T + T – Normal size
Yesterday, the Israeli army carried out more than 100 raids on Lebanon, as part of a military escalation that has worsened in recent days, targeting missile platforms belonging to Hezbollah. Tel Aviv also announced the closure of its airspace and all aviation facilities from the city of Hadera to the north to all types of aircraft for 24 hours. Meanwhile, the White House warned that the risk of escalation on the border between Israel and Lebanon is “great.”
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan stressed that “the risk of escalation in the Middle East is real and great, and there are moments when escalation is more severe than others.”
He considered that “the way in which Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah presented his speech this week opened the northern front.”
“We will do everything we can to restore calm between Lebanon and Israel,” Sullivan said, adding, “We have not yet reached the stage of a wider war between Israel and Lebanon, and I hope that will not happen.”
Asked about the Israeli strike on a Hezbollah official, Sullivan said it was “a good outcome that people are being brought to justice.”
Air strikes
Meanwhile, the Israeli army announced new air strikes against Hezbollah sites in Lebanon yesterday, a day after the raid that targeted Hezbollah leaders near the capital Beirut.
“The Israeli army bombed Hezbollah sites in Lebanon,” a statement said, adding that at least 16 Hezbollah fighters were killed in a raid Friday in Beirut’s southern suburbs. The Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper quoted the Israeli army as saying it had bombed more than 100 targets in southern Lebanon, including Hezbollah missile launchers.
He succeeded in destroying thousands of rocket launchers that were ready to fire towards Israeli territory,” she said, adding that Israeli fighter jets launched dozens of raids targeting areas from the upper West Bekaa to areas in the Litani River, the Aishiyeh and Nabatieh regions, all the way to Mays al-Jabal and its surroundings, and other areas in southern Lebanon.
Eyewitnesses said that yesterday’s Israeli raids were the most violent in southern Lebanon since the start of the clashes between Hezbollah and the Israeli army last October. The explosions were heard in distant areas in the south.
On the other hand, Israeli media reported, quoting a statement from the Civil Aviation Authority, that: “Due to the tense security situation, it was decided to close the airspace from the Hadera line north, including the areas open to amateur flights, starting Saturday morning, for a period of 24 hours.”
The measure aims to ensure safe flights and prevent disruption to emergency flights, she said, adding that there are exceptions such as emergency services, police, firefighters and some commercial flights that will be allowed to fly, subject to exceptions and prior approvals. The Lebanese Health Ministry announced yesterday that at least 31 people were killed in an Israeli air strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut the day before yesterday, including three children and seven women, in the most violent strike during this year-long conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.
Fires
In response to the intensive raids on southern Lebanon and the western Bekaa, Hezbollah launched dozens of Katyusha rockets at military sites in the Galilee and the occupied Golan.
The Israeli army said it had detected 65 shells fired from Lebanon, while Israeli media reported that 90 rockets were fired from Lebanon.
Israeli media reported that the rockets launched from Lebanon caused damage to two buildings in northern Safed and in the settlement of Ramot Naftali, in addition to the outbreak of fires in several areas in the Galilee.
The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation stated that 10 firefighting teams were dispatched to extinguish fires that broke out in the forests of Birya in Safed due to Hezbollah missiles.
UN session
The UN Security Council held a session the night before yesterday regarding the recent developments in Lebanon and the region, which witnessed criticism of Israel, following the bombings of wireless communication devices and pagers in Lebanon, while the United Nations called for holding accountable the perpetrators of these attacks.
“International humanitarian law prohibits the use of booby-trapped devices in the form of portable objects that appear harmless but are designed to carry explosive materials,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk during the session, stressing “the need to hold accountable those who ordered and carried out these attacks.”
Volker Türk expressed his regret “at the scale and impact of the attacks on civilians on 17 and 18 September in Lebanon, when pagers, radios and other electronic devices exploded.”
He pointed out that “the simultaneous targeting of thousands of individuals, whether civilians or members of armed groups, without knowing who was in possession of the targeted devices, their location and surroundings at the time of the attack, violates international human rights law and international humanitarian law within the limits of its applicability.”
“The threat to security and stability, not only in Lebanon, but also in the region, could not be clearer or more serious,” said Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs.
Read also:
