Israeli operations limited against Hezbollah in Lebanon according to Washington

The United States announced “limited” Israeli ground operations against Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon on Monday, as the Israeli military declared three border towns “closed military zones” amid international calls for de-escalation.

In Lebanon, where the Israeli army has continued its deadly air raids, the Lebanese army has repositioned its troops in the south of the country bordering northern Israel, according to a military official.

After the devastating blow inflicted on Hezbollah with the assassination of its leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday in an Israeli strike near Beirut, Israeli leaders have warned that the battle is not yet over against the pro-Iranian movement, an enemy of Israel.

The Israeli army is “currently” conducting “limited” ground operations targeting Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, near the border, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

Strikes in Lebanon and Israel © AFP – Valentina BRESCHI, Sylvie HUSSON

“They informed us that they are currently conducting what they say are limited operations targeting Hezbollah infrastructure,” he said.

In Israel, the army announced the establishment of a “closed military zone” on the Lebanese border around the towns of Metula, Misgav Am and Kfar Giladi, where entry is “prohibited”.

On the Lebanese side, the official news agency ANI and a channel affiliated with Hezbollah reported Israeli “artillery fire” near the border villages of Wazzani and Khiam, which face Metula.

– “We are ready” –

Burial of members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine killed by an Israeli strike in Lebanon, September 30, 2024 © AFP – Fathi AL-MASRI

Earlier, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned, in front of soldiers positioned in the north of the country, that “the elimination of Nasrallah is an important step, but it is not the last” against the Hezbollah.

“We will use all the capabilities we have (…) We will use all the necessary means, your forces, other forces from the air, from the sea and on land,” he warned.

Despite the blows inflicted by Israel which killed many Hezbollah leaders, the movement's number two, Naim Qassem, affirmed: “Israel has not been able to undermine our military capabilities.”

“We are ready if the Israelis decide to enter on the ground. Our resistance forces are ready for a ground confrontation,” he said, affirming that his party would continue its fight against Israel “in support of Gaza”, which is in the grip of a war triggered by an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Hamas on October 7, 2023 against Israel.

The death of Hassan Nasrallah, who was considered the most powerful man in Lebanon, is a major victory for Israel against Israel's enemy Iran and its allies including Hamas.

Israel has vowed to fight its “enemies” and “eliminate” them wherever they are.

There is “no place in the Middle East that Israel cannot reach,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned.

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Israeli bombings in southern Lebanon, September 30, 2024 © AFP – Rabih DAHER

Iran has said it will not “deploy” fighters to Lebanon and Gaza to confront Israel, saying “the governments of Lebanon and Palestine have the capacity and power to confront the aggression of the Zionist regime.”

– Calls for de-escalation –

Destruction in southern Lebanon after Israeli strikes, September 30, 2024 © AFP – Mahmoud ZAYYAT

Due to the “intensity of the fighting,” the UN announced that the peacekeepers deployed in southern Lebanon could no longer patrol.

And faced with fears of a conflagration, UN chief Antonio Guterres expressed his opposition to any Israeli “ground invasion” of Lebanon.

In Washington, President Joe Biden suggested that he was opposed to Israeli ground operations, calling for a ceasefire.

Present in Beirut, the head of French diplomacy, Jean-Noël Barrot, called on Israel to “refrain from any ground incursion” as well as a ceasefire.

Any new Israeli military intervention in Lebanon “must be avoided”, said the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell.

The day after the start of the war in Gaza, Hezbollah opened a front against Israel in support of Hamas, its ally, and daily fire was exchanged between the two camps.

Since mid-September, Israel has concentrated its military operations on the northern front, with the aim of putting an end to Hezbollah's rocket fire and allowing the return of tens of thousands of residents displaced by these attacks. shots.

– First strike in Beirut –

Iranians in Tehran pay tribute to Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, killed in an Israeli strike near Beirut, September 30, 2024 © AFP – ATTA KENARE

On Monday, Israeli strikes in Lebanon left at least 25 dead, including three members of a Palestinian group, the head of Hamas in Lebanon and a Lebanese soldier, according to various sources. Hezbollah for its part fired rockets towards northern Israel.

For the first time since October 8, a strike targeted the center of Beirut, destroying a floor of a building. According to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), three of its members were killed. The Israeli army said it had killed two commanders of this organization, which Israel and the European Union have described as terrorist.

Since the explosions of Hezbollah's transmission systems in Lebanon on September 17, attributed to Israel, and the intensification of Israeli strikes that followed, the death toll in Lebanon has risen to more than 1,000, according to the Ministry of Health.

Palestinian children near garbage in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, September 30, 2024 © AFP – Eyad BABA

On the Gaza front, the Israeli army continues its offensive in the devastated and besieged Palestinian territory for nearly a year. However, the strikes have decreased in intensity in recent days.

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