The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), deployed in the south of the country, warned on Saturday October 12 of a regional conflict “catastrophic”while the Israeli army fights Lebanese Hezbollah and Palestinian Hamas, allies of Iran.
At least fifteen people were killed on Saturday in Israeli raids on three villages north and south of Beirut, outside the strongholds of pro-Iranian Hezbollah, the Lebanese Ministry of Health reported in the evening.
The war in Gaza, triggered by an unprecedented attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023 on Israeli soil, and that in Lebanon are accompanied by an escalation between Israel and Iran, with Israeli leaders threatening to retaliate to an Iranian attack of missiles on 1er october.
After weakening Hamas in Gaza, Israel moved the war front to Lebanon in September, with the aim of moving Hezbollah away from the border areas and stopping its rocket fire to allow the return to the north of Israel of some 60,000 displaced inhabitants.
The front opened in October 2023 by Hezbollah against Israel, in support of Hamas, transformed into open war on September 23 with the start of intense Israeli bombings on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon, killing in particular the leader of the movement, Hassan Nasrallah. The Israeli army then launched a ground offensive on September 30 in southern Lebanon.
Five peacekeepers injured in forty-eight hours
“The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel is not just a conflict that involves two countries. Very soon, it could be a regional conflict, with a catastrophic impact for all”UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Saturday.
Israel came under fire Friday after UNIFIL accused Israeli troops of shooting “repeatedly” And “deliberate” on its positions. Five peacekeepers were injured in forty-eight hours, according to UNIFIL, whose positions suffered “a lot of damage”according to Mr. Tenenti. The Israeli army said it fired in the direction of a ” threat “.
US President Joe Biden asked Israel to stop firing on UN forces in Lebanon, while his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron said “unacceptable” that these are targeted “deliberately by Israeli forces”.
On Saturday, at least forty countries, including thirty-four contributors to UNIFIL, provided their support ” complete “ to the UN contingent and urged protection of the peacekeepers.
Residents of southern Lebanon urged not to return
Since October 2023, more than 2,100 people have been killed in Lebanon, including more than 1,200 since September 23, according to an AFP count based on official figures. The UN has recorded nearly 700,000 displaced people.
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The Lebanese health ministry said nine people were killed Saturday in Israeli raids targeting the villages of Maaysrah and Barja, north and south of Beirut, outside Hezbollah strongholds.
In the evening, a strike targeted a market in Nabatiyé, in southern Lebanon, according to the official Lebanese agency ANI. The Israeli army had recently called on the inhabitants of twenty-five localities, including this large city, to move north. On Saturday, the Israeli army ordered residents of southern Lebanon not to return there until further notice.
320 projectiles fired at Israel during Yom Kippur, army says
After the intensification, on September 23, of Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, a Hezbollah stronghold bordering northern Israel, tens of thousands of families fled this region, according to the UN.
The Israeli army announced for its part that Hezbollah had fired around 320 projectiles towards Israel during Yom Kippur, Judaism’s holiest day, from Friday evening to sunset Saturday. Emmanuel Macron urged Hezbollah to “stop immediately” strikes against Israel, adding that a ceasefire must be “put in place immediately” in Lebanon.
During Yom Kippur, the Israeli army also said it struck 280 “terrorist targets” in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
In Gaza, the Jabaliya region shelled
On Saturday, the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, visiting Beirut, denounced the “crimes” of “wild Zionist regime” in Lebanon. The day before, Iran repeated that it was “ready to defend its sovereignty”while Israel promised its sworn enemy a response “surprising” to his attack on 1er october.
In the devastated and besieged Gaza Strip, the Israeli army continued its offensive, mainly shelling the Jabaliya region in the north, where it accuses Hamas of seeking to reconstitute its forces. Israel also called on residents of an area near Jabaliya to evacuate.
The Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, led to the deaths of 1,206 people in Israel, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures and including hostages who died or were killed in captivity at Gaza. At least 42,175 Palestinians were killed, the majority civilians, in the Israeli offensive in Gaza, according to data from the Hamas government’s health ministry, deemed reliable by the UN.