War between Hezbollah and Israel | Lebanon suffered economic losses of more than 5 billion

(Beirut) Lebanon, already affected by an unprecedented economic crisis, has experienced “economic losses” of more than five billion dollars in a year of cross-border violence between Hezbollah and Israel which degenerated into war, said Thursday the World Bank.

Since October 8, 2023, “the conflict has also damaged approximately 99,209 homes”, damage estimated at nearly $3.4 billion, added the World Bank (WB) in a report.

The Israeli army continued its strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon on Thursday, killing more than 40 people, including women and members of the Civil Defense, according to the Ministry of Health and rescue workers.

The day after an attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023, which triggered the war in Gaza, the Lebanese armed movement Hezbollah opened a front against the Israeli neighbor in support of Hamas.

The almost daily exchanges of fire mainly consisted of rocket or drone fire by Hezbollah from southern Lebanon, its stronghold, against northern Israel, while the Israeli army carried out air raids on Hezbollah strongholds. Lebanese movement.

After having weakened Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which it relentlessly bombed in response to the attack of October 7, 2023, the Israeli army has since September 23 concentrated and intensified its bombing campaign in Lebanon.

According to the WB study which mainly covers the period from October 8, 2023 to October 27, 2024, the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah caused “economic losses of $5.1 billion”, mainly in the trade sectors. , tourism, hospitality and agriculture.

Of the approximately “99,209 housing units” damaged, 18% are “totally destroyed”. Around 81% of affected households are mainly located in the south of the country, bordering northern Israel.

At least 40 dead in Lebanon

Between the economic crisis and the repercussions of the current conflict, Lebanon “loses the equivalent of 15 years of economic growth”, said the WB, referring to the country’s economic collapse since 2019.

Israel says it wants to neutralize Hezbollah in the border regions of southern Lebanon to allow the return home of some 60,000 residents of northern Israel displaced by fire from the movement, an ally of Iran, Israel’s sworn enemy.

But Hezbollah continues to fire rockets into Israel, although most are intercepted.

On Thursday, new Israeli strikes targeted Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon: the southern suburbs of Beirut near the international airport, and the town of Baalbeck (east), where eight people were killed, including five women, according to the ministry. of Health.

Near Baalbeck, 12 people, including eight rescuers, died in an Israeli raid against a Lebanese Civil Defense center, according to reports from the Ministry of Health and the organization.

In the south, six people, including four rescue workers affiliated with Hezbollah, were killed in an Israeli strike in Arabsalim, according to the ministry.

American diplomacy expressed its “concern” about Israeli strikes south of Beirut. “ […] We do not want to see this kind of (military) operation in Beirut, particularly in densely populated areas,” the State Department said.

20 dead in raids in Syria

Alongside the airstrikes, Israeli troops have been carrying out a ground offensive in southern Lebanon since September 30.

The Israeli army said it had struck “around 30 terrorist targets” in the southern suburbs of Beirut in the past 48 hours, with the aim of “dismantling and weakening the military capabilities of Hezbollah”.

The day before, the new Israeli Minister of Defense, Israel Katz, affirmed: “we will not make any ceasefire, we will not let up” in the face of Hezbollah.

In neighboring Syria, where Israel has also intensified its strikes according to a Syrian NGO, at least 20 people were killed Thursday in raids against residential buildings in the Mazzé district of Damascus and the Qudsaya region in the suburbs, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH).

The Israeli army confirmed strikes carried out against “military bases of Islamic Jihad”, a Palestinian armed movement allied with Hamas.

The raids coincided with a visit to Damascus by Ali Larijani, an advisor to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, expected in Beirut on Friday.