“limited” Israeli operations against Hezbollah according to Washington

The United States announced on Monday “limited” land operations by Israel against Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon, where the government denounced in the evening several strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, stronghold of the armed Islamist movement Hezbollah, against a backdrop of international calls for de-escalation. The death toll from Monday’s Israeli strikes in Lebanon is 95 dead across the country, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

The army calls on the population to prepare for a possible “large-scale” Iranian attack

The Israeli army on Tuesday called on the population to prepare for a possible “large-scale” Iranian attack by obeying the directives of passive defense and to immediately go to shelters in the event of an alert and to stay there “until further notice.” “We are following the threat seriously,” Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, an army spokesman, said in a televised message. “The fire from Iran could be large-scale,” he added after the United States warned of an “imminent ballistic missile attack” from the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Israeli and US defense ministers speak of ‘imminent’ threat of Iranian attack

Israeli Defense Ministers Yoav Gallant and his American counterpart, Lloyd Austin, spoke on Tuesday about the “imminent” threat of an Iranian attack on Israel, the Israeli Defense Ministry said in a statement. “The minister and the secretary of state discussed the imminent threat of an Iranian missile attack on Israel” and discussed “Israel’s operational readiness to defend its citizens and military assets, as well as the posture of American forces in the region,” added the ministry.

The US Embassy in Israel on Tuesday asked its employees and their family members to go to shelters, following reports of an “imminent” threat of an Iranian attack on Israel. “Due to the current security situation, the United States Embassy has asked all (its) employees and their family members to take shelter until further notice,” the statement said. embassy in a press release. Seven people were also injured in a “suspected terrorist attack” in Tel Aviv.

Hezbollah denies any Israeli ground incursion in Lebanon

Hezbollah denied on Tuesday that an Israeli ground incursion was underway in southern Lebanon, as Israel claims, and assured that no “direct clash” had pitted its fighters against the Israeli army.

“All Zionist claims that the occupying forces have entered Lebanon are false,” the head of Hezbollah’s information department told Al-Jazeera. “There was no direct confrontation on the ground” with Israeli troops, he added.

Hezbollah claims to have targeted main Israeli intelligence base near Tel Aviv

Lebanese Hezbollah announced Tuesday that it had fired salvos of rockets towards the main Israeli military intelligence base, Glilot, near Tel Aviv, as the army said it had launched a ground offensive against Lebanon.

In a statement, the pro-Iranian formation, whose leader was killed Friday in an Israeli strike, said it had “launched salvos of Fadi 4 type rockets at the Glilot base.” This military intelligence base would also house, according to Israeli media, the headquarters of Mossad, Israeli foreign intelligence.

Turkey denounces “illegal invasion attempt”

Turkey denounced on Tuesday an “illegal invasion attempt” of Lebanon and called on Israel to withdraw its soldiers “as quickly as possible”, in a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“Israel’s violation of sovereignty and territorial integrity through a land attack constitutes an attempted illegal invasion. This attack must stop as quickly as possible and Israeli soldiers must withdraw from Lebanese territory,” the ministry wrote.

Israel reports “heavy fighting” in southern Lebanon

The Israeli army reported on Tuesday “violent fighting” in southern Lebanon after the launch of a military ground offensive against Hezbollah, and urged the Lebanese not to go to the south of their country “on board of vehicles” for their “own safety”.

“Heavy fighting is taking place in southern Lebanon,” wrote Avichai Adraee, spokesperson for the Israeli army, in a message published in Arabic on Telegram. “For your personal safety, we ask you not to travel in vehicles from the north to the south of the Litani,” he adds in reference to a Lebanese river, accusing Hezbollah of using civilians as “human shields”.

Israeli soldiers “targeted”, announces Hezbollah

Lebanese Hezbollah, for its part, declared that it had “targeted” Israeli soldiers “on the move” near the Lebanese border on the night of Monday to Tuesday, a source close to the Shiite movement specifying that the soldiers were “on the border “. According to Hezbollah, the “enemy soldiers” were “in orchards opposite Adaisseh and Kfar Kila”.

The Lebanese army has repositioned its troops in the south of the country bordering northern Israel, according to a military official. The Israeli army declared three border towns “closed military zones”. Furthermore, the southern suburbs of Beirut were the target of at least six Israeli strikes on Monday evening, according to Lebanese security sources. AFP journalists heard explosions there. Earlier the Israeli army had called on residents there to evacuate their buildings for their safety.

“We are ready”

Earlier, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned, in front of soldiers positioned in the north of the country, that “the elimination of Nasrallah is an important step, but it is not the last” against Hezbollah.

“We will use all the capabilities at our disposal (…) We will use all necessary means, your forces, other forces from the air, from the sea and on land,” he warned. Despite the blows inflicted by Israel which killed many Hezbollah leaders, the movement’s number two, Naïm Qassem, affirmed: “Israel has not been able to undermine our military capabilities.”

“We are ready if the Israelis decide to enter the ground. Our resistance forces are ready for a ground confrontation,” he said, affirming that his party would continue its fight against Israel “in support of Gaza.” in the grip of a war triggered by an unprecedented attack by Palestinian Hamas on October 7, 2023 against Israel.

The death of Hassan Nasrallah, who was considered the most powerful man in Lebanon, constitutes a major victory for Israel against Iran, Israel’s enemy, and its allies including Hamas. Israel has promised to fight its “enemies” and “eliminate” them wherever they are found.

There is “no place in the Middle East that Israel cannot reach,” warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Iran said it would not “deploy” fighters to Lebanon and Gaza to confront Israel, saying “the governments of Lebanon and Palestine have the capacity and power to confront the regime’s aggression Zionist”.

Calls for de-escalation

Due to the “intensity of the fighting”, the UN announced that the peacekeepers deployed in southern Lebanon could no longer patrol. And faced with fears of a conflagration, UN boss Antonio Guterres expressed his opposition to any Israeli “land invasion” of Lebanon.

In Washington, President Joe Biden suggested he was opposed to Israeli ground operations, calling for a ceasefire. Present in Beirut, the head of French diplomacy, Jean-Noël Barrot, called on Israel to “refrain from any land incursion” as well as for a cease-fire.

Any new Israeli military intervention in Lebanon “must be avoided”, said the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell. The day after the start of the war in Gaza, Hezbollah opened a front against Israel in support of Hamas, its ally, and daily fire was exchanged between the two camps.

Since mid-September, Israel has focused its military operations on the northern front, with the objective of putting an end to Hezbollah’s rocket fire and allowing the return of tens of thousands of residents displaced by this fire.