Israeli strikes trigger ‘earthquake fears’ in Lebanese border region

Israeli strikes trigger ‘earthquake fears’ in Lebanese border region
UNIFIL vehicles patrol the Marjayoun area in southern Lebanon. (AFP)
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Updated 26 October 2024
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Israeli strikes trigger ‘earthquake fears’ in Lebanese border region

Israeli strikes trigger ‘earthquake fears’ in Lebanese border region
  • Hezbollah drone strike targets Israeli airbase, rocket salvo hits intelligence base in Safed
  • UNIFIL confirms it will remain in all its locations, monitoring, submitting reports

BEIRUT: The Israeli army is continuing its aggressive operations, causing devastation in the Lebanese border region.

Israeli booby-traps were found on Saturday while explosions were heard in Odaisseh and Rab Al-Thalathine.

The attacks sent tremors through neighboring towns, causing residents to believe an earthquake had struck.

The sound of explosions could be heard in Marjayoun and Nabatieh.

Activists on social media shared images showing a great strip of explosions, fire, and smoke caused by explosions along the border in the eastern sector.

The extent of the destruction in the border region remains unclear as access to the affected area presents a challenge following Israel’s complete displacement of residents and the prohibition of entry due to military action.

The Israeli army said that “the explosions in the north are a result of our forces’ operations in southern Lebanon,” adding that “there is no fear of a security incident.”

Israeli sources added: “Authorities confirm that there was no earthquake in the Galilee, but rather explosions from the army in southern Lebanon activated the seismic monitoring devices.”

Clashes were continuing as the 13th relief plane operated by the Saudi aid agency KSrelief arrived at Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport on Saturday, carrying essential humanitarian supplies including food and medical aid.

Officials said the initiative reflected “the humanitarian role of Saudi Arabia in supporting the Lebanese people during various crises and hardships.”

A month has passed since the expansion of Israel’s war against Lebanon under the pretext of pushing back the Iran-backed Hezbollah north of the Litani River and returning Israeli settlers to their homes.

The Israeli army claimed that it had “found a tunnel underground and raided houses used as Hezbollah weapon and ammunition depots.”

Political analyst Ali Al-Amin told Arab News: “The Israeli army’s land incursion focuses on Hezbollah’s tunnels, and the nature of the explosions proves so.

“The Israeli army had previously bombed buildings in Mhaibib, and we did not witness such tremors because the operations were above ground.”

He added: “The Israeli incursion depends on its costs. If the cost is high, it will stop. There’s also the time factor.

“It is obvious that the Israeli incursion went beyond Aita Al-Shaab, for instance, and reached other towns across from Aita Al-Shaab.

“It seems as if the Israeli army is imposing an implicit blockade on the towns where the incursion was difficult, so it can return later after it depletes Hezbollah’s power, especially since the militant group’s supplies had been cut off.”

Al-Amin pointed out that “the Israeli army had previously occupied southern Lebanon in the 1970s and 80s without destroying towns and displacing its residents in advance, which means that the Israeli army seeks a fully burned land and a burned border strip in which all of Hezbollah’s infrastructure is destroyed.”

He added: “So far there are no opportunities for an agreement, settlement, or de-escalation.

“I think that the decision-making in Lebanon is largely in the hands of Israel, with certain red lines established by the US, particularly concerning the airport and the capital Beirut.”

Israeli airstrikes in the southern region on Saturday resulted in the deaths of several civilians in the Sidon district.

Five members of the Abouria family, including women and children, were killed in an attack on the town of Tuffahata in the Sidon district.

A paramedic was killed and 12 others injured in an airstrike on a health center in Al-Bazourieh, while two brothers from the Hamada family were killed after their home in the town of Al-Duwair was targeted by an airstrike, and a raid on Al-Shaitiya resulted in the deaths of three people.

Raids also targeted residences in the towns of Kfar Remen, Mayfadoun, Burj Al-Shamali in the Tyre district, Tayr Debba, Ansar, Mount Al-Rayhan Heights, Bissariyeh, Ansar, Bedias, and the city of Nabatieh, where several targets were hit including the Nabatieh Vocational School building where displaced families were taking refuge.

Phosphorus artillery shelling targeted the outskirts of the towns of Halta and Wadi Khansa, and ignited fires in the Majdal Zone and Chamaa, while Yahmar Al-Shaqif was targeted by internationally prohibited cluster bombs.

