Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the Lebanese people to expel Hezbollah and thus avoid “destruction and suffering like those seen in Gaza.”
Netanyahu’s call Tuesday came as Israel expanded its ground invasion against Hezbollah, sending thousands more troops to a new area in southwestern Lebanon.
The president also claimed that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) killed the successor of Hassan Nasrallah, former leader of Hezbollah, although they later clarified that they could not confirm the death of Hashem Safieddine.
Separately, Hezbollah fighters fired several rounds of rockets at the Israeli port city of Haifa for the third day in a row, wounding 12 people.
“Free your country from Hezbollah”
“You have the opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like that seen in Gaza”Netanyahu stated in a video address to the Lebanese people.
And he added: “I say to you, people of Lebanon: free your country from Hezbollah so that this war can end.”
Hezbollah has not surrendered despite three weeks of intense Israeli attacks and other operations that, according to Lebanese officials, They have killed more than 1,400 people and displaced 1.2 million.
On Tuesday Naim Qassem, former number two to the recently assassinated Hassan Nasrallah, insisted that Hezbollah overcame Israel’s recent “painful blows” and that its capabilities are “good.”
Israel has gone on the offensive after almost a year of cross-border fighting sparked by the war in Gaza, under the premise of guaranteeing the safe return of tens of thousands of displaced residents of Israeli border areas by Hezbollah’s rocket, missile and drone attacks.
Hostilities have steadily increased since Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel in support of the Palestinians on October 8, 2023, a day after its ally Hamas’ deadly attack on southern Israel.
The offensive in Lebanon increases
On Tuesday morning the IDF announced that reservists from its 146th Division began “limited, localized and targeted operational activities” in southwestern Lebanon.
These joined three divisions of the standing army that have been operating in the central and eastern areas of southern Lebanon since the ground invasion began on September 30, which would bring the total number of soldiers deployed to more than 15,000.
The IDF announced that its troops had taken control of what it called a Hezbollah “combat compound” in the border village of Maroun al Ras and released photos showing what it called a loaded rocket launcher in an olive grove, as well as weapons and equipment. inside a residential building.
Meanwhile, drone footage showed widespread destruction in the nearby village of Yaroun, which was an initial target of the invasion.
For their part, the special coordinator for Lebanon and the head of the UN peacekeeping force warned in a joint statement that the humanitarian impact of the conflict is “catastrophic.”
The Lebanese government stated that 1.2 million people have fled their homes in the last year, almost 180,000 are in centers for displaced people.
Additionally, more than 400,000 people have fled to war-torn Syria, including more than 200,000 Syrian refugees, a situation the head of the UN refugee agency described as an “absurd tragedy.”
The World Food Program announced that there is “extraordinary concern about Lebanon’s ability to continue producing food” because thousands of hectares of agricultural land have been burned or abandoned.
Two other key figures
The IDF also indicated that its aircraft carried out a new round of strikes against Hezbollah targets on Tuesday in the southern suburbs of Beirut, where the group has a strong presence, and other areas of Lebanon.
Earlier, Israel had announced that it killed the commander of Hezbollah headquarters, Suhail Husseiniin an attack in the capital on Monday
Hezbollah did not comment on this but, if confirmed, it would be the latest in a series of severe blows that Israel has dealt the group, causing the death of Hassan Nasrallah and most of its military commanders.
The fate of is unknown Hashem Safieddinea senior Hezbollah official who has been positioning himself as successor to his cousin Nasrallah as leader, since an Israeli airstrike reportedly targeted him last Thursday in Beirut.
IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said late Tuesday that the military cannot confirm claims by Netanyahu and Israel’s Defense Minister that Safieddine was killed in the attack, adding that the IDF is investigating the results of the operation.
Hezbollah maintains its defiance
Hezbollah’s deputy leader proclaimed in a defiant television speech from an undisclosed location Tuesday that its command and control is “solid” and that has no “vacant positions”mentioning his attacks on Israel in recent days.
“We are harming them and we will prolong it over time. Dozens of cities are within range of the resistance’s missiles. We assure them that our capabilities are fine,” said Naim Qassem.
But, for the first time, he did not mention the end of the war in Gaza as a precondition, even though Hezbollah had previously said that it would not stop attacking Israel until the conflict in the strip ended.
“We support the political efforts that Nabih Berri (the speaker of the Lebanese Parliament) is making to achieve a ceasefire,” Qassem said in a televised speech.
And he proposed that “once a ceasefire is achieveddiplomacy can examine all the other details.”
It is unclear whether this means a change in Hezbollah’s position.
The speech coincided with the launch of more than 100 rockets towards the Bay of Haifa, as well as towards the regions of the Lower, Central and Upper Galilee.
The IDF indicated that most of the rockets were intercepted and there were no serious casualties.
On Sunday night there was a direct hit in Haifa, something that had not happened since the last war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.
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- The year of carnage and miscalculations that has brought the Middle East to the brink of a broader war