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Multiple Israeli strikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon
A series of Israeli air raids targeted Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon on Saturday, the day after the announcement by Lebanese officials of the examination of a proposed truce between the pro-Iranian movement and Israel, issued by the United States. United. Hezbollah opened a front against Israel in support of Hamas after the attack of the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023, which sparked a deadly war in the Gaza Strip. In response to projectile fire from Hezbollah on Israeli soil for more than a year, Israel launched an intense bombing campaign in Lebanon on September 23, and launched a ground offensive in the south of the country on September 30, with the aim of returning home some 60,000 residents of northern Israel displaced by the exchanges of fire. In Gaza, a source from Islamic Jihad, an armed Palestinian group which participated in the October 7 attack alongside Hamas, announced to AFP on Saturday that two of its leaders were killed in an Israeli strike Thursday on the town of Qudsaya, in the suburbs of Damascus. Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad are all supported by Israel’s archenemy, Iran, which has announced on Friday that it is in favor of a rapid end to the war which has lasted for almost two months in Lebanon. In this explosive context, at least five strikes hit the southern suburbs of Beirut, after a call to evacuate from the Israeli army indicating to residents that they were “near Hezbollah infrastructure and interests”. These targeted in particular the neighborhoods of Haret Hreik, Chiyah and Bir al-Abed, according to the national information agency Lebanese (Ani). The Israeli army, for its part, said it had notably targeted “an arms warehouse, a command center and Hezbollah’s terrorist infrastructure.” – “Destruction” and “damage” – On the night of Friday to Saturday, two raids by the “Israeli enemy” on two villages in the south cost the lives of two rescuers, according to Ani: one engaged with the Islamic Health Committee, affiliated with Hezbollah, the second with the al-Rissala Association, affiliated with its Shiite ally Amal, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health. Ani also reported a strike carried out on a central district of Tyre, also in the south, near an archaeological site housing Roman ruins listed as a UNESCO world heritage site. This raid led to “the destruction of two buildings” and caused “damage to other surrounding buildings”, specified the Lebanese agency, adding that the locality of Khiam, the region of Bint Jbeil as well as the area of al-Hoch, near Tyre, were also targeted. For its part, Hezbollah claimed several attacks against military sites and localities in Israel, including rocket fire against the Stella Maris naval base, in the city of Haifa. – “Terrorists eliminated” in Gaza – On Friday, a senior Lebanese official and a Lebanese government source told AFP that the American ambassador to Beirut , Lisa Johnson, had presented to the Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, and the head of Parliament, Nabih Berri, a 13-point plan including a 60-day truce and the deployment of the army in southern Lebanon.”Mr. Berri asked for a three-day delay,” the first official said, adding that Israel had not yet provided a response. The announcement came shortly after a member of Hamas’ political bureau said the Palestinian movement was “ready” for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, calling on the President-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, to “put pressure on Israel”, his ally, which continues to shell the devastated territory.Saturday, the Israeli army said its troops were “continuing their operational activities in the areas of Jabalia and Beit Lahia” in northern Gaza. According to an Islamic Jihad source, the two leaders killed in Thursday’s strike in Syria were Abdel Aziz Al Minaoui, member of the political bureau of Islamic Jihad, and Rasmi Abou Issa, responsible for the group’s external relations. Contacted by AFP, the Israeli army, which has intensified its strikes in Syria in recent weeks, refused to comment.The Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 in southern Israel which sparked the war in Gaza resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mainly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data, including hostages killed or died in captivity. That day, 251 people were kidnapped. In total, 97 remain hostages in Gaza, including 34 declared dead by the army. The Israeli offensive in Gaza has left 43,799 dead, mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas government’s Health Ministry.bur-anr /bfi
