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THIS is the moment Israeli bombs blitzed Lebanon with 300 targets hit and more than 180 people killed, reports say.
Footage posted to social media shows houses in the Middle Eastern country being repeatedly hammered by missiles.
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Reuters
The bombs can be seen plummeting from the sky into civilian areas as the Israeli military targets Hezbollah and its weapon caches.
Massive explosions erupt metres from houses and mushroom clouds can be seen in the background of videos as new bombs detonate in the foreground.
In just a few hours of bombing, over 180 people are already dead and 700 people wounded, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
It is not known how many of those were civilians and how many were fighters.
The IDF’s “widespread” strikes in the south of Lebanon are hunting Hezbollah as it seeks to defeat the terror group.
Israeli officials have warned of a “huge attack” this afternoon as it also launched chilling warnings to locals.
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.
The text message read, according to local media: “If you are in a building housing weapons for Hezbollah, move away from the village until further notice.”
The Israeli Air Force struck more than 300 targets in Lebanon by 3pm this afternoon, the IDF said.
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in an afternoon press conference that the military was striking “infrastructure that Hezbollah built up for years.”
Every home that was hit, he said, was being used to store weapons for the terror group.
He said: “The sights that are now seen in southern Lebanon are Hezbollah’s weapons exploding inside houses.
“Every home we struck, there are rockets, drones, missiles, which were intended to kill Israeli civilians.”
Hagari also warned civilians in one part of Lebanon they were being used as human shields and the terror group was storing weapons there.
Reuters
AFPHe said Israel would not allow Hezbollah to launch missiles at it.
One source told Israeli news outlet Ynet that people could consider the fighting the “Third Lebanon War”.
In a video, IDF chief of staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi threatened that attacks would increase until Hezbollah stopped attacking the country.
He vowed residents in the north of the country would be able to return safely home after tens of thousands had evacuated.
Halevi said: “We will safely return the residents to their homes, and if Hezbollah has not understood this yet, it will get another blow and another blow — until the organisation understands.”
He also warned the country has “many more capabilities that we have not yet activated” and is at a “high level of readiness”.
Warplanes also carried out new bombing raids this morning on towns along Lebanon’s southern border injuring dozens.
The fresh strikes come after heavy exchanges last week with Israel launching its most intense blitz of the war and bombing an apartment building.
On Sunday, Hezbollah launched around 150 rockets and missiles into Israel in retaliation for strikes that killed top commanders Friday.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said citizens will have to “show composure” to “achieve our goal to return the northern residents safely to their homes“.
Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire across the Israeli-Lebanon border in parallel with the war Israel has waged in Gaza against Hamas after October 7.
Hezbollah has named 497 members killed by Israel during the ongoing fighting since October, including troops lost during last week’s pager and walkie-talkie strike.
The group was said to be “rudderless” and in disarray” after all its fighters killed and losing one means of communication.
Hezbollah have reportedly killed 26 civilians and 20 soldiers and forced another 80,000 Israelis to head south to escape their rockets.
Pager and walkie-talkie strike
By James Halpin Foreign News Reporter
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, 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.
Reuters
EPA
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