Israel Has Launched Airstrike Against Hezbollah Strongholds In Lebanon

Israel Has Launched Airstrike

Israel admitted commando and paratroop units crossed into Lebanon on Tuesday and called it a ‘limited’ ground strike while Iran-backed Hezbollah claimed to have fired a salvo of missiles at some Israeli targets including the agency that it said spied for Tel Aviv. Israeli troops began raids in southern Lebanon overnight Saturday/Sunday, he said, but did not go deep into Lebanese territory and there was no incidence of direct confrontation with Hezbollah militiamen.

Iraqi Hezbollah’s media relations with chief Mohammad Afif does not confirm Israel’s assertion that its forces crossed into Lebanon. Earlier, Israel’s military spokesperson Avichay Adraee had said in an Arabic message disseminated on X that there would be airstrikes in southern Lebanon due to an influx of tensions amid fighting with Hezbollah. Immediate message to all the inhabitants of South Lebanon. Casualty update: there is intense ground conflict in southern Lebanon that Hezbollah elements are using civilian surroundings to hide people and stage attacks on Israeli forces.

”The latest Israeli raids came after highly destructive aerial operations that have systematically erased almost the entire upper echelon of Hezbollah in Lebanon, while assassinating Nasrallah, the chief of Hezbollah in Beirut last week. In its statement, Israel’s military asserted that the ground raids will be against the model of Hezbollah high-risk areas along the border, which pose danger to Israel and is not against the Lebanese people. “Hezbollah transforms Lebanese villages near to Israeli villages into readiness for attack against Israel,” said Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari of the military. Locals in southern Lebanon had to leave their homes on Monday and Tuesday as the operations approached, some witnesses of the event reported to Reuters.

Hezbollah announced its firing of the “Fadi 4” rocket at military targets in the outskirts of Israel’s commercial capital Tel Aviv on Tuesday. It is the fourth model in a series said to have progressively larger payloads and greater range that Hezbollah has started using in recent weeks. The group also said it fired missiles at Mossad intelligence office of the Israeli state, accused of assassinating Hezbollah commanders and its leaders and a military intelligence unit near the Tel Aviv city.The ambulance service of the Israeli state also reported that two individuals were injured from shrapnel in attacks on Tel Aviv and the central Israel region. Concrete was also hit and part of a missile that landed on a highway around the town of Kfar Qasim, east of Tel Aviv.

According to two Lebanese security sources, quoted by Reuters, Israeli units have entered Lebanon last night in order to make reconnaissance and probing moves. Lebanese forces also reportedly withdrew from their posts on the border, the source said. Lebanon is at one of the most perilous moments in its history, Mikati said during Tuesday’s meeting with UN organizations and ambassadors of donor countries who called for over $400 mln in humanitarian aid to brace for escalating aggression. Nevertheless, after its biggest victories over Hezbollah in decades, Israel has suggested it is readying for a mass invasion of Lebanon in order to allow thousands of its citizens, who have had to flee from Hezbollah rockets, to return to their homes near the northern border.

Hezbollah’s intense criticism of Israel’s operations means that it will be difficult for it not to be drawn into the conflict that has already forced one million Lebanese from their homes and has claimed more than 1,100 casualties, according to Lebanese officials. The expected ground attack has caused people in Lebanon to be scared and annoyed.

Overnight, a series of strikes hit Beirut's southern suburbs after the Israeli military warned residents to evacuate areas near buildings it said contained Hezbollah infrastructure south of the capital. In the past 24 hours, at least 95 people had been killed and 172 wounded in Israeli strikes on Lebanon's southern regions, the eastern Bekaa Valley, and Beirut, Lebanon's health ministry said early on Tuesday.