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Lebanon conflict expands as Israeli and Hezbollah attacks reach further Israel preparing for ground offensive in Lebanon, military chief says
(about 2 hours later)
Areas north of Beirut hit and Tel Aviv targeted for first time, as death toll in Lebanon passes 560, according to Lebanese authorities Current wave of attacks designed to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure in advance of possible incursion by troops, says chief of staff
Israel bombed the mountains north of Beirut and Hezbollah targeted Tel Aviv for the first time on Wednesday, in a further expansion of the range and scope of the aerial conflict across the Lebanese border. Israel’s top general has said the country is preparing for a ground operation inside Lebanon as the country’s military called up two brigades of reserve troops and an intense bombing campaign inside Lebanon stretched into a third day.
Hundreds of thousands of people have fled southern Lebanon to escape Israeli attacks on Hezbollah, but the strike on Maaysra, about 60 miles (100km) north of the border, fuelled fears that the intense assault on southern Lebanon could spread to other parts of the country. Israel’s chief of staff, Maj Gen Herzi Halevi, visiting troops in the north of Israel, said that current attacks on Lebanon aimed to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure and prepare for the possibility of Israeli troops crossing the border.
Thousands of people have crossed into Syria to escape the aerial assault, aid agencies said. Israel hit more than 100 sites inside Lebanon on Wednesday, extending a three-day bombing campaign that has killed more than 560 people and injured thousands, according to the Lebanese health ministry. Half a million people are displaced, Lebanese authorities say. Earlier on Wednesday, Hezbollah aimed a long-range missile at Tel Aviv and Israel targeted the mountains north of Beirut for the first time in this war, expanding the range and scope of the aerial conflict across the border.
Hezbollah attempted to hit Tel Aviv for the first time on Wednesday but Israel intercepted the surface-to-surface missile with air defences, and no damage was reported. The death toll after three days of Israeli bombardment had passed 600, health authorities said, with thousands more injured. The United Nations said 90,000 people had been displaced since Monday, on top of more than 200,000 people who had left their homes in southern Lebanon over the past year as Hezbollah and Israel exchanged fire over the border.
The Lebanese group said it was targeting intelligence headquarters, in an apparent signal that it can still pose a serious threat, even after days of intensive Israeli attacks which have killed many top commanders and destroyed much of its arsenal. With Israel and Hezbollah now in effect at war, world leaders gathered for the United Nations general assembly in New York warned overnight of the dangers of hostilities spiralling into a full-blown regional conflict.
An Israeli military spokesperson said the unguided missile was heading towards civilian areas along the coast. “The Mossad headquarters is not in that area, it is a bit east and north of that area,” Lt Col Nadav Shoshani of the Israel Defense Forces told a briefing. “Hezbollah is definitely trying to escalate the situation.” They called for de-escalation while they prepared for the opposite: from Moscow to London to Washington, governments told citizens in Lebanon to return home while they could, as airlines cancelled flights out of Beirut.
Israel estimated that Hezbollah had 150,000 rockets and missiles at the start of the conflict and has not said how many have been destroyed. Senior commanders killed include the head of the elite Radwan force, Ibrahim Aqil, last week, and on Tuesday, the head of the missile and rocket force Ibrahim Qubaisi. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said he was working “tirelessly” with allies to try to shift the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah back to “a diplomatic process that would allow Israelis and Lebanese alike to go back to their homes”.
Israel says its campaign against Hezbollah is needed so 60,000 people evacuated from border regions will be able to return home. It has so far been confined to aerial attacks but Israel’s military on Wednesday called up two reserve brigades for operations in the north and signalled that troops will soon be ready to cross the border.
It was not clear if Israel had decided to enter ground combat with Hezbollah or was just warning of the possibility. Halevi told troops the intense bombing of southern Lebanon was designed “to prepare the ground for your possible entry and to continue degrading Hezbollah”, Reuters reported.
Maj Gen Uri Gordin, commander for the region, told soldiers from an armoured corps that the war was in a “different phase” and they should “strongly prepare” for action. “We need to change the security situation,” he told troops in a clip shared on army radio.
Hundreds of thousands of people have fled southern Lebanon to escape Israeli bombs, but Wednesday’s strike on Maysaara, about 60 miles north of the border, fuelled fears that Israel could also unleash heavy attacks on other parts of the country.
In the scramble to save their lives, thousands of people had reversed the refugee flow seen for more than a decade and crossed from Lebanon into Syria, aid agencies said.
Hezbollah attempted to strike Tel Aviv for the first time on Wednesday but Israel intercepted the surface-to-surface missile with air defences, and no damage was reported.
Hezbollah said it was targeting intelligence headquarters, in an apparent signal that it can still pose a serious threat even after days of intensive Israeli attacks which have killed many top commanders and destroyed much of its arsenal.
An Israeli military spokesperson said the unguided missile had been heading towards civilian areas along the coast. “The Mossad headquarters is not in that area; it is a bit east and north of that area,” the Israel Defense Forces’ international spokesperson, Lt Col Nadav Shoshani, told a briefing.
Israel estimated that Hezbollah had 150,000 rockets and missiles at the start of the war and has not said how many have been destroyed. Senior commanders killed include the head of the elite Radwan force last week, and on Tuesday the head of the missile and rocket force, Ibrahim Qubaisi.
