Israeli airstrikes destroy residential buildings in Hula as casualties rise

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Houla on September 16, 2024. (AFP)
Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Houla on September 16, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 16 September 2024
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Israeli airstrikes destroy residential buildings in Hula as casualties rise

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Houla on September 16, 2024.
  • Israel minister tells visiting US envoy time ‘running out’ to stop Lebanon war
  • Hezbollah says Netanyahu is incapable of expanding the southern front

BEIRUT: One Hezbollah member was killed, and three were wounded in intense Israeli airstrikes on Monday on the border town of Hula.

The airstrikes destroyed several buildings, adding to the destruction of other residential areas that were leveled in the town, which has seen its residents flee.

The escalation of Israeli hostilities in southern Lebanon coincided with the arrival of Amos Hochstein, US envoy to the Middle East, in Tel Aviv.

His visit aims to de-escalate tensions between Israel and Hezbollah and avoid a full-scale war after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his intent to “expand military operations in the north.”

BACKGROUND

Hezbollah has traded regular cross-border fire with Israeli forces since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack sparked war in the Gaza Strip, in a campaign the movement has said was in support of its Palestinian ally.

The explosions from the missiles “felt like an earthquake,” Samer, a resident living near the targeted border area, told Arab News.

“The ground shook under our feet, even though we were dozens of kilometers away from the airstrikes.

“Now, the strikes target groups of houses at once, unlike before when it was just a single building or home.”

Israeli artillery also shelled the outskirts of the towns of Kfarkela, Kfarchouba, Aita Al-Shaab, and Hanine in the Bint Jbeil district.

Ali Shbib Shehab, the mayor of Hanine, told Arab News: “The town is being destroyed daily. It is a town about 2,000 meters from the border and has lost four civilian martyrs so far, women and children, while eight other civilians were injured. Around 50 homes have been destroyed either partially or entirely.

“It is a small town, and those who remain are farmers who hold on to their land and insist on staying despite the daily shelling.”

A security source stated: “The area from Odaisseh to Kfarkela is now empty of residents, while in the Bint Jbeil — Mays Al-Jabal — Hula axis, some residents remain in their homes, relying on aid.”

Israeli leaflets were dropped on Saturday over the Lebanese agricultural border area of Wazzani, calling on the remaining residents to evacuate by 4 p.m.

However, the Israeli army denied dropping the leaflets, claiming it was an “individual act” by an officer in the northern brigade.

An Israeli artillery shelling on the border town of Adaisseh on Sunday evening resulted in injuries to four residents of the city, who were in the process of transporting household items outside the area.

Previously, owners of commercial establishments storing their goods in warehouses located in border towns, particularly in Mays Al-Jabal, coordinated with the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, which in turn liaised with the Israeli side.

Over the past two weeks, goods and household items from homes and shops were evacuated in phases to prevent damage, as the conflict approaches a year since its inception.

Israeli media reported on Monday that “the commander of the Northern Command of the Israeli army, Ori Gordin, recommended during closed sessions that the military be permitted to take control of a security buffer zone in southern Lebanon.”

The Israeli side aims to distance Hezbollah forces to ensure they do not pose a threat to the northern residents while also exerting pressure on Hezbollah to reach a lasting settlement.

Netanyahu has threatened to carry out a large-scale military operation against Hezbollah.

Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told the visiting Hochstein on Monday that prospects were dimming for a halt to nearly a year of fighting with Hamas ally Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Gallant on Monday met with Hochstein to discuss Israeli military operations against Hezbollah and the plight of Israelis displaced by the cross-border strikes, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

He “emphasized that the possibility for an agreement is running out as Hezbollah continues to ‘tie itself’ to Hamas and refuses to end the conflict,” the statement said.

“Therefore, the only way left to ensure the return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes will be via military action.”

Earlier on Monday, the ministry said Gallant delivered a similar message by phone to his US counterpart Lloyd Austin about time “running out” for an agreement to end the conflict.

Israel “is committed to removing Hezbollah from southern Lebanon and ensuring the safe return of Israeli residents to their homes in the northern and border areas,” Gallant said.

In response to Netanyahu’s remarks on Monday concerning the potential expansion of the conflict to the northern front, Hezbollah MP Hussein Ezzedine asserted that Israel was “unable to extend the war to any additional front.”

He said the exhausted and worn-out army in Gaza had not yet reached an end to the current operations and could not assert victory in Gaza.

