Netanyahu warns Lebanon of 'destruction like Gaza'
LEBANON HAS THE RIGHT OF SELF DEFENSE
David Gritten - BBC News
Tue, October 8, 2024
Smoke rose over Beirut's southern suburbs after they were targeted by new Israeli air strikes on Tuesday [Reuters]
Israel's prime minister has urged the Lebanese people to throw out Hezbollah and avoid "destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza".
Benjamin Netanyahu's appeal on Tuesday came as Israel expanded its invasion against Hezbollah by sending thousands more troops into a new zone in south-west Lebanon. Its military said 50 Hezbollah members were killed in air strikes on Monday.
The Lebanese health ministry said 36 people were killed and 150 injured in Israeli attacks over the past 24 hours.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah launched barrages of rockets towards the Israeli port of Haifa for the third consecutive day, injuring 12 people.
During a video address directed at the people of Lebanon, Netanyahu said: "You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza.
"I say to you, the people of Lebanon: Free your country from Hezbollah so that this war can end."
Netanyahu also claimed the Israel Defense Forces had killed the successor to Hezbollah's former leader, Hassan Nasrallah, but the IDF later said it could not confirm Hashem Safieddine's death.
Hezbollah has remained defiant despite three weeks of intense Israeli strikes and other attacks that Lebanese officials say have killed more than 1,400 people and displaced another 1.2 million.
Earlier on Tuesday, Nasrallah's former deputy, Naim Qassem, insisted Hezbollah had overcome the recent “painful blows” from Israel and that its capabilities were “fine”.
Israel has gone on the offensive after almost a year of cross-border fighting sparked by the war in Gaza, saying it wants to ensure the safe return of tens of thousands of residents of Israeli border areas displaced by Hezbollah rocket, missile and drone attacks.
The hostilities have escalated steadily since Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel in support of Palestinians on 8 October 2023, the day after its ally Hamas’s deadly attack on southern Israel.
Many displaced Lebanese are living in open areas in Beirut, including car parks [Reuters]
On Tuesday morning, the IDF announced that reservists from its 146th Division had begun “limited, localized, targeted operational activities” in south-western Lebanon.
It joined three standing army divisions which have been operating in central and eastern areas of southern Lebanon since the invasion began on 30 September - reportedly bringing the total number of soldiers deployed to over 15,000.
The IDF said troops had taken control of what it called a Hezbollah “combat compound” in the border village of Maroun al-Ras and published photos showing what it said was a loaded rocket launcher in an olive grove, as well as weapons and equipment inside a residential building.
Drone footage meanwhile showed widespread destruction in the nearby village of Yaroun, which was an initial target of the invasion.
Meanwhile, the UN special co-ordinator for Lebanon and the head of the UN peacekeeping force warned in a joint statement that the humanitarian impact of the conflict was “nothing short of catastrophic”.
Lebanon’s government says as many as 1.2 million people have fled their homes over the past year. Almost 180,000 people are in approved centres for the displaced.
In addition, more than 400,000 people have fled into war-torn Syria, including more than 200,000 Syrian refugees - a situation that the head of the UN’s refugee agency described as one of “tragic absurdity”.
The World Food Programme said there was “extraordinary concern for Lebanon's ability to continue to feed itself” because thousands of hectares of farmland had been burned or abandoned.
An apartment in Kiryat Yam, a suburb of Haifa, was damaged by a Hezbollah rocket on Tuesday [AFP]
The IDF also said its aircraft had carried out a new round of strikes on Hezbollah targets in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where the group has a strong presence, and other areas of Lebanon on Tuesday.
Earlier, it announced that a strike in the capital on Monday had killed the commander of Hezbollah’s headquarters, Suhail Husseini.
Hezbollah did not comment on the claim. But if confirmed, it would be the latest in a series of severe blows Israel has dealt to the group, with Hassan Nasrallah and most of its military commanders having been killed in similar recent strikes.
