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ISRAEL has vowed it won’t stop airstrikes against Hezbollah as they blitz the terror group 1,600 times to cripple it.
The Israeli Defence Force hit Hezbollah targets in a massive wave of airstrikes on Monday and Tuesday, many of which are civilian homes allegedly being used to store rockets.
AFP
AFP
AFP
AFP
At least 558 people have been killed, including dozens of children, and at least 1,835 injured, the Lebanese health ministry said.
US officials told CNN that Hezbollah has been significantly weakened by the attacks which had taken them backwards by about 20 years.
Israel has wiped out most of the terror group’s leadership in targeted strikes, including Ibrahim Aqil who was killed in an IDF blast on southern Beirut on Friday.
On Tuesday, leading commander Ibrahim Qubaisi in the group’s rocket division was killed in the suburbs of Beirut, Reuters reported.
Bombs have also targeted ammo stores, with clips of the strikes showing houses in residential areas being wiped.
The IDF claims Hezbollah are hiding cruise missiles, including medium-range rockets and short-range rockets, and even unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in civilian homes.
Some clips show secondary ammo explosions after an initial airstrike, including one where a missile shoots into the neighbouring home.
The US is also worried that Iran could intervene as Israel keeps up the attacks.
One official said: “Tehran has not intervened yet, but they will if they believe they are about to lose their most powerful proxy force.
“We are the closest we’ve been to spiralling to a regional war.”
Iran has not ruled out coming to the aid of its proxy in Lebanon saying that Israel was “armed to the teeth and has access to weapons systems that are far superior to anything else.”
New president Masoud Pezeshkian said: “We must not allow for Lebanon to become another Gaza at the hands of Israel.
“Hezbollah cannot do that alone. Hezbollah cannot stand alone against a country that is being defended and supported and supplied by Western countries, European countries, and the United States of America.”
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said the strikes were “a proactive offensive operation.”
Alamy
IDFHalevi said: “We are taking [away] military infrastructure that Hezbollah built for 20 years. This is very significant.
“We are striking targets, preparing the next stages… in the end, everything needs to be aimed at creating the conditions to return the [displaced] residents of the north to their homes.”
He also said Monday Israel “must not give Hezbollah a reprieve”.
Israel warned civilians through hacked radio broadcasts, text messages, and phone calls about the strikes – giving them two hours to get away from Iran’s proxy.
Ten of thousands of residents fled from the south in desperate search of shelter as Israel pounded targets with airstrikes.
The main highway out of the southern port city of Sidon was jammed with cars heading toward Beirut in a staggering mass exodus.
AFP
APFears of an all-out war in the region have been stoked by the escalation – with Lebanon still reeling from two deadly attacks on communication devices last week.
After almost a year of war against Hamas in Gaza on its southern border, Israel is shifting its focus to the northern frontier.
It is where Iran-backed Hezbollah has been firing rockets into Israel in support of Hamas, also backed by Iran.
Israel claims it has foiled a plot to stage an assault similar to the devastating October 7 assault by Palestinian terror group Hamas.
President Isaac Herzog said Hezbollah commanders killed in strikes on Friday in Beirut were meeting to plan a shocking massacre.
Israel’s Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Israel is “not looking for wars” but warned its army is in “full readiness”.
Describing civilian casualties as a “tragedy”, he insisted Israel “makes vast efforts not to hit civilians and make every effort to mitigate harm to civilians”.
Pager and walkie-talkie strike
The spike in fighting follows the coordinated pager and walkie-talkie blitz last week with Israel sabotaging communications devices.
The attacks were aimed at Hezbollah and hit the terror group’s fighters and civilians in Lebanon and Syria.
The strikes, which hit Tuesday and Wednesday last week, killed at least 39 and left thousands more injured.
Doctors in Lebanon have been overwhelmed by casualties after two waves of blasts – with many left blinded.
Skilled physicians say they have never had to surgically remove more eyes before as Hezbollah’s boss labelled the strikes a possible “declaration of war” from Israel.
One of those injured was the Iranian envoy to the country who has reportedly lost an eye.
Hezbollah’s boss Hassan Nasrallah said the group intends to seek revenge for the attacks that “crossed over all the red lines” and will not stop until the war in Gaza ends.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said he “condemned the terrorist act of the Zionist regime… as an example of mass murder”.
Israel reportedly planted the explosives inside the pagers in a years’ long operation that involved firms in Taiwan and Hungary.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps has ordered all members to stop using any types of communication devices, Reuters reports.
EPA
EPA
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