“Therefore, how can it contemplate opening a new front with Lebanon or any other location?”

Ezzedine affirmed that “the resistance is strong, capable, and prepared for any unexpected developments that the enemy may attempt to surprise us with, and it continues its daily operational activities that deplete the capabilities of the Israeli army.”

Israeli Channel 12 reported on Monday that several rockets launched from Lebanon struck the Metula settlement, resulting in damage to a building and the outbreak of fire.

Hezbollah announced that it targeted the positions of Israeli enemy soldiers in the vicinity of the Metula site using missile weapons.

It also targeted the Birkat Reisha site with artillery shells and the Israeli army’s artillery positions in Za’oura with rockets.

On Sunday, Hezbollah executed military operations against 10 Israeli military installations, which included an assault on the headquarters of the 188th Brigade’s armored battalions located in the Rawiya barracks with numerous Katyusha rockets.

Additionally, an attack drone was deployed to strike a technical system at the Al-Malikiyah site, achieving a direct hit. Another attack drone targeted Israeli soldiers at the Metula site.

Espionage equipment at the Ruwaysat Al-Alam site in the occupied Kfar Shuba hills was struck with a guided missile, while Israeli positions in Za’oura and further espionage equipment at the Ramya site were also targeted using guided missiles.

The Samaka site in the occupied Kfar Shuba hills was attacked with rocket weaponry, and buildings utilized by soldiers in the Shlomi settlement were also hit.

Furthermore, Hezbollah conducted an aerial assault employing a squadron of suicide drones on the headquarters of the Golan Division’s military assembly battalion in the Yarden barracks, accurately targeting the positions and settlements of their officers and soldiers, resulting in multiple casualties.

Additionally, Israeli artillery positions in Dishon were targeted with rockets.

 


Hezbollah threatens Israel with more attacks if Lebanon assault continues

Hezbollah threatens Israel with more attacks if Lebanon assault continues
Updated 14 October 2024
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Hezbollah threatens Israel with more attacks if Lebanon assault continues

Hezbollah threatens Israel with more attacks if Lebanon assault continues
  • Drone attack on base near Israel’s Haifa killed four soldiers on Sunday 
  • Escalation in Lebanon has killed over 1,300, displaced more than a million

BEIRUTU, Lebanon: Lebanese militant group Hezbollah threatened Israel with more attacks if its offensive in Lebanon continued, after a drone attack on a base near Israel’s Haifa Sunday killed four soldiers.
Israel’s military said four soldiers were killed in the attack, the deadliest such assault on an Israeli base since September 23, when Israel increased its attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Hezbollah “promises the enemy that what it witnessed today in southern Haifa is nothing compared to what awaits it if it decides to continue its aggression against our... people,” it said.
In what it described as a “complex” operation, the Iran-backed group said it had launched dozens of missiles toward Nahariya and Acre north of Haifa “with the goal of keeping Israeli defense systems busy.”
At the same time, it launched “squadrons of various drones, some of which were being used for the first time, toward various areas in Acre and Haifa, where they were able to get past Israeli air defense radars without being detected” and hit the training camp in Binyamina south of Haifa, it added.
They “exploded in the rooms where dozens of officers and soldiers of the Israeli enemy were present.”
After claiming the Binyamina attack, Hezbollah said it had launched missiles at a “maintenance and rehabilitation base” of the army, also south of Haifa.
The incident comes two days after air raid sirens sounded in central Israel after two aerial drones entered the country from Lebanon. At least one building north of Tel Aviv was damaged during the incident.
Hezbollah has been regularly firing rockets and drones into Israel for more than a year, but has reached further since the fighting escalated in late September.
Israel’s air defenses, including the Iron Dome system, have intercepted most of the projectiles, with few casualties caused by strikes or falling debris.
The escalation in Lebanon has killed more than 1,300 people and displaced over a million more from their homes, according to official figures.
 