Hashem Safieddine, a top Hezbollah official widely expected to succeed his cousin Nasrallah as leader, has not been heard from publicly since an Israeli air strike reportedly targeted him in Beirut last Thursday.
IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said on Tuesday evening the military could not confirm claims by Netanyahu and Israel's defence minister that Safieddine was killed in the attack, adding that the IDF was examining the results of the operation.
Hezbollah's deputy leader said in a defiant televised address from an undisclosed location on Tuesday that its command and control was “solid” and had “no vacant positions”, citing its attacks on Israel in recent days.
"We are hurting them and we will prolong the time. Dozens of cities are within range of the resistance's missiles. We assure you that our capabilities are fine," Naim Qassem said.
But, for the first time, he made no mention of ending the war in Gaza as a pre-condition where previously Hezbollah has said it would not stop attacking Israel until the Gaza conflict is over.
"We support the political efforts that (Lebanese Parliament Speaker) Nabih Berri is undertaking towards a ceasefire," Qassem said in a televised speech.
"Once a ceasefire is achieved, diplomacy can look into all the other details."
It was not clear if this meant a change in Hezbollah’s position.
The speech coincided with the launch of more than 100 rockets towards Haifa Bay, as well as the Lower, Central and Upper Galilee regions.
The IDF said most of the rockets were intercepted. There were no serious casualties.
On Sunday night, there was a direct hit on Haifa - something which had not happened since Israel and Hezbollah last fought a war in 2006.
[BBC]
View comments (254)
Hezbollah strikes Israel, says it foiled Israeli incursions
AFP
Wed, October 9, 2024 at 2:03 AM MDT
Hezbollah fired projectiles into Israel on Wednesday and said it foiled ground incursions, a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Lebanon could face destruction like Gaza.
Netanyahu is set to speak with US President Joe Biden on Wednesday about Israel's response to last week's missile attack by Iran, Hezbollah's main backer, US news outlet Axios reported, citing US officials.
Hezbollah said it repelled two Israeli attempts to breach border areas, using rocket-propelled weapons and engaging in ground combat with Israeli soldiers.
Israel said its air defences intercepted two projectiles fired from Lebanon, setting off sirens around Caesarea, south of Haifa.
On Tuesday, the military said Hezbollah had fired 180 projectiles at Israel, mainly around Haifa, as Israel escalated its ground offensive along Lebanon's southern coast.
Netanyahu's stark warning came a year and a day after the start of Israel's war against Hezbollah ally Hamas in Gaza.
"You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza," he said in a video address.
"I say to you, the people of Lebanon: Free your country from Hezbollah so that this war can end."
As Israel battles Hamas in Gaza, it also aims to secure its northern border to allow tens of thousands of Israelis displaced by the cross-border fire to return home.
Both Hamas and Hezbollah have vowed to keep up their attacks, with Hezbollah's deputy leader Naim Qassem on Tuesday saying the group would make it impossible for Israelis to return to the north.
Israel has intensified strikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon since September 23, leaving more than 1,150 people dead and forcing more than a million to flee.
Most of its strikes have targeted southern and eastern Lebanon, as well as south Beirut.
- Evacuation warning -
Israel's military said Tuesday it was broadening its offensive.
On its Telegram channel, the military said its 146th Division began "limited, localised, targeted operational activities" against Hezbollah in Lebanon's southwest.
A day earlier, it had warned people to stay away from the southern part of Lebanon's Mediterranean coast, with a spokesman saying Israel would "soon operate in the maritime area against Hezbollah's terrorist activities" south of the Awali river.
In Sidon, fishermen stayed ashore and the seafood market was unusually quiet.
"If we don't go out to sea, we won't be able to feed ourselves," said one of them, Issam Haboush.
The Israeli military on Tuesday said it hit Hezbollah's south Beirut bastion, where a strike last month killed the militant group's leader Hassan Nasrallah.
It later said it dismantled a Hezbollah tunnel leading from Lebanon into Israel.
Hezbollah said it repelled Israeli troops who "infiltrated from behind" a UN peacekeepers' position in the southern border village of Labboune.
