IDF says it has begun a ‘targeted ground operation’ in southern Lebanon
Israel has begun limited raids against Hezbollah in southern Lebanonthe military has said in a statement.
The IDF began a few hours ago a targeted and demarcated ground operation in southern Lebanon against terrorist targets and infrastructures of the terrorist organization Hezbollah.”
The IDF said that the targets were villages close to the border that pose an immediate threat to Israeli communities in the country’s north.
The statement follows a similar proclamation from the US earlier, in which White House officials that Israeli forces appeared to have launched “limited ground operations” targeting Hezbollah.
Heavy shelling into Lebanon has been taking place along the border in the area north of Kiryat Shimona. The towns of Marjayoun, Wazzani and Stop were being shelled on Monday night.
Key events
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The United Arab Emirates has reaffirmed its “unwavering position towards the unity of Lebanonits national sovereignty, and its territorial integrity”, the country’s foreign ministry said in a statement early on Tuesday.
It’s expected that more countries across the Middle East will start to issue statements on the situation which has unfolded in Lebanon overnight.
It’s 8.30am in Beirut. Overnight Israel launched what it calls a “limited” ground operation in southern Lebanonwhile also launching strikes on the Lebanese capital, the country’s south and – reportedly – in Damascus.
Here are some of the images that have come into the newsroom in the past few hours.
Air raid alerts are sounding across section of northern IsraelIsraeli media is reporting.
The Times of Israel is reporting that rocket alerts sounded a short while ago in the northern town of Metulanear the border with Lebanon.
There are no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
Lebanon’s National News Agency has reported that overnight raids were launched on the towns of Bint Jbeil, Tire, Kounine and Blida in Northern Lebanon.
All four are towns that sit just north of the border with Israel.
In its announcement that the ground operation had begun, the IDF said it would target a “number of villages near the border, which pose an immediate and real threat to Israeli settlements on the northern border”.
Andrew Roth
With just a month left until the US presidential elections, the Biden administration launched a tepid effort at a ceasefire that Netanyahu appears to have chosen to ignore – or simply to wait out until US elections that could bring in a Trump administration that would do even less to restrain him than the current one has.
“Netanyahu made a calculation, and the calculation was that there was no way that the Democrats between now and November 5th [election day] could do anything that would criticise, let alone restrain him from that,” said Aaron David Millera senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, who focuses on US foreign policy and the Middle East.
“You saw [vice-president Kamala] Harris’s statement, you saw the White House statement, you saw the Democrat and Republican consensus on the killing of Nasrallah and what the Israelis have done there,” he said. “And since Iran is involved in this, unlike in Gaza, the toxicity of animus against Iran in this town is so intense that the Republican party, which is now the ‘Israel can do no wrong’ party, is just winging for the administration.”
Until recently, prominent US officials have thought they still had a chance to conclude a ceasefire and prevent the war from escalating further. Last week, US and French officials along with dozens of other countries called for a ceasefire in Lebanon. US officials briefed on the matter said they believed the “time was right” and that Israel would sign up.
A western official last week told the Guardian that the Israeli threat to invade northern Lebanon was probably “psyops” largely designed to force Hezbollah and Iran to the negotiating table.
One day later, a massive airstrike launched by the Israeli air force killed the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, upending security calculations in the region and potentially emboldening Israeli officials to believe they could fundamentally change the security dynamics in the region.
The IDF has said that three “launches” were detected in northern Israel. Two were intercepted by Israeli air defence and another fell into an open area, according to the Israeli army.
Following the alerts that were activated in the Upper Galilee area, two launches were identified that crossed the territory of Lebanon and were successfully intercepted.
Following the alerts that were activated in the Baram region, a launch was detected that crossed the territory of Lebanon and fell in an open area
— Israel Defense Forces (@idfonline)
Earlier we reported that air raid alerts had been issued in Israel’s northern city of Safed which lies just kilometres from the Lebanese border.
The number of displaced people in Lebanon is continuing to rise and now exceeds one million people, local media is reporting.
“Between yesterday and today, the number of those inside shelters (schools) has increased by about 40,000, from 120,000 to 160,000,” Al-Akhbar news reported.
Out of 850 schools used for shelter, more than 600 have reached their capacity. They are mainly concentrated in Beirut, Mount Lebanonand Sidon.
The media reports not that there is a challenge in delivering enough humanitarian aid – including food – to them.
A US defence official has disputed reports that US forces were targeted in a rocket attack on a base near Baghdad International Airport.
All military personnel are accounted for and military forces were not targeted as had been reported.”
Two Iraqi security sources told Reuters that an initial investigation showed three rockets were fired, including one that landed near buildings used by Iraqi counter-terrorism forces, causing damages and fire to some vehicles but no casualties.
The sources had previously said at least two Katyusha rockets were also fired at a military base hosting US forces and that air defences intercepted the rockets.
The US defence official said Washington was aware of reports of an attack instead on the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Complex, which is a Department of State facility.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agencyhas said that it received a report of an incident 64 nautical miles northwest of Yemen’s Hodeidahadding that the authorities are investigating.
For almost a year, the Iran-backed Houthis have been launching aerial drone and missile strikes on Red Sea shipping in what they says is solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
It’s unclear if they UKMTO warning relates to those attacks.
Air raid alerts have been issued in Israel’s northern city of Safed which lies just kilometres from the Lebanese border. Some media reported alerts were issue for other border towns as well.
Air alerts have been active across sections of the country’s north throughout the night.
Earlier in the evening, the Israeli military said about “ten launches were detected that crossed the territory of Lebanon”. The IDF says some of them were intercepted by air defence and others dropped into “an open area.”
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