Israel said Thursday it had bombed Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters near Beirut, as ground fighting and airstrikes continue against the armed movement in southern Lebanon.
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After a campaign of massive aerial bombardments against Hezbollah, which left hundreds dead across Lebanon, the Israeli army has been carrying out ground operations since Monday in several places in the south of the country, one of the strongholds of the powerful Lebanese movement. supported by Iran.
Meanwhile, the Israeli air force continues its airstrikes, particularly on Beirut and its suburbs, one of which hit Hezbollah’s “intelligence headquarters” near the Lebanese capital on Thursday, the army announced.
The military released poor-quality video showing a strike destroying what appears to be an isolated building on a hillside.
One year after the start of the war
Almost a year after the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, triggered by the unprecedented attack carried out on October 7, 2023 by Palestinian Hamas on Israeli soil, Israel announced in mid-September that it would move most of its operations towards the northern front, on the Lebanese border.
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Israel says it wants to weaken Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, and allow the return of around 60,000 residents of border regions displaced for a year by the movement’s incessant rocket fire towards the north of its territory.
On Thursday, the Lebanese army said it had, for the first time in a year, responded to Israeli fire in southern Lebanon after the death of two of its soldiers.
Under UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which in 2006 declared the end of the previous war between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese army deployed in southern Lebanon alongside the Blue Helmets of the UN.
But Hezbollah has maintained its discreet presence in the region, where it has, according to experts, dug a large network of tunnels.
Escalation between Israel and Iran
The now open war between Israel and Hezbollah is accompanied by an escalation between Israel and Iran, which fired 200 missiles into Israeli territory on Tuesday, leading to cross threats of reprisals between the two countries and new fears of a conflagration in the Middle East.
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Iran claimed to respond to the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Shiite Islamist movement who died on September 27 in an Israeli strike near Beirut, and that of Ismaïl Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas killed on July 31 in an attack in Tehran attributed to Israel.
US President Joe Biden said Thursday he was “in discussions” with Israel about possible strikes against Iranian oil installations.
On the fourth day of ground operations in southern Lebanon, the Israeli army said Thursday that 15 Hezbollah fighters were killed in an air raid on “the Bint Jbeil municipality building” near the border, where “Quantities of weapons were stored,” according to her.
Civilian evacuations
The army also ordered residents of 25 villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate.
For its part, Hezbollah claimed to have repelled two Israeli incursions near the border, setting off explosive devices for one of them.
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He also said he fired rockets Thursday at Tiberias, a town in northern Israel about thirty kilometers from the border.
Thursday is a public holiday in Israel for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year holiday.
The Israeli army, which announced the death of eight soldiers since Monday in southern Lebanon, announced that it had deployed a second division as reinforcement.
Israeli strike in the heart of Beirut
An Israeli strike hit the heart of Beirut before dawn, hitting Hezbollah’s “civil protection center” in Bachoura, a densely populated neighborhood, according to the movement. Seven people were killed, according to Hezbollah emergency services.
The Lebanese news agency ANI reported strikes on the south and east of Lebanon, but also on localities located outside these traditional Hezbollah strongholds.
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“We are civilians. Do you see any fighters around? Why do they want to destroy the roof above our heads?” exclaimed Hassan Ammar, 82, who lived in the affected building after fleeing southern Lebanon.
The nighttime raids caused the walls of buildings to shake, according to residents.
New strikes also hit the southern suburbs of Beirut, deserted by its residents, from where columns of smoke rose.
Battle against the “enemy”
Despite the campaign of strikes by which Israel claimed to have killed “most” of Hezbollah’s leaders, the movement said it wanted to continue fighting against the “enemy”.
According to official figures, more than 1,928 people have been killed in Lebanon since October 2023, including more than 1,000 since the explosions of Hezbollah transmission devices on September 17 and 18, attributed to Israel, and the start of massive aerial bombardments on the 23 September against the south and east of the country as well as the southern suburbs of Beirut.
More than 40 rescue workers and firefighters were killed in three days by Israeli strikes, according to authorities.
The government estimates the number of displaced people to be around 1.2 million.
“We want to emigrate. Anywhere. We are afraid for our children, and the war is going to be long,” testified Fatima Salah, a mother who fled the southern suburbs of Beirut with her four children.
Meanwhile, the Israeli offensive continues on the Gaza Strip, devastated and besieged for a year, even if the bombings have decreased in intensity.
On Thursday, seven people were killed by Israeli strikes in different areas of Palestinian territory, according to Civil Defense.
