Lebanon: Nearly 500 people were killed across southern Lebanon after Israel launched its biggest ariel offensive against Iran-backed Shite militant group Hezbollah since the beginning of war in Gaza on October 7. Lebanese health ministry said around 1,650 people were wounded and about 100 women and children were among the dead.
Minor clashes and skirmishes were a daily affair along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon as Hezbollah continued to launch hundreds of rockets into Israel on a daily basis. The group said its actions are in solidarity with the people of Palestine surviving Israel’s brutal military campaign in Gaza.
Tensions escalated in August as Hezbollah launched rockets and drones in retaliation for Israel killing its top commander Faud Shukr in July. On Sunday, the militant group launched more than 100 rockets again as it declared an “open-ended battle of reckoning” with Israel after hundreds of pagers and radios exploded across Lebanon in serial explosions. Lebanon blamed Israel and its top spy agency Mossad for the incident targeting Hezbollah members.
Israel had claimed that diplomatic efforts to stop Hezbollah’s attacks are failing, and an all-out war might be the only way to stop the attacks on its northern borders and enable citizens to return to their homes.
United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he is “gravely alarmed by the escalating situation” in Lebanon. He expressed alarm on both Israel’s bombing campaign and Hezbollah’s continued strikes into Israel. “All efforts must be devoted to a diplomatic solution,” he said.
EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said the clashes threaten to push the region into an “all-out war”. “I can say we are almost in a full-fledged war. We’re seeing more military strikes, more damage, more collateral damage, more victims,” Borrell said ahead of a gathering of world leaders at the UN.