Up to Friday night in the Baalbek-Hermel region and central Bekaa, the total number of strikes had reached 961 and resulted in the deaths of 427 people and injuries to 988 others.

Hezbollah said on Saturday that it had launched a drone attack on Israel’s Tel Nof Airbase south of Tel Aviv and targeted an intelligence base in northern Safed with rockets.

Its statement said it had targeted “the Kiryat Shmona settlement and an Israeli military gathering in the vicinity of Aita Al-Shaab.”

The group also targeted a military assembly in the Masharifa area in Ras Al-Naqoura and a gathering of soldiers in Shlomi.

Explosions and airstrikes targeting residential areas in the populated towns of the southern region, as well as in the southern suburbs of Beirut and the Bekaa Valley, were accompanied by the release of odors following each bombardment.

Warnings regarding these gasses have been disseminated through social media alerts by individuals who experienced the events.

Israeli airstrikes on Friday targeted Haret Hreik, Burj Al-Barajneh, and the vicinity of Al-Laylaki in the southern suburbs of Beirut and followed an Israeli warning to evacuate buildings.

An Israeli army spokesperson said that “sites (used) for the production of weaponry and the intelligence headquarters of Hezbollah in the southern suburbs of Beirut were targeted.”

Meanwhile, Andrea Tenenti, the spokesperson for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, confirmed on Saturday that units of the peacekeeping force were remaining in their positions south of the Litani River.

He said that peacekeeping soldiers were continuing their primary mission of monitoring the situation on the ground and reporting on developments, despite facing challenges.

He added: “When we say we are in our locations, we mean every one of these sites.”

UNIFIL on Friday announced that its soldiers had “withdrawn, two days ago, from an observation post in the border town of Dhahira in the western sector to avoid injury after the Israeli army deliberately fired upon it while peacekeeping soldiers were observing Israeli army soldiers carrying out clearing operations in nearby homes.”


Syria state media report Israel strikes on town near Lebanon border

Syria state media report Israel strikes on town near Lebanon border
Updated 8 sec ago
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Syria state media report Israel strikes on town near Lebanon border

Syria state media report Israel strikes on town near Lebanon border

DAMASCUS: Syrian state media said Israeli strikes hit the town of Qusayr near the Lebanese border on Thursday, the latest in a series of raids in the area.
“An Israeli aggression targeted the Qusayr area in the southern Homs countryside,” causing “material damage to the industrial city and some residential neighborhoods,” the official SANA news agency said.


Doctors Without Borders surgeon detained by Israel in north Gaza hospital raid

Doctors Without Borders surgeon detained by Israel in north Gaza hospital raid
Updated 11 min 51 sec ago
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Doctors Without Borders surgeon detained by Israel in north Gaza hospital raid

Doctors Without Borders surgeon detained by Israel in north Gaza hospital raid
  • Mohammed Obeid, an MSF orthopaedic surgeon working at Kamal Adwan hospital in north Gaza, was detained during an Israeli military raid on the site on Oct. 26, MSF said

GENEVA: Medical charity Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Thursday that one of its doctors working in a north Gaza hospital has been detained by Israeli forces.
Mohammed Obeid, an MSF orthopaedic surgeon working at Kamal Adwan hospital in north Gaza, was detained during an Israeli military raid on the site on Oct. 26, MSF said.
“We are extremely alarmed by the detention of our colleague,” it said.
“We call for the safety and the protection of our colleague, and for all medical staff in Gaza who work under impossible conditions and are facing horrific violence as they try to provide care.”


Israeli military says it downed drone smuggling weapons from Egyptian territory to Israel

Israeli military says it downed drone smuggling weapons from Egyptian territory to Israel
Updated 23 min 11 sec ago
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Israeli military says it downed drone smuggling weapons from Egyptian territory to Israel

Israeli military says it downed drone smuggling weapons from Egyptian territory to Israel
  • Egypt says it destroyed tunnel networks leading to Gaza years ago and created a buffer zone and border fortifications that prevent smuggling

DUBAI: Israel’s military said on Thursday it shot down a drone smuggling weapons from Egyptian territory to Israel on Wednesday.
Israeli officials have said during the war in Gaza that Palestinian armed group Hamas used tunnels running under the border into Egypt’s Sinai region to smuggle arms.
Egypt says it destroyed tunnel networks leading to Gaza years ago and created a buffer zone and border fortifications that prevent smuggling.
Earlier in October, the Israeli military also said it foiled a weapon smuggling attempt from Egypt after downing a drone carrying guns and bullets.


