The Israeli army said on Wednesday that it was preparing “a possible entry” into Lebanon to strike Hezbollah, against which its air force is carrying out new deadly strikes, after intercepting a missile fired at Tel Aviv, at a time when the international community fears a conflagration in the Middle East.
Key information to remember
⇒ Israeli army chief tells soldiers to prepare for “possible entry” into Lebanon
⇒ “Large-scale” Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon
⇒ A ballistic missile fired from Lebanon intercepted by Israeli air defense
Israeli army chief tells soldiers to prepare for ‘possible entry’ into Lebanon
The Israeli army’s chief of staff told soldiers at a drill on the northern border to prepare for a possible “entry” into Lebanon, where the army has been carrying out multiple strikes following Hezbollah rocket fire into Israeli territory. “You can hear the planes here, we are attacking all day long, both to prepare the area for the possibility of your entry, but also to continue hitting Hezbollah,” Gen. Herzi Halevi told soldiers in an armored unit, according to an army statement.
In a video released by the army, General Halevi told soldiers that the goal was “very clear: to bring the people of the north back safely. To do this, we are preparing the course of the maneuver … your entry there with power, the confrontation with the men of Hezbollah who will see what professional, very competent and experienced fighters are.”
Israel carries out “large-scale” strikes in southern Lebanon
The army announced that it was continuing its “large-scale” bombings in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley in the east, two strongholds of the Iran-backed Islamist movement, on the third day of massive strikes that have thrown more than 90,000 Lebanese onto the roads, many of them already displaced for the first time since October, according to the UN.
Across the country, 51 people were killed and more than 220 injured, according to Lebanese authorities, during these strikes which also targeted villages located outside Hezbollah strongholds, including that of Maaysara, in a mountainous region about thirty kilometers north of Beirut.
The Israeli military claimed to have struck more than 280 Hezbollah targets, including 60 targets of Hezbollah intelligence and rocket “launchers.” Schools and universities will remain closed until the end of the week in Lebanon. Many airlines have suspended flights to Beirut.
Israeli raids in Lebanon will not bring Hezbollah “to its knees”
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that the recent deaths in Lebanon of Hezbollah commanders killed by Israel could not bring the Lebanese Islamist movement, an ally of Tehran, to its “knees.” “Some of Hezbollah’s effective and valuable forces have fallen as martyrs, which undoubtedly caused damage to Hezbollah, but this is not what could bring the group to its knees,” he said during a meeting with military personnel and veterans of the Iran-Iraq war.
Hezbollah says it fired ballistic missile at Mossad HQ
Lebanon’s Hezbollah announced on Wednesday that it had fired a ballistic missile at Israel for the first time in nearly a year of violence, claiming to have targeted the headquarters of Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence service, near Tel Aviv. In a statement, the powerful pro-Iranian movement said it had “launched a Qader 1 ballistic missile at 6:30 am”. The Islamist group added that Mossad’s headquarters was “responsible for the assassination of Hezbollah leaders” and “the explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies”.
The Israeli military announced that it had intercepted the missile fired from Lebanon. “Following the sirens that sounded in the Tel Aviv and Netanya areas, a surface-to-surface missile was identified coming from Lebanon and was intercepted by the air defense,” a military spokesman said.
“This is the first time ever that a Hezbollah missile has hit the Tel Aviv area. It was intercepted” by the Israeli army, an Israeli army spokesman told AFP. The launch constitutes an “escalation” by Hezbollah, another army spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, told a news briefing. “Hezbollah is undoubtedly trying to escalate the situation […]they are trying to terrorize more and more people,” he added.
Nearly 500,000 displaced in Lebanon, according to the Minister of Foreign Affairs
The number of displaced Lebanese is approaching half a million since the escalation of Israel’s bombing campaign against Hezbollah, Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said on Tuesday. Before the recent strikes, Lebanon had about 110,000 displaced people, and “now we are probably approaching half a million,” the minister said on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
The statements come as Israeli strikes on Monday against the Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah, an ally of Palestinian Hamas, left 558 dead, including 50 children and 94 women, and 1,835 wounded, according to Lebanese authorities. This is the heaviest human toll in one day since the end of the civil war (1975-1990).
Hezbollah confirms one of its commanders killed in Israeli strike
Hezbollah confirmed on Wednesday that one of its military leaders, Ibrahim Kobeissi, had been killed in an Israeli bombardment on Tuesday on the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of the powerful pro-Iranian group. In a statement, Hezbollah announced the death of “commander Ibrahim Mohammed Kobeissi”, who “fell as a martyr on the road to Jerusalem”, the expression that the movement uses to refer to fighters killed by Israeli fire. This strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut left at least six dead and fifteen wounded, according to the Lebanese authorities.
The Israeli army had earlier said in a statement that “air force fighter jets eliminated on Tuesday in Beirut Ibrahim Mohammed Kobeissi, the commander of the Hezbollah terrorist organization’s missile and rocket network.” According to the Israeli army, Mohammed Kobeissi, who commanded several units, including one of precision-guided missiles, was targeted along with other commanders of Hezbollah’s missile and rocket force.