US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met for the first time in two months on Wednesday, as Israel prepares to retaliate against Iran and wage war on its northern and southern borders.
Vice President Kamala Harris also participated in the call, even as the region tilts toward broader conflict between Israel, Iran, and their proxy militias. The call was aimed at easing tensions in the Middle East, a person familiar with the matter said.
The Israel Defense Forces launched heavy airstrikes on Tuesday that reached as far south as Beirut before clashing with Hezbollah fighters just over the Lebanese border. On Wednesday, it also ordered a forced evacuation in northern Gaza, while carrying out airstrikes that reportedly killed dozens of people, and is preparing to retaliate against Iran for last week’s ballistic missile attack by the Islamic Republic. Ta.
The frenzied military attacks include explosions in Syria in recent days, which have also been blamed on Israel. The incident comes as the United States presses its closest allies in the region to avoid attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities and warns against attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure.
Israel’s invasion of southern Lebanon, which began late last month, has expanded to four divisions, reaching a maximum strength of 20,000 troops as the conflict with Iran-backed Hezbollah intensifies.
The invasion casts a shadow over the Israel Defense Forces’ war with Hamas in Gaza, which has entered its second year with no end in sight. On Wednesday, Palestinians reported airstrikes in northern Gaza, while health officials said they had been warned to evacuate three large hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip.
At least 30 bodies have been recovered from five days of fighting in a new attack on Jabalia refugee camp, local health officials said. The IDF has returned to the camp several times over the past year as Hamas rallies. Dozens more people were killed elsewhere in Gaza, and the United Nations warned that civilians could no longer flee the fighting.
“At least 400,000 people are trapped in the area,” UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini wrote in a post on X.
In the north, Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters clashed near the Lebanese border, and two people were killed in the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona after a barrage of rockets fired by Iranian-backed militants, IDF and local health authorities said. did. Several people were injured and videos on social media showed houses in the town on fire.
Hezbollah said it targeted Israeli forces with explosives and confronted its fighters as they tried to “infiltrate” the border village of Blida.
The newspaper said the insurgents fired rockets and artillery shells, forcing Israeli forces to retreat near Labune in the southwest.
Israel announced this week that at least three soldiers were wounded in fighting with Hezbollah.
Some content could not be loaded. Please check your internet connection or browser settings.
Israeli forces have breached the Lebanese border in at least four locations since launching the invasion, with each division possibly supporting one entry point, Israeli officials said, without providing further details. .
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video message on Tuesday calling on the Lebanese people to rise up against Hezbollah and to “save” their homeland “before it descends into a Gaza-like abyss of destruction and suffering.”
Much of the direct fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters took place near the border, but the Israeli Air Force carried out a series of large-scale coordinated attacks centered on southern Lebanon and extending into the Bekaa Valley, the Israel Defense Forces said.
Hezbollah responded by firing projectiles into northern Israel and the commercial and cultural center of Haifa further south. Several rockets were also fired towards Tel Aviv this week.
The Israel Defense Forces said it had tracked 180 “projectiles” that entered Israeli territory from Lebanon until late Tuesday night, including a heavy barrage of fire in Haifa.
Israel also carries out regular airstrikes in Syria, where Hezbollah and Iranian forces are stationed.
Syria’s Ministry of Defense on Tuesday accused Israel of firing three missiles that struck a residential and commercial building in Damascus’s Mezzeh district, killing seven civilians, including women and children.
Mezeh is home to many foreign embassies, including Iranian ones, as well as offices related to Syria’s national security. Syria’s state news agency said Wednesday’s airstrike killed one person in the southwestern town of Quneitra.
Some content could not be loaded. Please check your internet connection or browser settings.
Israel’s shelling of Lebanon killed its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and damaged the organization’s chain of command.
Tuesday’s airstrikes were the second major wave of attacks since Israel dramatically stepped up its airstrikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon late last month, focusing on a large group of targets identified by military intelligence. said two Israeli officials.
The wave of bombing that began around September 20 ultimately included nearly 5,000 airstrikes over several days, according to a tally by the Financial Times.
Recommended
Lebanese authorities say Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 2,100 people in the past year and displaced about 1.2 million people, most in the past two weeks.
Israel said the aim of the Lebanon attack was to secure its northern border area so that some 60,000 Israelis could return home after a year of cross-border firefights with Hezbollah. The Lebanese group began firing rockets at Israel in support of Gaza a day after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
Cartographer: Stephen Barnard
