Several Israeli raids target Beirut and southern Lebanon this Wednesday. The IDF shelled the Haret Hreik neighborhood after giving the order to evacuate the area.
The essentials
- This Wednesday, October 16, just a few minutes after an order from the Israeli army to evacuate the area, a bombing hit the Shiite neighborhood of Haret Hreik in the south of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, according to images from the France-Presse Agency. “You are near installations and interests linked to Hezbollah, against which the Israeli army will act in the near future,” the Israeli army said in a statement.
- The United States has threatened Israel with withholding part of its military assistance if there is no significant improvement in humanitarian aid to Gaza. Washington gave the Jewish state 30 days to act. The White House also expressed its disagreement with the bombings in Beirut: “We have made it clear to Israel that we oppose the bombing campaign launched in recent weeks in Beirut,” declared the spokesperson for the Department of Defense. State.
- The town of Nabatiyeh, in southern Lebanon, was also hit this Wednesday morning by around ten Israeli strikes, the region’s governor told AFP. She specifies that there are victims but the toll has not yet been communicated and speaks of a “ring of fire” around this town in southern Lebanon.
- On Tuesday, the tone rose between Emmanuel Macron and Benjamin Netanyahu. “Mr. Netanyahu must not forget that his country was created by a UN decision,” said the French president in the Council of Ministers. And his Israeli counterpart responded in a press release: “A reminder to the President of France: it was not the UN resolution that established the State of Israel, but rather the victory obtained in the war of independence with the blood of heroic fighters, many of whom were survivors of the Holocaust – notably from the Vichy regime in France.”
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10:12 – The town of Natatiyé (Lebanon) bombed, the mayor killed
Bombings and deadly strikes continue in Lebanon this Wednesday, October 16. The town of Nabatiyeh, in southern Lebanon, was hit this Wednesday morning by around ten Israeli strikes, the region’s governor told AFP. She specifies that there are victims but the toll has not yet been communicated and speaks of a “ring of fire” around this town in southern Lebanon.
“There were eleven strikes mainly on Nabatiyé but also on its surroundings,” she said. “These bombings notably targeted Zebdine, Nabatiyé el-Tahta, Nabatiyé el-Faouqa, Kfar Tebnit and Kfar Joz. The detonations were heard as far away as Saïda”, specifies L’Orient-Le Jour. Le Parisien also indicates that the mayor of the city was killed in the strikes this Wednesday morning.
15/10/24 – 9:33 p.m. – The United States threatens Israel to suspend its military aid
END OF LIVE – Tensions between the two historic allies. As State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller revealed at a press conference on Tuesday, the US Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs and Defense made it “clear” in a letter sent to Israel. that there were changes to be made so that the level of aid provided to Gaza would rise from the very, very low levels of today”, pointing out that American law requires that any recipient of military aid does not hinder the delivery of humanitarian aid from the United States. “We hope that Israel will make the changes that we have described and that we have recommended, and that these changes will result in a dramatic increase in humanitarian aid” in the Palestinian enclave. The Jewish state has 30 days to comply with the request.
10/15/24 – 8:55 p.m. – More than 3,000 French people have left Lebanon
During a hearing at the National Assembly, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, revealed that “to date, there are approximately, even if these are figures difficult to establish, 3 000 of our compatriots established in Lebanon who returned to France, of whom more than 350 benefited from return assistance from the embassy. Three thousand French people out of the approximately 23,000 who live in Lebanon. Jean-Noël Barrot also clarified that, for the moment, “no evacuation decision has been taken by France”. However, “as with many other situations, we are preparing, if necessary, to make these decisions,” the minister reassured.
10/15/24 – 7:32 p.m. – Benyamin Netanyahu’s response to Emmanuel Macron
After the revelations of Parisianaccording to whom Emmanuel Macron declared in the Council of Ministers that “Netanyahu must not forget that his country was created by a UN decision”, the main interested party was quick to respond to the tenant of the Élysée. “A reminder to the President of France: it was not the UN resolution that established the State of Israel, but rather the victory achieved in the War of Independence with the blood of heroic fighters, many of whom were survivors of the Holocaust – notably of the Vichy regime in France,” he said in a statement.
10/15/24 – 5:51 p.m. – Emmanuel Macron: “Mr. Netanyahu must not forget that his country was created by a UN decision”
The Parisian reveals this Tuesday the remarks made by Emmanuel Macron in the Council of Ministers. “Mr. Netanyahu must not forget that his country was created by a UN decision, therefore he should not free himself from UN decisions,” the head of state was quoted as saying, according to the daily. Comments which refer to the situation in southern Lebanon and the clashes between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, and which come a few days after the summons of the Israeli ambassador to France and Israeli fire against peacekeepers. Relations between France and the Jewish state, already tense, could therefore deteriorate even further in the future.
10/15/24 – 1:36 p.m. – UN calls for investigation after Israeli strike in northern Lebanon
The UN has called for a “rapid, independent and thorough” investigation into the Israeli strike which left 22 dead yesterday in northern Lebanon, said a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. man. The request concerns the attack against the Christian village of Aïto which left 22 dead, including 12 women and two children. The victims were hit during the bombing of a building, the UN representative said.
42,289. This is the number of deaths in the Gaza Strip since the Hamas terrorist offensive on October 7, 2023 in Israel. A figure communicated by the Ministry of Health of the Hamas government on Monday October 14, 2024 and which reveals the intensity of the fighting which has lasted for more than a year now. Over the months, tensions intensified, and as of October 27, 2023, Israel extended its ground operation to Gaza. The objective for Netanyahu and the IDF is clear: to “annihilate” Hamas. A one-week ceasefire nevertheless took place in November 2023. After a significant leap forward, on April 13, 2024, Iran launched its first massive attack on Israel. Hamas ally, Iran then fired nearly 350 explosive drones and missiles at the Jewish state. An attack in response to missiles fired at the embassy in Damascus, Syria on April 1, in which 11 people lost their lives, including seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Tuesday September 17, 2024, a new kind of attack broke into the war. Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies explode. Twelve deaths and nearly 3,000 injured have been recorded in Lebanon. Since its coordinated explosions, Israel has continued to strike Lebanon with air or ground raids. More than 1,000 people are killed in IDF strikes and thousands of Lebanese are forced to be displaced. On October 1, 2024, Iran responded by sending nearly 200 ballistic missiles directly to Israel. Since then, the two countries have been waging a merciless war. On October 8, 2024, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, threatened Lebanon with “destruction and suffering like those we see in Gaza” if the population of the country does not ” “liberated” not from Hezbollah. Comments described as “provocation” by the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot.
Monday October 14, 2024, Lebanese Hezbollah threatened Israel with new attacks in a press release. As a reminder, Hezbollah had struck Haifa two days earlier, killing four Israeli soldiers and injuring no fewer than 60. At the start of the week, the terrorist organization indicated that “the resistance (…) promises the enemy”. The raid carried out “south of Haifa is only a foretaste of what awaits him if he decides to continue his attacks against our people”, she threatens. According to Palestinian doctors cited by Associated Press, the courtyard of a hospital in the Gaza Strip was then bombed by the Israeli army, killing at least four people and causing a fire in a camp for displaced people.