After the southern suburbs of Beirut and Nabatiyé, Israel is targeting Tire and Baalbeck

“Hezbollah’s deadly attacks will not go unanswered.” This is the threat launched by the Israeli army on social networks, after rocket fire from the Shiite party on northern Israel killed seven Israeli civilians on Thursday. Shortly after, the threat was carried out with violent strikes on Nabatiyé, in South Lebanon, then during the night of Friday until dawn, with around fifteen bombings on the southern suburbs of Beirut, which had yet been spared since Sunday evening.

During the day on Friday, the towns of Tyre, in South Lebanon, and Baalbeck, in the Bekaa, as well as their surroundings, were shelled by Israeli aircraft. Several localities in the Marjeyoun and Bint Jbeil cazas also suffered the deluge of Israeli fire. Several deaths were added to the already heavy toll of this war, which was updated by the Ministry of Health in the evening.

This new wave of violence occurred a few hours after a visit to Jerusalem by two American emissaries who tried, without success, to negotiate a solution to the war pitting Israel against Hezbollah since September. In the Kafaat district, a building was still burning on Friday, emerging from a field of debris and charred cars, drowning the surrounding area in thick smoke. All around, Hezbollah militants, dressed in black, some carrying holstered machine guns, established a security cordon. The Israeli army claimed to have struck targets of the Shiite movement in the Beirut and Nabatiyé sectors. This was targeted by several strikes on Friday during the day as well.

Bombings also targeted the Baalbeck-Hermel region, in the Bekaa, killing at least ten people according to the Lebanese authorities. Throughout the day, the National News Agency (ANI) reported strikes on several sectors of the Bekaa, which had not been preceded by calls to evacuate from the Israeli army. Strikes also targeted the city of Tyre, in the South, where a building collapsed on the seafront, according to an AFP correspondent.

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New targeted strike

In addition, an Israeli strike carried out during the night from Thursday to Friday targeted an apartment in the locality of Aïn el-Remmane, in the caza of Aley, killing a man who lived there and his two wives, and injuring their three children, a source in the municipality of Aïn el-Remmé (not to be confused with the district of the same name, in the southern suburbs of Beirut) reported to L’Orient-Le Jour.

The strike was first recorded in Qmatiyé, a neighboring town. “The man killed had a pager. The September 17 attack did not kill him,” said this source, referring to the simultaneous explosion of thousands of small communications devices belonging to Hezbollah members, which left more than 30 dead and hundreds injured. throughout Lebanon. A few days after this attack, on September 23, Israel intensified its offensive in Lebanon, launching its “Northern Arrows” operation.

Four days later, Israeli aircraft killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a massive bombing of the southern suburbs of the capital. Hezbollah did not respond to requests from the OLJ to confirm the information and indicate whether or not the man in question was a member of the party.

Contacted, a spokesperson for the Lebanese army for his part affirmed “not having any information” on the strike in question. “The man had lived in this apartment for a long time with his two wives and three children. They are from the Achmar family,” specifies the source within the municipality. The three children were injured, two slightly and one in more serious condition. The latter was hospitalized. “The location of the strike is not accessible, members of Hezbollah came and cordoned off the space,” adds the source.

The Ministry of Health had indicated, for its part, that this strike had left at least three dead and five injured, including children, in a provisional report. No Israeli warning was given prior to this strike. The town of Qmatiyé is one of those which have been struck several times by Israel in the Aley region. A few kilometers away are the towns of Kahalé and Araya, located on the international highway linking Beirut to Bekaa and Syria, and where several strikes have also targeted vehicles in recent weeks, at least one of which contained rockets.

Hezbollah discretion

Hezbollah has become more discreet than usual. Its “war media” has in fact broadcast only five press releases relating to its operations against Israeli army positions. It usually publishes several dozen per day, with a record of 48 operations in 24 hours, notably to counter attempts to advance by the Israeli army in South Lebanon Among the five communiqués of the day, two concerned attacks carried out during the night, while the other three were linked to strikes in the afternoon.

At the end of the day, the party ended up publishing a new video of less than a minute, intended to galvanize the morale of its fighters. This video, consisting of a montage of scenes of fighters on the front, includes a recording of the party’s former secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah, killed on September 27 during an Israeli strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, declaring , addressed to the Israeli army: “You will lose all your tanks if you bring them into Lebanon. »

It seems less significant than the previous one, published on October 26, in which the Shiite party called for the evacuation of 24 Israeli localities where the Jewish state’s military infrastructures are located.

Disappeared…

Finally, a man and his wife, shepherds residing in Houla, in the caza of Marjeyoun, are missing, according to the municipality of this locality in South Lebanon. The two missing are called Zainab and Mahmoud Yacoub. “A patrol of the Nepalese battalion of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) carried out searches in the possible places of their presence in the city’s neighborhoods, and following this tour, they were not found, nor any trace of their herd, indicates the press release from the municipality. Therefore, no information regarding their fate can be confirmed or denied. »

If more than 1.2 million people have fled the Israeli bombings which have intensified since September, whether in South Lebanon, in the Bekaa or in the southern suburbs of Beirut, some diehards have remained there, or even waiting for the last minute to leave. On October 22, Ghanaian peacekeepers helped evacuate the last two inhabitants of Qouzah, a village in the Bint Jbeil caza, to the neighboring town of Rmeich, according to a UNIFIL press release. “Although most southern Lebanese were displaced by the conflict, the two elderly sisters chose to stay in their home as long as they could,” UNIFIL said.

As Israeli strikes intensify, more and more people are missing, in addition to those killed or injured. In the Bekaa, 12 people have still not been found following three separate Israeli airstrikes that targeted Younine, Bednayel and Saaidé, in the Baalbeck caza earlier in the day, according to our correspondent in the Bekaa.