Israeli couple arrested on suspicion of spying for Iran: police

Israeli couple arrested on suspicion of spying for Iran: police
Updated 31 October 2024
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Israeli couple arrested on suspicion of spying for Iran: police

Israeli couple arrested on suspicion of spying for Iran: police
  • Israeli police charge Goliev couple carried out surveillance of sensitive Israeli sites

JERUSALEM: Israeli police said Thursday they had arrested an Israeli couple on suspicion of spying for Iran, barely a week after two groups allegedly working for Tehran were detained.
“The thwarting of Iran’s efforts to recruit Israelis continues,” said a statement from the police and Israel’s internal security agency, Shin Bet.
The two Israelis, a couple from the central city of Lod, had been involved in gathering intelligence on “national infrastructures, security sites and tracking a female academic,” the statement alleged.
“Rafael and Lala Goliev... residents of Lod, were arrested after they carried out tasks on behalf of an Iranian cell that recruits Israelis from the Caucasus countries in Israel.”
Police charged that the couple were recruited by Elshan (Elhan) Agayev, an Azerbaijani national acting on behalf of Iranian officials. It was unclear if Agayev is based in Israel.
They alleged that the Golievs carried out surveillance of sensitive Israeli sites, including the headquarters of Israel’s Mossad spy agency, and collected intelligence on an academic working at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.
Thursday’s announcement comes little more than a week after Israeli security services said they had uncovered two other suspected spy rings.
On October 22, Israeli police said they had arrested a group of seven Palestinians from Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem they suspected of planning attacks for Iran.
A day earlier, police said they had arrested seven Israeli citizens from the city of Haifa on suspicion of carrying out hundreds of spy missions on Iran’s orders.
The previous week, two other Israelis were charged with various offenses after they were allegedly approached by Iranian agents and asked to carry out spy missions.
In September, an Israeli identified as Mordechai Maman from the coastal city of Ashkelon, was arrested on suspicion of being recruited by Iran to plot the assassination of top officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel is currently engaged in a multi-front conflict with Iran-backed groups including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and the Houthi rebels in Yemen.


Lebanon source says one dead in Israel strike on car near Beirut

Lebanon source says one dead in Israel strike on car near Beirut
Updated 47 min 51 sec ago
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Lebanon source says one dead in Israel strike on car near Beirut

Lebanon source says one dead in Israel strike on car near Beirut
  • Among the areas listed was Rashidieh camp, which houses thousands of Palestinian refugees

Beirut: A Lebanese security source said one person was killed Thursday by an Israeli strike on a road where a Hezbollah van carrying munitions was hit the previous day.
The drone strike hit the Araya-Kahhale road which links the capital Beirut to Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley, said the source, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
It targeted a Mercedes vehicle, killing the driver, the source said, without identifying the victim.
The official National News Agency said a “hostile drone” targeted the car on the key road that passes through the town of Araya.
On Wednesday, an Israeli strike hit a Hezbollah van carrying munitions on the same highway, according to the security source, who said the attack killed the driver.
The same day, municipal authorities in Araya and Kahhale called on the Lebanese army to “intervene immediately” to to stop the road being used to transport weapons or fighters.
The seemingly targeted strikes have grown in frequency since the Israel-Hezbollah war erupted on September 23.
Also on Thursday, an Israeli drone strike hit a motorbike near the coastal town of Naqura, NNA said.
Another motorbike was hit in the eastern Bekaa Valley, it added.
Israel army issues evacuation call for south Lebanon

The Israeli army issued an evacuation call for several areas of south Lebanon Thursday, including a Palestinian refugee camp, warning it was poised to hit Hezbollah targets in those areas.
“Hezbollah’s terrorist activities force the IDF (army) to act forcefully against it in these areas, and we do not intend to harm you,” the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X. Among the areas listed was Rashidieh camp, which houses thousands of Palestinian refugees.

The war has killed at least 1,784 people in Lebanon since September 23, according to an AFP tally of health ministry figures, though the real number is likely to be higher due to gaps in the data.