Photo: Bilal Kashmar Agence France-Presse A Lebanese civil defense official observes the clearing work made necessary by an Israeli strike in Qana, in southern Lebanon.
Jonathan Sawaya – Agence France-Presse and Marc Jourdier – Agence France-Presse respectively in Beirut and Jerusalem
Published at 8:01 AM Updated at 5:29 PM
- Middle East
The Israeli army carried out dozens of airstrikes in Lebanon on Wednesday, killing 16 people in a southern city, including the mayor, and three in another, and causing significant destruction, nearly a month after the start of an open war against Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
While the Israeli army has been waging a ground offensive in southern Lebanon since September 30, the UN peacekeeping force (UNIFIL) said that an Israeli tank had fired on one of its watchtowers, calling it “direct and apparently deliberate fire.”
“UNIFIL infrastructure and forces are not a target and every accident that goes against the rules will be examined in detail,” Israel responded Wednesday evening in a statement, adding that “the incident in question is being examined.” ».
Israel is already facing growing international pressure after UNIFIL accused its army of “shocking violations” against its positions in the northern border region of Israel.
Alongside its war against Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas in Gaza, two movements allied with Iran, Israel says it is preparing its response to the Iranian missile attack launched on October 1 against its territory. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has reiterated that his country will “respond resolutely” to a possible strike.
On Wednesday, the Israeli army said it had targeted “dozens of Hezbollah targets” in the Nabatiyeh governorate, a stronghold of the movement and its Shiite ally Amal.
The mayor of the eponymous town, Ahmad Kahil, was killed in one of the strikes that targeted two municipal buildings and an adjacent medical center, Governor Howaida Turk said, calling it “a massacre.”
A total of 16 people died and 52 were wounded in Nabatiyeh, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. The UN humanitarian coordinator in Lebanon, Imran Riza, denounced a “disastrous attack.”
In Qana, “more than 15 buildings were completely destroyed, a real disaster,” rescuer Mohammed Ibrahim said after a deadly Israeli raid. The army said it killed a Hezbollah commander there.
Photo: Hussein Malla Associated Press Lebanese police inspect a car destroyed by an Israeli strike in Aito, northern Lebanon.
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The Israeli strikes on the town of Tayr Debba, near Tyre, left three dead, according to the National News Agency (ANI), citing the Ministry of Health.
There were also seven air raids in less than 10 minutes on the town of Khiam, near the border, in southern Lebanon, again according to the ANI.
Israeli air strikes targeted the Hermel region and the town of Iaat, about seven kilometers from Baalbeck, in the Bekaa (east), according to the agency.
The Israeli army also bombed the southern suburbs of Beirut, where it claimed to have targeted a Hezbollah “strategic weapons” warehouse.
On Wednesday, the White House reiterated that it had “directly told Israel” its “opposition” to strikes against “densely populated areas of Beirut” and asked “not to threaten the lives of civilians,” peacekeepers and Lebanese soldiers.
For its part, Hezbollah reported “heavy close-quarters combat” with Israeli soldiers near a border village in southern Lebanon. It also said it had launched a “salvo of rockets” on Safed in northern Israel for the third time in 24 hours.
According to the army, “approximately 90 projectiles” were fired by Hezbollah against Israel during the day. According to rescuers, four people were slightly injured by shrapnel.
UNICEF called the destruction of at least “28 water supply facilities” affecting “more than 360,000 people,” mainly in the south of the country, a “catastrophe for all children in Lebanon,” exposing children to diseases such as cholera and hepatitis.
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“Not defeated”
In the past month, at least 1,373 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to an AFP count based on official figures. The UN has counted nearly 700,000 displaced people.
Hezbollah, claiming to act in support of Hamas, opened a front against Israel on October 8, 2023, the day after the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli soil that triggered the war in Gaza.
After nearly a year of border firefights with Hezbollah and after weakening Hamas in Gaza, the Israeli army moved the front of the war to Lebanon.
Israel claims to want to push Hezbollah away from its border and put an end to its rocket fire, in order to allow the return to northern Israel of some 60,000 displaced people.
Despite the heavy blows inflicted on Hezbollah, its number two Naim Qassem affirmed that the movement would “not be defeated” by Israel.
He added that “the solution” to end the war is “a ceasefire,” which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes.
“Risk” of famine in Gaza
After more than a year of war in the besieged, devastated and humanitarian disaster-ridden Gaza Strip, Israeli forces have been conducting an offensive in Jabalia (north) since October 6, claiming that Hamas is rebuilding its forces there.
As winter approaches, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, warned of “a real risk” of famine in Gaza. “Some members of the Israeli government are using famine as a weapon of war,” he charged.
According to Mr. Lazzarini, nearly 400,000 people are trapped in the fighting in northern Gaza and “it has become extremely complicated” to get humanitarian aid there.
At least 42,409 Palestinians have been killed, mostly civilians, in Israel's retaliatory offensive in Gaza, according to data from the Hamas government's health ministry.
The Hamas attack on October 7 killed 1,206 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures and including hostages who died or were killed in captivity in Gaza.