.
The Iran-backed group said its fight against Israel was a form of solidarity with the Palestinian Hamas group which has been at war with Israel in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023.
Hezbollah has said its operations will not stop until the war in Gaza ends. Border fighting has left more than 500 people dead in Lebanon, most of them Hezbollah fighters, according to local figures, while Israel has reported the deaths of 26 civilians and 22 soldiers on the Israeli side.
French envoy to Lebanon
French presidential special envoy to Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian arrived in Beirut on Monday afternoon amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes in the south and east of the country. Le Drian is expected to meet with Lebanese officials and military chief Gen. Joseph Aoun to discuss the latest security developments. (Al-Monitor/Z-2)
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