Israel reported that fierce clashes broke out with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon after its paratroopers, commandos, and armored units initiated raids to commence a ground incursion.
This operation follows a series of intensive airstrikes that have severely impacted the group’s leadership, culminating in the assassination of its head, Hassan Nasrallah, in Beirut last week.
The Israeli military indicated that the operations in Lebanon began last night, involving the elite 98th division, which had been moved to the northern front from Gaza, where they had been engaged in combat against Hamas for several months.
It stated that its air force and artillery supported ground troops conducting “limited, localized, and targeted ground raids” against Hezbollah in southern Lebanese villages that represented “an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel.”
“Hezbollah has transformed Lebanese villages adjacent to Israeli villages into military strongholds prepared for an assault on Israel,” asserted military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.
Local sources informed Reuters that residents in southern Lebanon evacuated yesterday and today as Israeli bombardments closed in.
In line with directives from the political leadership, the IDF commenced limited, localized, and targeted ground raids based on precise intelligence against Hezbollah militant targets and infrastructure in southern Lebanon. These targets are situated in villages…
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) September 30, 2024
During a meeting with UN organizations and ambassadors of donor nations, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati remarked that Lebanon is encountering one of the most perilous phases in its history, as they collectively appealed for over $400 million (€360 million) in assistance to manage rising hostilities.
Two Lebanese security sources told Reuters that Israeli forces had crossed into Lebanon overnight for reconnaissance and probing missions. Additionally, Lebanese troops reportedly withdrew from certain positions along the border, according to the sources.
Live updates: Humanitarian crisis unfolding in Lebanon – Red Cross
Today, Hezbollah announced it had launched rocket and artillery assaults against Israeli forces positioned within Israel.
The head of its media office, Mohammad Afif, stated that no Israeli troops had entered Lebanese territory, emphasizing that the group’s strikes on Tel Aviv hours earlier were “merely the beginning.”
In a written statement to Reuters, Afif mentioned that Hezbollah had not engaged in “direct ground confrontations” with Israeli troops but is ready to do so.
According to Israel’s ambulance service, one individual was injured by shrapnel from the missile bombardment that struck central Israel.
Israeli security forces are assessing the impact site of a reported rocket fired from Lebanon in central Israel.
The Israeli military cautioned citizens against traveling in vehicles from the area north of the Litani River in Lebanon to its south. The military has expressed intentions to clear Hezbollah from the southern side of the river.
Despite achieving significant successes against Hezbollah in recent decades, Israel has indicated that it is prepared for a comprehensive invasion of Lebanon, aiming to allow thousands of its citizens, who fled from Hezbollah rockets, to safely return to their communities near the northern border.
Israel’s military actions have displaced one million Lebanese from their residences and claimed the lives of over 1,100 people, according to Lebanese authorities. The imminent ground offensive has instigated fear and outrage in Lebanon.
“Not just Hezbollah, the entire Lebanon will fight this time. All of Lebanon is resolute in fighting Israel for the massacres committed in Gaza and Lebanon,” declared Abu Alaa, a resident of the southern port city of Sidon.
Lebanese army withdraws
Iran’s allies, spanning from Hezbollah to Yemen’s Houthis and armed factions in Iraq, have initiated attacks in the region in solidarity with Hamas amid the Gaza war, heightening concerns that the conflict may spread across the Middle East, potentially involving the United States and Tehran.
The Houthi movement in Yemen targeted Israeli military positions in Tel Aviv and Eilat with drones on Tuesday, as announced by the group’s military spokesperson Yahya Saree during a televised address.
A view from northern Israel, along the border with southern Lebanon, captures the aftermath of Israeli bombardments in the southern Lebanon region.
The Lebanese Army issued a statement indicating that its withdrawal was part of a routine repositioning of some monitoring points in southern Lebanon.
Historically, the Lebanese army has remained neutral during major conflicts with Israel, and in the last year of hostilities, it refrained from engaging the Israeli military.
In the Lebanese border town of Aita al-Shaab, local residents reported significant shelling and the sounds of helicopters and drones overhead. Flares were repeatedly launched over the Lebanese border town of Rmeish, illuminating the night sky.
Israeli military footage showcases strikes on what are claimed to be Hezbollah missile launchers, located near Beirut’s airport.
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An early morning Israeli strike in Lebanon reportedly targeted Mounir Maqdah, the commander of the Lebanese branch of the Palestinian Fatah movement’s military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, according to two Palestinian security officials.
His status remains unknown.
The strike hit a building within the crowded Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near the southern city of Sidon, marking the first attack on Lebanon’s largest Palestinian camp since hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel reignited nearly a year ago.
Israel has not provided comments on the strike.
In Syria, an Israeli airstrike on the capital, Damascus, reportedly resulted in the deaths of three civilians and injured nine others, as reported by Syrian state media citing a military source. Israel’s military typically refrains from commenting on foreign media accounts.
For years, Israel has conducted strikes against Iran-linked targets in Syria but has escalated its operations since the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an attack on Israel’s southern territory on October 7, 2023.
According to Israeli figures, Hamas’s assault claimed 1,200 lives and resulted in around 250 hostages being taken.
In retaliation, Israel initiated a large-scale assault on Hamas in Gaza, which has reduced most of the Palestinian territory to ruins, displacing the majority of its 2.3 million inhabitants and resulting in over 41,300 Palestinian fatalities, as reported by the Gaza health ministry.
Smoke billows from the area hit by an Israeli airstrike targeting a neighborhood in Beirut’s southern suburb.
Israel’s operations in Lebanon are a continuation of its lethal strikes against booby-trapped Hezbollah devices, two weeks of aerial bombardments, and the killing of Nasrallah on Friday.
The extensive airstrikes have decimated several Hezbollah commanders while also killing about 1,000 civilians and forcing one million people to flee their residences, as per the Lebanese government.
In the hours preceding, a series of strikes targeted Beirut’s southern suburbs after the Israeli military warned residents to vacate areas near structures it claimed housed Hezbollah infrastructure south of the capital.
Over the past 24 hours, at least 95 individuals have lost their lives, and 172 have been wounded in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, the eastern Bekaa Valley, and Beirut, stated Lebanon’s health ministry early this morning.
The White House and the US State Department did not promptly respond to requests for comments regarding Israel’s ground actions in Lebanon, although yesterday, US President Joe Biden called for a ceasefire.