Israel’s successful strikes have decimated the top of Hezbollah’s chain of command, but Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, one of Hezbollah’s key backers, said on Wednesday that the group would survive the death of senior leaders, Reuters reported.Israel’s successful strikes have decimated the top of Hezbollah’s chain of command, but Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, one of Hezbollah’s key backers, said on Wednesday that the group would survive the death of senior leaders, Reuters reported.
“The organisational strength and human resources of Hezbollah is very strong and will not be critically hit by the killing of a senior commander, even if that is clearly a loss,” he said.“The organisational strength and human resources of Hezbollah is very strong and will not be critically hit by the killing of a senior commander, even if that is clearly a loss,” he said.
Israel’s stated goal in its campaign in Lebanon is to allow about 60,000 evacuees to return to their homes in the north of Israel. They were forced to leave after Hezbollah began attacking Israel in support of its ally Hamas after 7 October. Over decades of conflict, Hezbollah has previously managed to rebound from heavy blows and fight Israeli forces to a standstill, despite a vast disparity in military technology.
Israeli defence officials may hope the bombing campaign will create potential for a deal that would involve Hezbollah withdrawing from areas near the border, but the group still has “significant launch capacity”, Haaretz newspaper reported. As it braces for further retaliation, Israel has brought in tighter restrictions, which include school closures, for over a million people in northern parts of the country, including the city of Haifa. One rocket hit an assisted living home in Safed City, starting a fire, but no casualties were reported.
Over decades of conflict, Hezbollah has previously managed to rebound from heavy blows and fight Israeli forces to a standstill despite a vast disparity in military technology. In Tel Aviv, after the morning missile scare, life returned to something like normal on Wednesday, with kite surfers enjoying the sea off its beaches.
As it braces for further retaliation, Israel has brought in tighter restrictions, including school closures, for more than 1 million people in northern parts of the country, including the city of Haifa. One rocket hit an assisted living home in Safed city, starting a fire, but no casualties were reported. Bar Zinderman, 34, said racing to a bomb shelter with his two-year-old son Ar on Wednesday morning had been frightening, but that he backed the decision to attack Hezbollah.
Most airlines have stopped flights to Beirut and governments around the world, from Moscow to Washington, are urging their citizens to evacuate over fears the current air war could expand into a ground conflict or draw in regional players. “I think we are doing the right thing,” he said. “We had no choice but to fight against two enemies at our borders, who forced thousands of my fellow countrymen to evacuate. I hope that our pressure on them will soon lead to an agreement to end this war.”
Lebanon’s foreign minister, Abdallah Bou Habib, said the US was the only country that could end the conflict, but expressed disappointment after Joe Biden addressed the UN on Tuesday, urging Israel to avoid full-blown war but blaming Hezbollah for unprovoked attacks. Nabih Berri, the speaker of Lebanon’s parliament, said he was making “great efforts” to reach a diplomatic solution between Israel and Hezbollah, in coordination with the US and his own government. The next 24 hours would be decisive, he added.
Biden’s remarks were “not strong” and “would not solve the Lebanese problem”, AFP quoted Bou Habib as saying. The UN secretary general, António Guterres, warned of a risk of escalation that could leave swathes of Lebanon in ruins and plunge its people into a humanitarian disaster. Lebanon’s foreign minister, Abdallah Bou Habib, said the US was the only country that could end the conflict, but expressed disappointment after Joe Biden addressed the United Nations on Tuesday. His remarks were “not strong” and “would not solve the Lebanese problem”.
“The situation in Gaza is a nonstop nightmare that threatens to take the entire region with it. Lebanon is at the brink,” he said in a statement on X. “The people of Lebanon, the people of Israel and the people of the world cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza.”
Israel’s bombardment of Gaza continued, even as global attention shifted to Lebanon. An airstrike on a house in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza on Wednesday killed a pregnant woman and her four children.Israel’s bombardment of Gaza continued, even as global attention shifted to Lebanon. An airstrike on a house in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza on Wednesday killed a pregnant woman and her four children.
Hospital records showed that the 35-year-old woman was six months pregnant. Her four children were aged between eight and 18, the AP reported; one of its journalists also saw the bodies. Hospital records showed that the 35-year-old woman was six months pregnant. Her four children were aged between eight and 18, Associated Press reported; one of its journalists also saw the bodies.
The death toll in the war has now risen to nearly 41,500 people, the majority of them civilians, according to health authorities. Israel launched the war after a cross-border attack led by Hamas on 7 October killed 1,200 people, the majority civilians, and resulted in another 250 being taken captive. The death toll in the war has now risen to nearly 41,500 people, the majority of them civilians, according to health authorities. Israel launched the war after a cross-border attack led by Hamas on 7 October killed 1,200 people, the majority civilians, and resulted in another 250 being taken hostage.
The expansion of Israel’s war on the northern front means efforts to reach a deal for a ceasefire and hostage release has in effect been put on hold.The expansion of Israel’s war on the northern front means efforts to reach a deal for a ceasefire and hostage release has in effect been put on hold.
Families and supporters of the hostages attacked the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, over his plans to attend the UN general assembly in New York in person this week.Families and supporters of the hostages attacked the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, over his plans to attend the UN general assembly in New York in person this week.
“While the country is burning and 101 hostages have been abandoned in the Hamas death tunnels for 355 days, the prime minister chooses another unnecessary show trip to the US,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.“While the country is burning and 101 hostages have been abandoned in the Hamas death tunnels for 355 days, the prime minister chooses another unnecessary show trip to the US,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.