- Hezbollah defiant -
Hezbollah's deputy leader said that despite Israel's "painful" strikes, the group's leadership was in order and its military capabilities were "fine".
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Hezbollah was " a battered and broken organisation, without significant command and fire capabilities, with a disintegrated leadership following the elimination of Hassan Nasrallah".
Gallant had been due to visit Washington for talks on Wednesday that were expected to focus on Israel's response to Iran's missile attack last week.
But the Pentagon confirmed the visit had been postponed, after Israeli media reported Netanyahu had demanded that the cabinet decide on the action to be taken before Gallant's departure.
Tuesday's increased fighting came a day after Israelis and people around the world marked the first anniversary of Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel.
For families of the bereaved and relatives of 251 people taken hostage into Gaza, the pain was especially acute.
Of the total number, 97 hostages are still being held, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Hamas's October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures, which include hostages killed in captivity.
Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed 41,965 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the United Nations has described as reliable.
- 'Nightmares' -
The conflict has since spread across the wider region, with Israel battling Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Yemen and Syria.
The Syrian government said seven civilians were killed in an Israeli air strike in Damascus Tuesday, that a war monitor said targeted a building used by Iran's Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah.
Electrician Adel Habib, 61, who lives in the building, said he was on his way home when the strike hit.
"These were the longest five minutes of my life until I heard the voices of my wife, children and grandchildren."
A year after Israel's military offensive began in Gaza, swathes of the territory have been reduced to rubble, and nearly all its 2.4 million residents have been displaced at least once.
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, posted on X Wednesday that there was "no end to hell" in northern Gaza.
He criticised Israeli evacuation orders ahead of pending military operations, saying: "Many are refusing because they know too well that no place anywhere in Gaza is safe."
The International Committee of the Red Cross said that after a year of war, civilians in Gaza were still living in ramshackle shelters and struggling to find food.
On Tuesday, the territory's civil defence agency said an Israeli strike on a refugee camp in central Gaza killed at least 17 people.
burs/srm/dv
David Gritten - BBC News
Tue, October 8, 2024
Smoke rose over Beirut's southern suburbs after they were targeted by new Israeli air strikes on Tuesday [Reuters]
Israel's prime minister has urged the Lebanese people to throw out Hezbollah and avoid "destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza".
Benjamin Netanyahu's appeal on Tuesday came as Israel expanded its invasion against Hezbollah by sending thousands more troops into a new zone in south-west Lebanon. Its military said 50 Hezbollah members were killed in air strikes on Monday.
The Lebanese health ministry said 36 people were killed and 150 injured in Israeli attacks over the past 24 hours.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah launched barrages of rockets towards the Israeli port of Haifa for the third consecutive day, injuring 12 people.
During a video address directed at the people of Lebanon, Netanyahu said: "You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza.
"I say to you, the people of Lebanon: Free your country from Hezbollah so that this war can end."
Netanyahu also claimed the Israel Defense Forces had killed the successor to Hezbollah's former leader, Hassan Nasrallah, but the IDF later said it could not confirm Hashem Safieddine's death.
Hezbollah has remained defiant despite three weeks of intense Israeli strikes and other attacks that Lebanese officials say have killed more than 1,400 people and displaced another 1.2 million.
Earlier on Tuesday, Nasrallah's former deputy, Naim Qassem, insisted Hezbollah had overcome the recent “painful blows” from Israel and that its capabilities were “fine”.
Israel has gone on the offensive after almost a year of cross-border fighting sparked by the war in Gaza, saying it wants to ensure the safe return of tens of thousands of residents of Israeli border areas displaced by Hezbollah rocket, missile and drone attacks.
The hostilities have escalated steadily since Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel in support of Palestinians on 8 October 2023, the day after its ally Hamas’s deadly attack on southern Israel.
Many displaced Lebanese are living in open areas in Beirut, including car parks [Reuters]
On Tuesday morning, the IDF announced that reservists from its 146th Division had begun “limited, localized, targeted operational activities” in south-western Lebanon.