Hezbollah threatens Israel with more attacks if Lebanon assault continues

Israel's Iron Dome air defence system intercepts rockets fired from Lebanon, near Acre in northern Israel on October 11, 2024.
Israel's Iron Dome air defence system intercepts rockets fired from Lebanon, near Acre in northern Israel on October 11, 2024.
Updated 14 October 2024
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Hezbollah threatens Israel with more attacks if Lebanon assault continues

Israel's Iron Dome air defence system intercepts rockets fired from Lebanon, near Acre in northern Israel on October 11, 2024.
  • After claiming the Binyamina attack, Hezbollah said it had launched missiles at a “maintenance and rehabilitation base” of the army, also south of Haifa

BEIRUTU, Lebanon: Lebanese militant group Hezbollah threatened Israel with more attacks if its offensive in Lebanon continued, after a drone attack on a base near Israel’s Haifa Sunday killed four soldiers.
Israel’s military said four soldiers were killed in the attack, the deadliest such assault on an Israeli base since September 23, when Israel increased its attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Hezbollah “promises the enemy that what it witnessed today in southern Haifa is nothing compared to what awaits it if it decides to continue its aggression against our... people,” it said.
In what it described as a “complex” operation, the Iran-backed group said it had launched dozens of missiles toward Nahariya and Acre north of Haifa “with the goal of keeping Israeli defense systems busy.”
At the same time, it launched “squadrons of various drones, some of which were being used for the first time, toward various areas in Acre and Haifa, where they were able to get past Israeli air defense radars without being detected” and hit the training camp in Binyamina south of Haifa, it added.
They “exploded in the rooms where dozens of officers and soldiers of the Israeli enemy were present.”
After claiming the Binyamina attack, Hezbollah said it had launched missiles at a “maintenance and rehabilitation base” of the army, also south of Haifa.
The incident comes two days after air raid sirens sounded in central Israel after two aerial drones entered the country from Lebanon. At least one building north of Tel Aviv was damaged during the incident.
Hezbollah has been regularly firing rockets and drones into Israel for more than a year, but has reached further since the fighting escalated in late September.
Israel’s air defenses, including the Iron Dome system, have intercepted most of the projectiles, with few casualties caused by strikes or falling debris.
The escalation in Lebanon has killed more than 1,300 people and displaced over a million more from their homes, according to official figures.
 

 


Israel military shows journalists area of operations in south Lebanon

Israel military shows journalists area of operations in south Lebanon
Updated 14 October 2024
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Israel military shows journalists area of operations in south Lebanon

Israel military shows journalists area of operations in south Lebanon
  • The military has escorted staff from several media organizations into southern Lebanon since Israel began its ground assault on September 30

EBANON-ISRAEL BORDER, Lebanon: The Israeli military on Sunday took a group of journalists across the border into south Lebanon, and showed what it claimed were three Hezbollah positions including two tunnels, just a few hundred meters from the border.
The Israeli soldiers escorting the media team, which included an AFP photographer, through the mountainous and densely forested terrain said they were near the Lebanese town of Naqura near the border.
The soldiers did not specify how far they were inside southern Lebanon, nor did the journalists see any other people in the area during their brief embed that lasted for about 90 minutes.
The movement of journalists was restricted by the military to a limited area, while the photos and video footage taken during the embed had to be approved by the military before publication.
One of the tunnels was, according to the military, just a few hundred meters (yards) from a United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) post.
Israel has repeatedly asked UNIFIL, deployed along Lebanon’s southern border since 1978, to abandon its positions since it escalated its campaign against Hezbollah in September.
UNIFIL has rejected the requests.
“This is how you build an operational attack outpost. And that’s what we found here, just 300 yards from the UN post,” said Lt. Col. Rotem, an Israeli commander accompanying the journalists, who gave only one name for operational purposes.
The journalists were also shown a ditch located amid a cluster of trees, which the military claimed was a Hezbollah post.
The AFP photographer saw Israeli military vehicles crossing the border into Lebanon near Naqura, where troops had cut down trees near the entrance to one of the tunnels.
The military has escorted staff from several media organizations into southern Lebanon since Israel began its ground assault on September 30.
Israel stepped up its campaign in Lebanon on September 23, nearly a year after Hezbollah began launching cross-border attacks in what it said was support for its Palestinian ally, Hamas.


