At least thirty people were killed in Israeli air raids in Lebanon on Monday, according to official figures. The strikes targeted, for the first time, the region of Akkar, in the far north of the country, near Syria. Hezbollah, for its part, intensified its rocket and missile fire which covered a large part of the Galilee up to the outskirts of the city of Haifa, 40 km from the border.
3 mins
No longer is a region safe Lebanon. With the targeting on Monday evening of the Akkar region, bordering Syria in the north of the country, the entire Lebanese geography is now plunged into war. On Monday alone, at least thirty people were killed across the country, reports our correspondent in Beirut, Paul Khalifeh.
An Israeli air raid targeted a house in a predominantly Sunni locality, which was hosting around thirty displaced Shiites from the South. The Jewish state’s aviation also heavily bombed dozens of localities in southern Lebanon, where a new evacuation order hit 21 villages. These raids caused numerous victims among the residents who remained there despite the intensity of the bombings.
THE Hezbollah for its part fired on the North ofIsrael more than 250 rockets and heavy missiles, a record since the start of the Israeli ground offensive on October 1. And this is without counting the squadrons of attack drones. The movement claimed responsibility for 22 military operations on Monday. The regions of Safad, Acre and Haifa, where the majority of residents of northern Israel are concentrated, were in the sights of the Shiite party on Monday. Hezbollah fired salvos of rockets from Lebanese border villages believed to have been “ secure ” And ” cleaned » by the Israeli army, after 45 days of ground offensive.
Israel blows hot and cold on a ceasefire
At the same time, the Israeli Foreign Minister mentioned Monday “some progress” with a view to a ceasefire in Lebanon. Gideon Saar, asked about the prospects of such a truce, added working “ on the subject with the Americans », during a press conference in Jerusalem. However, he made a ceasefire conditional on the fact that the “ Hezbollah does not (power) no longer arm yourself » and that the Shiite movement is pushed back a good distance from the Israeli-Lebanese border.
A perspective that his colleague at Defense, Israel Katzwas – a little later – excluded before the capitulation of the Islamist movement Hezbollah. “ There will be no ceasefire and there will be no pause in strikes against Hezbollah “, he insisted, addressing, for the first time since taking office, before the general staff of the Israeli army. “ But if there is a proposed ceasefire agreement “meaning the capitulation of Hezbollah (And) meeting all our conditions (…), we will certainly consider it very seriously “, he added.
Also readIsrael: the dismissal of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is a “fine-grained calculation”
Since the start of clashes between Hezbollah and the Israeli army more than a year ago, tens of thousands of residents, both in Lebanon and in Israel, have been forced to leave their homes. Several attempts at mediation between Israel and Lebanon took place, notably via the United States and France, but none were successful.