It joined three standing army divisions which have been operating in central and eastern areas of southern Lebanon since the invasion began on 30 September - reportedly bringing the total number of soldiers deployed to over 15,000.
The IDF said troops had taken control of what it called a Hezbollah “combat compound” in the border village of Maroun al-Ras and published photos showing what it said was a loaded rocket launcher in an olive grove, as well as weapons and equipment inside a residential building.
Drone footage meanwhile showed widespread destruction in the nearby village of Yaroun, which was an initial target of the invasion.
Meanwhile, the UN special co-ordinator for Lebanon and the head of the UN peacekeeping force warned in a joint statement that the humanitarian impact of the conflict was “nothing short of catastrophic”.
Lebanon’s government says as many as 1.2 million people have fled their homes over the past year. Almost 180,000 people are in approved centres for the displaced.
In addition, more than 400,000 people have fled into war-torn Syria, including more than 200,000 Syrian refugees - a situation that the head of the UN’s refugee agency described as one of “tragic absurdity”.
The World Food Programme said there was “extraordinary concern for Lebanon's ability to continue to feed itself” because thousands of hectares of farmland had been burned or abandoned.
An apartment in Kiryat Yam, a suburb of Haifa, was damaged by a Hezbollah rocket on Tuesday [AFP]
The IDF also said its aircraft had carried out a new round of strikes on Hezbollah targets in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where the group has a strong presence, and other areas of Lebanon on Tuesday.
Earlier, it announced that a strike in the capital on Monday had killed the commander of Hezbollah’s headquarters, Suhail Husseini.
Hezbollah did not comment on the claim. But if confirmed, it would be the latest in a series of severe blows Israel has dealt to the group, with Hassan Nasrallah and most of its military commanders having been killed in similar recent strikes.
Hashem Safieddine, a top Hezbollah official widely expected to succeed his cousin Nasrallah as leader, has not been heard from publicly since an Israeli air strike reportedly targeted him in Beirut last Thursday.
IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said on Tuesday evening the military could not confirm claims by Netanyahu and Israel's defence minister that Safieddine was killed in the attack, adding that the IDF was examining the results of the operation.
Hezbollah's deputy leader said in a defiant televised address from an undisclosed location on Tuesday that its command and control was “solid” and had “no vacant positions”, citing its attacks on Israel in recent days.
"We are hurting them and we will prolong the time. Dozens of cities are within range of the resistance's missiles. We assure you that our capabilities are fine," Naim Qassem said.
But, for the first time, he made no mention of ending the war in Gaza as a pre-condition where previously Hezbollah has said it would not stop attacking Israel until the Gaza conflict is over.
"We support the political efforts that (Lebanese Parliament Speaker) Nabih Berri is undertaking towards a ceasefire," Qassem said in a televised speech.
"Once a ceasefire is achieved, diplomacy can look into all the other details."
It was not clear if this meant a change in Hezbollah’s position.
The speech coincided with the launch of more than 100 rockets towards Haifa Bay, as well as the Lower, Central and Upper Galilee regions.
The IDF said most of the rockets were intercepted. There were no serious casualties.
On Sunday night, there was a direct hit on Haifa - something which had not happened since Israel and Hezbollah last fought a war in 2006.
[BBC]
View comments (254)
Hezbollah strikes Israel, says it foiled Israeli incursions
AFP
Wed, October 9, 2024 at 2:03 AM MDT
Hezbollah fired projectiles into Israel on Wednesday and said it foiled ground incursions, a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Lebanon could face destruction like Gaza.
Netanyahu is set to speak with US President Joe Biden on Wednesday about Israel's response to last week's missile attack by Iran, Hezbollah's main backer, US news outlet Axios reported, citing US officials.
Hezbollah said it repelled two Israeli attempts to breach border areas, using rocket-propelled weapons and engaging in ground combat with Israeli soldiers.
