Intense raids in Lebanon, Netanyahu at the border

(Beirut) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went on Sunday to the border with Lebanon, where his army intensified its deadly strikes on strongholds of pro-Iranian Lebanese Hezbollah, its sworn enemy.

In northern Israel, warning sirens were activated after neighboring Lebanon fired around a hundred projectiles towards Israeli territory, the army said, reporting the interception of some and the fall others on vacant lots.

On its southern border, Israel continued its war against Hamas in Gaza, triggered by the attack carried out on October 7, 2023 by the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli soil. The day after the attack and in support of Hamas, Hezbollah opened a front against Israel, which degenerated into open war last September.

A few days before the November 5 presidential election in the United States, Israel’s main ally, and despite international pressure, attempts to put an end to hostilities in Gaza and Lebanon have remained in vain.

On Sunday, Benjamin Netanyahu, who vowed to put Hamas and Hezbollah, two movements allied to Iran, out of harm’s way, went to the Lebanese border, according to a press release from his office without further details.

His last visit to the Israeli-Lebanese border dates back to October 6.

Hospital damaged

At the same time, its army carried out series of airstrikes against several sectors of southern Lebanon-Tyr, Tebnine, Haret Saïda, Ghaziyeh in particular.

At least three people died in Haret Saïda, according to Lebanese authorities. In Ghaziyeh, a residential building was hit and a child pulled alive from the rubble.

The surroundings of the Tebnine public hospital were affected and the establishment risks being out of service because of the extent of the damage, according to the mayor, Nabil Fawaz.

In Khiam, about six kilometers from the Israeli border, the Lebanese Red Cross recovered five bodies among 21 trapped under the rubble for a week, according to the official Ani news agency.

In this locality, fierce fighting pits Hezbollah against Israeli troops, engaged since September 30 in a ground offensive in southern Lebanon.

For its part, the Israeli army claimed to have killed several Hezbollah fighters.

In eastern Lebanon, Israel has launched a new call to evacuate in particular the village of Douris, located a few kilometers south of the thousand-year-old town of Baalbeck.

Shortly after, strikes targeted the region, with the ANI agency reporting the destruction of a café-restaurant.

Offensive in Jabalia, Gaza Strip

Since September 23, Israeli forces have intensified their strikes against Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon, saying they want to neutralize this movement in the border regions and prevent rocket fire to allow the return of 60,000 displaced people to northern Israel.

At least 1,930 people have been killed since September 23 in Lebanon, according to an AFP count based on official data.

In the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army said it had killed Raafat Qodeih, a member of the Hamas Noukhba unit which, according to Israel, had infiltrated during the attack of October 7, 2023 in the Nir Oz kibbutz, including around thirty residents were killed and more than 70 taken hostage and taken to Gaza.

Israel vowed to destroy Hamas after this attack which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data, including hostages killed or died in captivity. Of 251 people kidnapped, 97 remain hostages in Gaza, 34 of whom were declared dead by the army.

The Israeli army in retaliation launched a devastating offensive in Gaza which left 43,341 dead, mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas Ministry of Health, and caused colossal destruction and a humanitarian disaster.

Since October 6, the Israeli army has concentrated its offensive in the north of the Gaza Strip, claiming that Hamas is gathering its forces there. She claimed to have “eliminated dozens of terrorists” in Jabalia in the last 24 hours.