Precarious calm in Beirut, but deluge of fire in South Lebanon

Beirut experienced a slightly less violent day on Tuesday. In the midst of a visit by American envoy Amos Hochstein, Israel seems to have chosen restraint, at least in the capital and its surroundings. Only one strike hit the Ghobeyri neighborhood at dawn, without prior warning. No information has leaked as to the target of this bombing. In South Lebanon, however, the bombings continued at their usual pace. The day was especially violent in the district of Tyre, where a strike on the town of el-Hoch left at least two dead. In this same region, the villages of Chehabiyé, Jabal el-Botm, Zebqine, Aïtit, Sammaïyé, Bazouriyé, Deir Aamès and Majdel Zoun as well as the surroundings of Qlailé were targeted.

In the Nabatiyé caza, Israel bombed Nabatiyé el-Faouqa, Habbouche, Jebchit, Kfar Remmane and Yohmor el-Chkif. In Bint Jbeil, the localities of Ghandouriyé, Deir Antar and Tebnine were targeted. Likewise for Khiam, in the caza of Marjeyoun, where four villas were destroyed by an Israeli strike carried out near the Khiam detention center in the southern district of the village, as well as the complex of Imam Khomeini.

Israel also attacked Ghaziyé, Baïssariyé and Ansariyé in the Saida caza. In the latter village, Yassine Fakih, an Islamic Health Committee rescuer, and his 2-year-old son, Hassan, were killed. Also in Saida, Israel bombed a Lebanese army position near the fishermen’s port in Sarafand, killing at least three soldiers, according to an initial report from the troops.

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Finally, in the district of Jezzine, three Israeli artillery shells fell on the regions of Rihane, Jabbour and Sejoud. In this context, the Arabic-speaking spokesperson for the Israeli army, Avichay Adraee, affirmed that the army Israeli government had eliminated the commander of Hezbollah’s medium-range missile and rocket network. “Yesterday, Israeli aircraft targeted Kfar Joz, under the direction of the Military Intelligence Authority and Northern Command, in South Lebanon, killing Ali Toufic el-Doueik, commander of Hezbollah’s medium-range rocket system “, he wrote on X on Tuesday. According to Adraee, “Ali Toufic el-Doueik was responsible for launching more than 300 rockets into Israel, including the Haifa region and the center of the country, and had commanded the medium-range rocket system since September 2024, succeeding the “former head of the network who had been eliminated”.

Adraee in Adaïssé and Kfar Kila

In the Bekaa, the Israeli air force carried out two separate attacks at dawn on Zellaya and Lebbaya, without recorded victims, reports our correspondent Sarah Abdallah. Two Israeli air attacks targeted Qellaya, in West Bekaa. In total, more than 3,544 people have been killed and 15,036 injured by Israeli attacks in Lebanon since October 8, 2023, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Health.

At the same time, the Israeli ground offensive continues in South Lebanon. If Hezbollah claims that Israel has not controlled a single village, Avichay Adraee declared that he had toured certain border localities. “The eye that sees reality as it is: tour of South Lebanon with a stop in the villages of Kfar Kila and Adaïssé,” he wrote on the X network. “I inspected areas that the terrorist group Hezbollah has transformed into advanced military bases, using their infrastructure and transforming their inhabitants into human shields,” he added, affirming that his visit to the South “carries an important and clear message”. Adraee subsequently published a video on X from the village of Adaïssé (Marjeyoun). “I am standing in Adaïssé, in front of the rubble of a terrorist house where a Hezbollah terrorist installation was located. From these houses he threatened the citizens of Israel. These homes were bombed and destroyed because they were used for terrorist purposes,” Adraee stressed. He claimed to have found “arms depots and rocket launch sites” there. “We do not accept that Hezbollah maintains such installations on our border,” he concluded.

As the Israeli army advances its invasion of South Lebanon, its troops have reportedly found “large stockpiles of Russian weapons”, confirming Israel’s long-standing suspicions that Hezbollah is strengthening its fighting capacity at home. using sophisticated Russian military equipment, reports the Wall Street Journal. Some of these weapons, including modern Kornet anti-tank missiles manufactured in 2020, were sent to South Lebanon in recent years from Russian stockpiles in neighboring Syria, according to Syrian security officials and an Arab official. Russia has long supplied weapons to the Syrian army and controls its own warehouses in the country.

At the same time, the Israeli army announced the death of one of its soldiers in the fighting in southern Lebanon, bringing to 49 the number of its soldiers killed since the start of its ground offensive in Lebanese territory, on September 30, according to an AFP count.

Four injured among the peacekeepers

In this context, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) announced on Tuesday that “UNIFIL peacekeepers and installations were targeted in three separate incidents in southern Lebanon.” One of these incidents left four Ghanaian peacekeepers injured. According to the UNIFIL press release, they were injured when a rocket, “most likely fired by non-state actors from Lebanon”, hit their base east of the village of Ramié, in the caza of Bint Jbeil. Three of the injured were transferred to a hospital in Tire to receive treatment. Furthermore, “the headquarters of the western sector of UNIFIL in Chamaa (in the district of Tire) was hit by five rockets”. “Although this incident caused significant material damage, no Blue Helmet was injured,” specifies UNIFIL, recalling that “this is the second time that this base has been targeted by ongoing clashes in the region in less than a week. On November 15, a 155 mm artillery shell had already hit this base.

Finally, UNIFIL indicates that one of its patrols was directly targeted by an armed individual while it was traveling on a road northeast of the village of Khirbet Selm, in the caza of Bint Jbeil. This incident did not cause any injuries. Rome accused Hezbollah of being responsible for rocket attacks Tuesday against the headquarters of the Italian UNIFIL contingent in Chamaa, which it had initially blamed on Israel. In the process, Argentina notified the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon of the withdrawal of its soldiers, said a UNIFIL spokesperson quoted by the Reuters agency.

For its part, Hezbollah fired rockets at “a training base of the Israeli paratrooper brigade in the town of Karmiel”, in northern Israel, as well as at the town of Safed. The group also claimed responsibility for an attack carried out against a group of Israeli soldiers around Biyada (Tyr). It also fired artillery shells at a group of Israeli soldiers on the southern outskirts of Chamaa. Its fighters also fired a guided missile at a house where Israeli soldiers were located on the northern outskirts of Maroun el-Rass (Bint Jbeil), causing deaths and injuries. The Shiite party also fired rockets at a group of Israeli soldiers at the Aamra Gate, south of Khiam. He also announced having launched a “quality” missile on the Israeli base of Glilot, “headquarters of military intelligence unit 8200” located in the suburbs of Tel Aviv. More than 75 rockets were fired toward Israel from Lebanon on Tuesday, according to Haaretz.

The vice-president of Hezb’s political council, Mahmoud Komati, declared that his group was preparing a response to the assassination by Israel of its spokesperson, Mohammad Afif. He also assured that any attack on Beirut will be followed by an attack on Tel Aviv, the day after a fatal shooting by the armed party against the Israeli metropolis.