Memories of the 2006 war are awakened in Lebanon when Israel’s army begins heavy shelling in the south and east. Thousands of families flee. The death toll rises rapidly.
According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, the number of victims of the Israeli air strikes in Lebanon has risen to 492 dead and 1,645 injured. 35 children were also killed in the attacks in the south and east of the country since Monday morning. The conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah militia has thus expanded massively.
It is the highest death toll in Lebanon since Hezbollah’s war with Israel in 2006. More than 1,200 people were killed on the Lebanese side, and more than 160 soldiers and civilians on the Israeli side. It is also the highest number of casualties in Lebanon since the war-like conflict between Israel and Hezbollah began almost a year ago as a result of the Gaza war. At the same time, according to official figures, thousands of families in Lebanon have been displaced by the fighting.
Some were hit by the attacks while fleeing in their cars, said Health Minister Firass Abiad. Schools were converted into emergency shelters to accommodate displaced people. Many tried to get from the south to northern parts of the country on crowded roads.
The Israeli military reportedly attacked more than 1,300 targets in Lebanon – the attacks continued in the south and east of the country on Monday evening. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a message directly to the Lebanese people: “Israel’s war is not with you, but with Hezbollah,” he said. Israel’s army gave the operation the code name “Arrows of the North.”
According to the Israeli military, Hezbollah fired more than 250 missiles at civilian locations in Israel. Some of them were intercepted by missile defense systems, while others landed in open areas. There were initially no reports of injuries or property damage in Israel.
After the massive air strikes in Lebanon, the Israeli government declared a nationwide state of emergency in anticipation of counterattacks. According to media reports, the decision means, among other things, that the size of gatherings can be restricted. So far, Israel has been attacking Lebanon massively from the air and with artillery across the border, but there are no Israeli troops in Lebanon.
Israel claims to have destroyed “tens of thousands of enemy rockets” in attacks
According to Defense Minister Joav Galant, the attacks destroyed “tens of thousands of Hezbollah rockets that threatened Israel’s citizens.” Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said the military was attacking the infrastructure that Hezbollah had built up over the past 20 years for its fight. “This is very significant,” he stressed. Israel was attacking targets and preparing “the next phases” of the fight, about which he would say more shortly. It remained unclear which next steps he was referring to.
On October 7, 2023, terrorists from Hamas, an ally of Hezbollah, and other extremist groups killed more than 1,200 people in Israel and took about 250 others hostage in the Gaza Strip. This triggered the Gaza War. Since then, Hezbollah has been attacking Israel with rockets almost every day. Israel wants to drive Hezbollah out of the border area in order to ensure the safety of its citizens in the north and to enable the return of displaced people.
Lebanon accuses Israel of a “war of annihilation”
In view of the attacks, the Lebanese government accused Israel of waging “a war of extermination in every sense of the word.” “We as a government are working to stop this new war by Israel and prevent a descent into the unknown,” said caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
Israel’s military also carried out an air strike in the Lebanese capital Beirut. According to unconfirmed Israeli media reports, the target was Hezbollah commander Ali Karaki, who was responsible for the southern front. After the attack, Hezbollah said Karaki was “in good health” and had been taken to a safe location. The militia thus contradicted media reports that had reported his death. Karaki is to succeed high-ranking military commander Ibrahim Akil, who was killed in an Israeli air strike on Friday.
Air strikes also in the northeastern Bekaa Valley
After the intensive bombings in the south by Israel’s air force, positions in the Bekaa Valley in northeastern Lebanon were also attacked in the afternoon, according to security sources. Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets at positions in northern Israel. The militia targeted, among other things, arms industry facilities near the port city of Haifa and military bases. Long-range rockets were also used.
Israel warns civilians in Lebanon
There had previously been reports of warnings to the civilian population in Lebanon through so-called robot calls with pre-recorded messages or via SMS. They were told to stay away from villages in whose buildings Hezbollah weapons were stored until further notice. The Lebanese Ministry of Information described the action as “psychological warfare” by Israel.
Israel’s army has already expanded its attacks in the neighboring country in recent days. This also resulted in dozens of deaths and injuries. The army has so far avoided questions about whether a ground offensive by the military is also possible. If Israeli troops invade Lebanon, an even greater involvement of allied militias from Hezbollah in the region or Iran cannot be ruled out.
Panic in southern Lebanon
Around 150,000 people on both sides of the border had to leave their homes. The warlike conflict has intensified after the explosion of thousands of communication devices in Lebanon and an Israeli attack on the Hezbollah leadership near Beirut that left more than 50 people dead, including civilians, last week.
Citizens were in a panic after the latest air strikes in southern Lebanon. Many people were fleeing from the suburbs of the southern city of Tyre, among others, residents told the German Press Agency. Some rushed to the center of the coastal city and to the site of the UN observer mission UNIFIL. The streets filled with cars of people who apparently wanted to drive towards Beirut or other places in the north of the country. Traffic jams occurred on the roads.
There was “panic and chaos,” eyewitnesses reported. In the coastal city of Sidon, which lies about halfway between Tyre and Beirut, traffic came to a complete standstill at times. Drivers shared videos on social media showing masses of Lebanese driving north.
Hezbollah is more heavily armed today than in the war 20 years ago
Israel and Hezbollah have already waged war against each other in 1982 and 2006. The Iranian-backed militia is now much more heavily armed than it was during the war almost 20 years ago. It says it is acting in solidarity with the Islamist Hamas, which is fighting against Israel in the Gaza Strip. Hezbollah and Hamas are supported by Iran.
Israel has recently reduced the number of its attacks in the Gaza Strip and is increasingly concentrating on Hezbollah. Israel wants the militia to withdraw behind the Litani River, 30 kilometers from the border – as stipulated in UN Resolution 1701, which marked the end of the war in 2006. According to the resolution, Hezbollah is not allowed to have a presence along the border. However, this is not being enforced by either the UN observer mission or the Lebanese army. Israel has declared the return of its residents to their homes in the north to be one of the goals of the Gaza war, which began with the Hamas terror attack on October 7 last year.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