WHO, Red Crescent resupply two hospitals in north Gaza: WHO

WHO, Red Crescent resupply two hospitals in north Gaza: WHO
Updated 14 October 2024
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WHO, Red Crescent resupply two hospitals in north Gaza: WHO

WHO, Red Crescent resupply two hospitals in north Gaza: WHO
  • The resupply mission also delivered 20,000 liters (5,300 gallons) of fuel to keep Kamal Adwan and Al-Awda operational, and 23,000 liters of fuel were delivered to Al-Sahaba Hospital, along with 800 units of blood and essential medicines and supplies

GENEVA: World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said late Sunday that a WHO-Palestine Red Crescent operation had managed to resupply two hospitals in northern Gaza.
“WHO and partners finally managed to reach Kamal Adwan and Al-Sahaba hospitals yesterday after 9 attempts this past week,” he posted on social media platform X.
“The missions were completed amid ongoing hostilities,” he added.
He said drivers had been subjected to “humiliating security screening” and even temporarily detained at a checkpoint, “which is unacceptable.”
The WHO regularly criticizes the obstacles the Israeli authorities put in the way of these supply and patient evacuation missions.
It did so again on Friday during a news briefing in Geneva specifically on the subject of this relief mission to the northern Gaza Strip.
“One-off missions are not enough. There is a sustained need for resupplying hospitals to keep them functioning,” Tedros said, reiterating his call “for sustained facilitation of humanitarian missions and ensuring safety for humanitarian staff; and for a ceasefire.”
According to the WHO, 13 patients in critical condition were transferred from Kamal Adwan hospital to Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.
“The hospital is overwhelmed and still serving around 60 in-patients and receiving at least 50-70 injured daily,” Tedros said.
Six other patients who had been transferred earlier from Al-Awda Hospital to Kamal Adwan were also taken to Al-Shifa, along with those accompanying them.
The resupply mission also delivered 20,000 liters (5,300 gallons) of fuel to keep Kamal Adwan and Al-Awda operational, and 23,000 liters of fuel were delivered to Al-Sahaba Hospital, along with 800 units of blood and essential medicines and supplies.
The fuel is mainly used to run the hospitals’ generators to ensure power supply.
The hospital infrastructure throughout the Gaza Strip is very fragile after a year of war between Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas, with many facilities having been hit by shelling or fighting.
The Israeli military accuses Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and carried out the October 7, 2023 attacks in Israel that triggered the war, of operating under the cover of these buildings, which normally enjoy increased protection under the rules of war.
 


Iran in diplomatic push to seek halt in violence

raqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein (R) welcomes his Iranian counterpart Seyed Abbas Araghchi (C) in Baghdad on October 13, 2024.
raqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein (R) welcomes his Iranian counterpart Seyed Abbas Araghchi (C) in Baghdad on October 13, 2024.
Updated 13 October 2024
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Iran in diplomatic push to seek halt in violence

raqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein (R) welcomes his Iranian counterpart Seyed Abbas Araghchi (C) in Baghdad on October 13, 2024.
  • At a joint news conference with his Iraqi counterpart, Araghchi said in Iraq that his country was “fully prepared for a war situation ... but we do not want war, we want peace”

TEHRAN: Iran held a series of diplomatic talks on Sunday, with President Masoud Pezeshkian seeking support from France’s Emmanuel Macron for a ceasefire in Lebanon, and the foreign minister visiting Iraq while on a regional tour.
According to a statement on Iran’s presidential website, Pezeshkian and Macron discussed ways to secure a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel as the Iranian leader condemned Israel’s “crimes” in Gaza and Lebanon.
Macron’s office said he called on Pezeshkian to support “a general de-escalation and to use its influence in this direction with the destabilising actors that enjoy its support.”
Iran backs Hamas, which is battling Israel in Gaza, and Hezbollah, which is fighting Israel in Lebanon.
Israel has vowed to retaliate against an Iranian missile strike on October 1, raising fears of the wars in Gaza and Lebanon morphing into an all-out regional conflict.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was meanwhile in Iraq on Sunday, a neighbor and ally of his government, as part of a series of visits in the region for talks on the wars in Lebanon and Gaza.
Araghchi said there would be “no red lines” in defending the country’s people and interests, adding that efforts would continue to “contain an all-out war in our region.”
Iran has said its launch of 200 missiles on Israel earlier this month was retaliation for the killing of Tehran-backed militant leaders in the region and a general in its Revolutionary Guards.
At a joint news conference with his Iraqi counterpart, Araghchi said in Iraq that his country was “fully prepared for a war situation ... but we do not want war, we want peace.”
He also said Iran would continue consultations “to prevent the escalation of tension in the region and to work for peace” and a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon.
After his visit to Iraq, Araghchi headed to Oman, IRNA state news agency reported.
On Thursday, he had been in Qatar, where he met Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, whose government has been mediating talks aimed at securing a Gaza ceasefire and has also called for a truce in Lebanon.
On Wednesday, Araghchi met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, during his trip to the Kingdom.