JERUSALEM, Oct 1:The Israeli military began what it called a “limited, localised” operation against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, carrying out “targeted ground raids” in villages close to the Israeli border. The targets, it said, pose an “immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel”.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a warning on Monday to Iran, which backs Hezbollah and Hamas. “There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach,” Netanyahu said, just days after an airstrike south of Beirut killed the leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah group, which is backed by Tehran.
Hezbollah’s acting leader, Naim Kassem, promised the group will fight on following the death Friday of its long-time chief Hassan Nasrallah. Israel has also assassinated several of the group’s top commanders in recent days. Kassem said the group’s fighters are ready and the slain commanders have already been replaced.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since October 8, the day after Hamas sent fighters into Israel and sparked the war in Gaza.
It’s been almost a year since some 250 people were abducted from Israel, and friends and family are worried about their loved ones as attention turns away from hostages and north toward Lebanon.
Here is the latest:
Israeli military conducting localised ground raids’ on Hezbollah positions in Lebanon
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says it is conducting “localised ground raids” on Hezbollah positions in Lebanon, after troops crossed the border overnight in a long-anticipated ground operation.
The scope of the incursion was unclear and there were no immediate reports of clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters.
In a video statement released to media on Tuesday, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, a military spokesperson, said troops were operating against Hezbollah to ensure that Israeli citizens could return to their homes in the north.
Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel shortly after the outbreak of the war in Gaza. Israel has launched retaliatory airstrikes and the escalating conflict has driven tens of thousands of people from their homes on both sides.
Hagari said a UN Security Council resolution that ended the last Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006 had not been enforced and that southern Lebanon was “swarming with Hezbollah terrorists and weapons”.
That resolution called for Hezbollah to withdraw from the area between the border and the Litani River, some 30 kilometers (18 miles) to the north, and for the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers to patrol the region.
Both sides have accused the other of violating different terms of the UN resolution.
UN and Lebanon launch an appeal for USD 426 million in urgent aid
BEIRUT — The United Nations and the Lebanese government have launched a USD 426 million flash appeal for urgent humanitarian aid for civilians caught up in the ongoing conflict with Israel.
The appeal was launched in Beirut Tuesday by caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon Imran Riza.
Mikati said that Lebanon is going through “one of the most dangerous moments in its history”. He said that 1 million people have been displaced as a result “of the destructive war launched by Israel on Lebanon”.
The flash appeal seeks to assist the displaced by addressing urgent needs in areas such as food, basic assistance, shelter, health care, water and municipal services, the UN said.
“Without sufficient resources, humanitarians risk leaving the population of an entire country without the support they urgently require,” Riza warned. He added that the no amount of aid can fully address the crisis if civilians continue to be targeted.
Opposition leader in Italy calls for a cease-fire in Gaza and Lebanon
ROME — The head of Italy’s main opposition party, Elly Schlein, on Israel to retreat from Lebanese territory, saying “territorial sovereignty cannot be violated, international law must always prevail”.
Schlein, head of Italy’s left-wing Democratic Party, called for a cease-fire in both Gaza and Lebanon, both under fire from the Israeli military under Prime Minsiter Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We cannot resign ourselves to daily horror,” she said on Tuesday. “Europe and the international community cannot watch in silence. We say enough of Netanyahu’s bombardments and Hezbollah’s missiles.”
6 killed in Israeli strike on refugee camp in Lebanon, state news says
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s state news agency says an Israeli airstrike on a Palestinian refugee camp in south Lebanon killed six people, including the son of a Palestinian official.
National News Agency said the early Tuesday airstrike on Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp in Sidon, the largest of Lebanon’s 12 refugee camps, targeted the home of Gen. Munir Makdah of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah group.
NNA said Makdah’s son and daughter-in-law, as well as another woman and three children, were killed in the airstrike.
Makdah’s brother, Khalil Makdah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in August in the port city of Sidon.
Lebanon’s army says it’s redeploying troops along the border with Israel
BEIRUT — The Lebanese army says it redeployed troops in some observation points along the border with Israel.
The army did not give further details about the posts. It said the Lebanese military is coordinating with United Nations peacekeepers deployed along the tense border area.
The army’s statement on Tuesday denied local media reports that troops have moved several kilometers (miles) away from the border ahead of a possible Israel ground operation.
Thousands of Lebanese troops were deployed along the border with Israel following the 34-day Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006.
Israel asks people not to enter parts of south Lebanon under intense fighting
BEIRUT — The Israeli military says parts of south Lebanon are witnessing “intense fighting” and called on people not to enter the area south of the Litani River.
The military’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, posted Tuesday on X that people should not drive into the area south of the Litani River. The area has dozens of towns and villages close to the Israeli border.
Hezbollah’s acting leader, Naim Kassem, said on Monday the group will fight any Israeli troops who try to occupy parts of Lebanon. Israeli said its ground forces crossed into southern Lebanon early Tuesday, marking a significant escalation of an offensive against Hezbollah militants and opening a new front in a yearlong war against its Iranian-backed adversaries.
Under a United Nations resolution that ended the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, the area south of the Litani River was supposed to be controlled by the Lebanese army and a UN peacekeeping force, but both Israel and Hezbollah blame each other for violating the resolution. Israel says it wants to root out an elite Hezbollah fighting force from the area.
Italy’s premier calls for an urgent and necessary de-escalation
ROME — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni said on Tuesday that “a de-escalation at regional level is urgent and necessary”.
“The protection of civilians remains the priority along with guaranteeing the security of the Italian military contingent of UNIFIL present in southern Lebanon,” she said in a statement.
Italy, which holds the G7 rotating presidency, is working with allies to stabilise the situation along Israeli-Lebanon border, and to help people who have been displaced by the fighting return to their homes, Meloni said.
The Israeli military began what it called a “limited, localised” operation against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, carrying out “targeted ground raids” in villages close to the Israeli border.
Evacuations from Lebanon via Cyprus are slow and controlled so far
NICOSIA — The foreign minister of Cyprus says evacuations of third-country nationals from Lebanon to the east Mediterranean island nation are “slow and controlled so far”.
Minister Constantinos Kombos told The Associated Press on Tuesday that large-scale evacuations from Lebanon have not begun, even as Israeli ground forces crossed into southern Lebanon, marking a significant escalation of an offensive against Hezbollah militants.
Kombos said Cyprus has received some staff from foreign diplomatic missions and some Saudi nationals a few days ago. About 60 Chinese nationals are due to arrive by ship at the island nation’s main port of Limassol.
Cyprus has agreements with around a dozen countries to act as a temporary host for their evacuated nationals before their repatriation. Under the “Estia” plan, evacuees will be processed and given accommodations for a few days before catching flights to their home countries.
Cyprus helped repatriate hundreds of British and other third-country citizens who were evacuated from Sudan in 2023. In 2006, some 60,000 foreign nationals evacuated from Lebanon during a month-long Israel-Hezbollah war used Cyprus as a waystation before heading abroad.
Hezbollah targets Israeli soldiers across the border
BEIRUT — Overnight and Tuesday morning, Hezbollah said it targeted groups of soldiers in several Israeli border areas with artillery shelling and rockets. It was not immediately clear if any soldiers were hit.
The militant group has been firing at locations near the border, and claiming to have hit soldiers there, since October 8, in solidarity with Hamas. It has not commented on the Israeli military announcement that it had started a ground incursion. (AP)
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