The confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon is not letting up. The Israeli army announced on the evening of Saturday, September 21, that it had launched “a large-scale attack after identifying preparations for firing on Israeli territory.”
“Dozens of planes” participated in this operation intended to carry out “massive strikes”Israeli army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a televised briefing. Earlier in the day, the army said it had hit thousands of rocket launchers in the same area “ready to use” against the Hebrew state, as well as other Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.
For its part, the pro-Iranian Shiite organization said it had fired dozens of rockets toward military positions in northern Israel − “about 90” According to the Hebrew state, the rockets caused fires and damage.
“It is possible that rockets will be launched towards the country in the near future”Mr. Hagari said, even though the vast majority are intercepted.
Tens of thousands displaced
The almost daily cross-border exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, which supports the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which has been at war with Israel in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, have caused the displacement of tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border, raising fears for months of a regional conflagration.
The intensification of these Israeli raids comes after a strike near Beirut on Friday, which notably killed Ibrahim Aqil and Ahmed Mahmoud, two senior officials of Hezbollah’s elite force, and left a total of thirty-seven dead, according to the latest report from the Lebanese health ministry.
The escalation, which has raised fears of a full-scale war, has prompted Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati to cancel his planned trip to New York for the United Nations General Assembly, calling for a “at the end of the terrible Israeli massacres”.
Facing “the unpredictable nature of the ongoing conflict”the United States, for its part, “urged”, Saturday, their nationals in Lebanon to leave the country of the Cedars “as long as commercial options remain available”.
Bombings in Gaza continue
In a separate statement late Saturday, the Israeli military said it was tightening restrictions on public gatherings in the north of the country. They “will be limited to thirty participants in an open space, and 300 participants in a closed space. Going to work is permitted as long as there is a protected space available, and educational activities can continue as long as there are protected spaces available”the army stressed, referring to air raid shelters.
The Israeli army is also maintaining pressure on the Gaza Strip, with the Palestinian enclave’s civil defense announcing on Saturday the death of twenty-one people, including “thirteen children and six women” in bombings that hit the Al-Zaytoun school in Gaza City (north), sheltering thousands of displaced people. The Israeli army claimed to have “carried out a targeted strike on terrorists who were operating” in Al-Falah school, adjacent to Al-Zaytoun school.
At the same time, in Tel Aviv, thousands of Israelis demonstrated again on Saturday evening to demand an agreement from their government that would allow the release of the hostages captured by Hamas during the attack of October 7, 2023 on the soil of the Hebrew state.