Israel’s army chief told troops on Wednesday to prepare for a possible ground invasion to fight Hezbollah in Lebanon, as the air force carried out hundreds of deadly strikes across the country.
“We have been attacking all day, in order to prepare the ground for the possibility of your entry, as well as to continue attacking Hezbollah,” Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi told a tank brigade, according to an army statement.
Lebanon’s health minister said 51 people were killed and 223 wounded in Wednesday’s attacks, which included mountainous areas outside Hezbollah’s traditional strongholds.
Hezbollah said it targeted Israel’s Mossad spy agency on the outskirts of Tel Aviv in the morning – the first time it has fired a ballistic missile in nearly a year of cross-border clashes sparked by the Gaza war.
In response, Israel said it attacked 60 targets in Lebanon, including hundreds of Hezbollah intelligence sites.
The attack comes amid escalating cross-border clashes, with Israeli strikes killing at least 558 people on Monday, the deadliest day of violence since Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war.
Nour Hamad, a 22-year-old student from the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek, said he had been in a “state of terror” all week.
“We spent four or five days without sleep, not knowing if we would wake up in the morning,” he said.
Sirens sounded in Tel Aviv after Hezbollah’s unprecedented missile launch.
“The situation is difficult. We are feeling pressure and stress… I don’t think anyone in the world would want to live like this,” Hedva Fadlon, 61, a Tel Aviv resident, told AFP.
Israel called up reserve soldiers
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Hezbollah’s attack on Tel Aviv was “deeply worrying” but added that “there is still time and space for a diplomatic solution to de-escalate tensions and prevent all-out war.”
The Israeli military said it struck “more than 280 Hezbollah” targets in Lebanon on Wednesday, and that the attacks were continuing.
“The fighter jets attacked 60 terrorist targets belonging to Hezbollah’s Intelligence Directorate,” the army said.
It also said two reserve brigades were being called up “for operational missions in the northern region,” adding that this would “help continue the fight against the Hezbollah terrorist organization.”
The UN Security Council said it would hold an emergency meeting on the crisis in New York on Wednesday, while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the situation was dire.
– Rocket commander killed –
The United Nations International Organization for Migration said on Wednesday that 90,000 people had been displaced in Lebanon since Monday.
“Many of the more than 111,000 people displaced since October are likely to be secondarily displaced,” said a statement from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The attack comes two days after “massive” strikes by the Israeli military on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.
The Lebanese group on Tuesday confirmed Israel’s claim that it had killed their rocket force commander Ibrahim Kobeissi in an attack on the Lebanese capital.
Secretary-General Guterres issued a stark warning at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
“We should all be concerned about this escalation. Lebanon is on the brink,” he said, warning of the possibility of “Lebanon becoming another Gaza.”
US President Joe Biden, whose government is Israel’s main supporter, said “full-scale war is not in anyone’s interest”.
rebel netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has postponed his departure for New York until Thursday, where he is also scheduled to address the General Assembly.
“During the day, the prime ministers will hold consultations to discuss the continuation of attacks in Lebanon,” his office said.
Netanyahu on Tuesday vowed to continue Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah, defying international calls for restraint.
He said, “We will continue to attack Hezbollah … Anyone who has missiles in their living room and rockets in their home will not have a home.”
Iran, Hezbollah’s main backer, has condemned the Israeli attacks, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the recent killing of Hezbollah commanders would not destroy the group.
“Some of Hezbollah’s most effective and valuable soldiers were martyred, which undoubtedly caused damage to Hezbollah, but it was not the kind of loss that would bring the group to its knees,” he said.
The elusive ceasefire
While clashes have occurred almost daily along the Israel-Lebanon border for a year, violence escalated dramatically last week, when coordinated communications equipment explosions killed 39 people and wounded nearly 3,000, which Hezbollah blamed on Israel.
Israel then launched an airstrike on a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut, killing a top military commander and other fighters and civilians.
Efforts to end the war in Gaza, which analysts say is key to preventing escalation of tensions in Lebanon, remain stalled.
Netanyahu has been accused by critics of obstructing Gaza ceasefire talks and prolonging the war to appease right-wing coalition partners.
The war in Gaza began with an attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7, resulting in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures, which also include hostages who died in captivity.
Of the 251 people taken hostage by the militants, 97 are still in Gaza, 33 of whom the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,495 people, most of them civilians, in Gaza, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which the United Nations has described as reliable.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
