LAST UPDATE | 25 Sep 2024

THE HEAD OF the Israeli army has told troops to be prepared for a possible invasion into Lebanon as fighter jets continued to bombard the country and Hezbollah launched rocket attacks across the border.

“You can hear the planes here; we are attacking all day, both to prepare the ground for the possibility of your entry, but also to continue striking Hezbollah,” Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi told a tank brigade, according to a statement issued by the military.

“We are not stopping. We will keep attacking and harming them everywhere,” Halevi said.

“To do this, we are preparing for the course of the manoeuvre, and the sense is that your military boots, your manoeuvre boots, will enter enemy territory,” Halevi said.

“Your entry there with force… will show (Hezbollah) what it is like to meet a professional combat force,” he said.

“You are coming in much stronger than them, much more experienced than them; go in, destroy the enemy there, and go destroy the infrastructure,” Halevi said.

“These are the things that will allow us to safely repatriate the residents of the north later.”

The militant Shia group Hezbollah was formed in 1985 in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982.

It is a formidable fighting force and makes up part of what’s called the Axis of Resistance, a constellation of armed groups opposed to Israel and the presence of US forces in the Middle East, supported primarily by Iran. 

Hezbollah and Israel have been locked in near-daily exchanges of cross-border fire since last October, when the Hamas-led attack launched from Gaza in Palestine sparked the bloodiest-ever war on the Gaza Strip. 

The Israel-Lebanon border is the site where Irish forces are stationed as part of a UN peacekeeping mission, so an invasion could well put them in harm’s way.

The UN’s International Organization for Migration said today that 90,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon since Monday, when Israeli strikes killed more than 550 people.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said today that Israel will not stop its military operations against Hezbollah until Israelis can safely return to their homes in the north of the country.

“We are striking Hezbollah with blows it never imagined. We are doing this with full force, we are doing this with guile. One thing I promise you: we will not rest until they return home”, he said in a statement.

US President Joe Biden has said “an all-out war is possible” but that he believes there is still an opportunity “to have a settlement that could fundamentally change the whole region”.

Ballistic missile attack

Earlier today, Hezbollah said it had fired a ballistic missile targeting the Israeli spy agency Mossad’s headquarters near Tel Aviv, saying that recent attacks on the militant group had been planned there.

It is the first time the group has claimed a ballistic missile strike in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah over the last year.

This morning, Israel’s military had said it intercepted a missile fired from Lebanon after sirens sounded in Tel Aviv.

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in the southern village of Kfar Rouman, seen from Marjayoun, south Lebanon Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

“The Islamic Resistance launched a ‘Qader 1′ ballistic missile at 6.30 am [3.30am GMT] on Wednesday, 25-9-2024, targeting the Mossad headquarters in the outskirts of Tel Aviv,” Hezbollah said in a statement.

“This headquarters is responsible for the assassination of leaders and the explosion of pagers and wireless devices,” it said, referring to the attacks last week that killed dozens of people in Lebanon.

It also said the strike was carried out in support of the people of Gaza and “in defence of Lebanon and its people”.

“It is the first time ever a Hezbollah missile reached Tel Aviv area. It was intercepted by IDF (Israeli military),” an army spokesman told the AFP news agency.

This evening, the Islamic Resistance of Iraq, another armed group in Iran’s Axis of Resistance, claimed responsibility for a drone strike on the southern Israeli port of Eilat.

“The Islamic Resistance in Iraq attacked a strategic target in Eilat on Wednesday… using drones,” it said in a statement published on Telegram.

The Israeli military said it intercepted a drone approaching Eilat and that another fell in the area. It reported two minor injuries.

Civilian casualties

While the Israeli military insists it is precisely targeting Hezbollah bases and weaponry, the number of civilian deaths and casualties in Lebanon “continues to rise”, according to the International Committee of the Red Crescent (ICRC).

Yesterday, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said Israeli airstrikes “are now relentlessly claiming hundreds of civilian lives”. 

Nour Hamad, a 22-year-old student in the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek, described living “in a state of terror” all week.

“We spent four or five days without sleep, not knowing if we will wake up in the morning,” she said.

The ICRC today urged both parties to adhere to international humanitarian law and to protect and respect civilian life and infrastructure.  

“We call on parties to pull back from the precipice of a wider regional conflict that would plunge communities already affected by violence deeper into crisis,” said ICRC chief spokesperson Christian Cardon.

“In recent days, we have seen new scenes of death, displacement, and destruction, with homes destroyed and loved ones killed.”

The fear of imminent attacks has sown panic among the civilian population in Lebanon and forced many people to flee their homes.

“Civilians will undoubtedly pay the highest price if the conflict further escalates,” Cardon said.

The rising number of injuries has put health facilities under increasing strain, as The Journal reported today.

With reporting from © AFP 2024