Israel said its air defences intercepted two projectiles fired from Lebanon, setting off sirens around Caesarea, south of Haifa.
On Tuesday, the military said Hezbollah had fired 180 projectiles at Israel, mainly around Haifa, as Israel escalated its ground offensive along Lebanon's southern coast.
Netanyahu's stark warning came a year and a day after the start of Israel's war against Hezbollah ally Hamas in Gaza.
"You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza," he said in a video address.
"I say to you, the people of Lebanon: Free your country from Hezbollah so that this war can end."
As Israel battles Hamas in Gaza, it also aims to secure its northern border to allow tens of thousands of Israelis displaced by the cross-border fire to return home.
Both Hamas and Hezbollah have vowed to keep up their attacks, with Hezbollah's deputy leader Naim Qassem on Tuesday saying the group would make it impossible for Israelis to return to the north.
Israel has intensified strikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon since September 23, leaving more than 1,150 people dead and forcing more than a million to flee.
Most of its strikes have targeted southern and eastern Lebanon, as well as south Beirut.
- Evacuation warning -
Israel's military said Tuesday it was broadening its offensive.
On its Telegram channel, the military said its 146th Division began "limited, localised, targeted operational activities" against Hezbollah in Lebanon's southwest.
A day earlier, it had warned people to stay away from the southern part of Lebanon's Mediterranean coast, with a spokesman saying Israel would "soon operate in the maritime area against Hezbollah's terrorist activities" south of the Awali river.
In Sidon, fishermen stayed ashore and the seafood market was unusually quiet.
"If we don't go out to sea, we won't be able to feed ourselves," said one of them, Issam Haboush.
The Israeli military on Tuesday said it hit Hezbollah's south Beirut bastion, where a strike last month killed the militant group's leader Hassan Nasrallah.
It later said it dismantled a Hezbollah tunnel leading from Lebanon into Israel.
Hezbollah said it repelled Israeli troops who "infiltrated from behind" a UN peacekeepers' position in the southern border village of Labboune.
- Hezbollah defiant -
Hezbollah's deputy leader said that despite Israel's "painful" strikes, the group's leadership was in order and its military capabilities were "fine".
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Hezbollah was " a battered and broken organisation, without significant command and fire capabilities, with a disintegrated leadership following the elimination of Hassan Nasrallah".
Gallant had been due to visit Washington for talks on Wednesday that were expected to focus on Israel's response to Iran's missile attack last week.
But the Pentagon confirmed the visit had been postponed, after Israeli media reported Netanyahu had demanded that the cabinet decide on the action to be taken before Gallant's departure.
Tuesday's increased fighting came a day after Israelis and people around the world marked the first anniversary of Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel.
For families of the bereaved and relatives of 251 people taken hostage into Gaza, the pain was especially acute.
Of the total number, 97 hostages are still being held, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Hamas's October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures, which include hostages killed in captivity.
Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed 41,965 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the United Nations has described as reliable.
- 'Nightmares' -
The conflict has since spread across the wider region, with Israel battling Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Yemen and Syria.
The Syrian government said seven civilians were killed in an Israeli air strike in Damascus Tuesday, that a war monitor said targeted a building used by Iran's Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah.
Electrician Adel Habib, 61, who lives in the building, said he was on his way home when the strike hit.
"These were the longest five minutes of my life until I heard the voices of my wife, children and grandchildren."
A year after Israel's military offensive began in Gaza, swathes of the territory have been reduced to rubble, and nearly all its 2.4 million residents have been displaced at least once.
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, posted on X Wednesday that there was "no end to hell" in northern Gaza.
He criticised Israeli evacuation orders ahead of pending military operations, saying: "Many are refusing because they know too well that no place anywhere in Gaza is safe."
The International Committee of the Red Cross said that after a year of war, civilians in Gaza were still living in ramshackle shelters and struggling to find food.
On Tuesday, the territory's civil defence agency said an Israeli strike on a refugee camp in central Gaza killed at least 17 people.
burs/srm/dv
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