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October 2, 2024 – 9:02 p.m.
(Keystone-ATS) Israeli troops began fighting against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, where Israel announced the death of eight soldiers, the first killed since the start of its ground operations.
After a week of intense Israeli bombing across Lebanon against the Tehran-backed Islamist movement, Iran launched its second direct attack on Israel on Tuesday, saying it wanted to avenge the deaths of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and that of of Palestinian Hamas, Ismaïl Haniyeh.
“Iran has made a serious mistake (…) and will pay the price,” warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Iran, for its part, affirmed that it would strike “with greater intensity” and would target “all the infrastructure” of the country in the event of Israeli retaliation.
The military escalation between Israel on the one hand, Iran and Hezbollah on the other hand, raises fears that the situation in the Middle East could spiral out of control, a year after the unprecedented attack carried out by Hamas, an ally of Hezbollah, on Israeli soil, which started the war in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023.
In mid-September, Israel intensified its military operations on the northern front, in order to weaken Hezbollah and allow the return of tens of thousands of residents of border regions with Lebanon displaced by rocket fire from the Lebanese armed group. , incessant for a year.
Call to evacuate
After reporting the day before the first ground operations, described as “limited”, in southern Lebanon, the Israeli army announced on Wednesday the death of eight soldiers.
“Seven additional soldiers fell” in combat, she declared, after having earlier announced the death of a first soldier since the start of the ground offensive.
Hezbollah announced that it had destroyed “using guided missiles” three Israeli tanks advancing towards the border village of Maroun al-Ras, and reported clashes with “infiltrated” Israeli forces.
The Lebanese army confirmed an Israeli “intrusion” and claimed that an Israeli drone had injured a soldier in the south.
The Israeli air force also continued its strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut and called for the “immediate” evacuation of new localities in southern Lebanon.
In Syria, an Israeli strike left two people dead in Damascus, according to an NGO.
In Lebanon, more than a thousand people have been killed, according to the Ministry of Health, since the explosions of Hezbollah transmission devices on September 17 and 18, attributed to Israel, and the start of massive bombings on September 23, which mainly targeted Hezbollah strongholds in southern and eastern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut.
According to the disaster management unit, 1,873 people have been killed in Lebanon since cross-border shooting began a year ago.
The “heart of Israel” targeted
At the same time, Israel and Tehran exchanged threats after the massive attack launched Tuesday by Iran to avenge the death of Hassan Nasrallah, killed in an Israeli strike on September 27 on the southern suburbs of Beirut, and that of Ismaïl Haniyeh, killed on July 31 in an attack in Tehran, blamed on Israel by Iran and Hamas.
Around 200 missiles were fired, 90% of which, according to Tehran, hit their target.
A large number were intercepted by the anti-missile system, said the Israeli army, which benefited from the support of American and British forces, according to the Pentagon and London.
The attack, the second since April, injured two people in Israel and killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank, according to emergency services and a Palestinian official.
“It was crazy,” “extremely scary, nothing we could have predicted,” said Tel Aviv resident Ron Nori, 59 years old.
The Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s ideological army, claimed to have “aimed at the heart” of Israel.
According to Iranian Chief of Staff General Mohammad Bagheri, the missiles targeted five military air bases and the Mossad, the Israeli secret service.
The Israeli army said Wednesday that missiles had fallen on air bases without causing damage.
Iran exercised its “right to self-defense”, after two months of “restraint” to “give way to a ceasefire in Gaza”, wrote on X its head of diplomacy, Seyed Abbas Araghchi .
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has called for a decisive strike to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities.
“This is not going to end well”, “restraint is not Mr. Netanyahu’s strong point,” political analyst Jordan Barkin commented for AFP.
In Tehran, Mansour Firouzabadi, a 45-year-old nurse, said he was “really worried”, hoping “that the United States will stop supporting Israel and that Israel will not retaliate”.
“The United States fully, fully, fully supports Israel,” US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday, noting “ongoing” discussions with Israel on the response.
The attack sparked a wave of calls for restraint, notably from Moscow, which warned on Wednesday of an “alarming” spiral, and from Beijing. Germany urged Iran to “refrain from any further attacks, including through its allies.”
The UN Security Council met urgently on Wednesday.
At the same time, Israel continues its offensive in the Gaza Strip, although with less intensity.
On Wednesday, the army announced that it had attacked two schools in the north of the Palestinian territory and a third in the center, used according to it by Hamas as command centers.
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