Wars 2023 10/08 Monitoring the Israel and Lebanon War

[Saif]

Lebanon accuses Israel of rejecting truce after Beirut strikes

Lebanon’s prime minister on Friday accused Israel of rejecting a ceasefire after the Israeli military bombed the Hezbollah stronghold of south Beirut for the first time this week.

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Lebanon accuses Israel of rejecting truce after Beirut strikes
Agence France-Presse . Beirut, Lebanon 02 November, 2024, 00:23

People check the devastation in the aftermath of Israeli strikes in the neighbourhood of Haret Hreik in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Friday, amid the on-going war between Israel and Hezbollah. | AFP photo

Lebanon’s prime minister on Friday accused Israel of rejecting a ceasefire after the Israeli military bombed the Hezbollah stronghold of south Beirut for the first time this week.

At least 10 strikes hit the southern suburbs before dawn after Israel issued evacuation warnings, with AFPTV footage showing explosions and clouds of smoke.

‘The raids left massive destruction in the targeted areas, as dozens of buildings were levelled to the ground, in addition to the outbreak of fires,’ Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.

It said strikes also targeted Aley southeast of Beirut and Bint Jbeil in the south.

Israel’s military said it continued operations against the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and its Palestinian ally Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The strikes came a day after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu met US officials to discuss a possible deal to end the war in Lebanon, ahead of Tuesday’s US presidential election.

Prime minister Najib Mikati condemned the ‘expansion’ of Israel’s attacks, saying they signalled a refusal to engage in truce efforts.

‘The Israeli enemy’s renewed expansion and its renewed targeting of the southern suburbs of Beirut with destructive raids are all indicators that confirm the Israeli enemy’s rejection of all efforts being made to secure a ceasefire,’ he said.

The NNA later said Israeli warplanes hit the eastern city of Baalbek, home to UNESCO-designated Roman ruins, after strikes there killed six people on Thursday.

The UN’s special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, warned the war put Lebanon’s cultural heritage site in ‘deep peril’.

Analysts say Israel’s campaign in Lebanon has put it in a position of strength to reach a deal.

On Thursday, Netanyahu told US envoys Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk that any ceasefire deal with Hezbollah must guarantee Israel’s long-term security. Both have since left for Washington, said a source familiar with the matter.

Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, who also met the Americans, emphasised ‘security arrangements’ related to Lebanon and efforts to ensure the return of 101 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.

A US-brokered plan reportedly under consideration would see Hezbollah withdraw 30 kilometres north to the northern side of the Litani river, with Israeli forces pulling back and the Lebanese army, supported by UN peacekeepers, taking over the border.

Lebanon would be responsible for preventing Hezbollah from rearming itself with imported weapons, and Israel would retain its rights under international law to act in self-defence. Cross-border fire from Lebanon killed seven Israelis on Thursday, including four Thai workers.

Since fighting in Lebanon escalated on September 23, after nearly a year of tit-for-tat exchanges which Hezbollah said were in support of Hamas, the war has killed at least 1,829 people in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of health ministry figures.

Israel’s military says 37 soldiers have been killed in Lebanon since ground operations began on September 30.

The World Health Organisation expressed deep concern about Israeli attacks on healthcare workers and facilities in Lebanon, stressing they are ‘not a target’.

Hezbollah’s new leader Naim Qassem — who took over after Israel killed his predecessor Hassan Nasrallah — has not explicitly linked a ceasefire to an end to Gaza fighting, the group’s previous position.

‘If the Israelis decide that they want to stop the aggression, we say we accept, but under the conditions that we see as appropriate and suitable,’ he said this week.

On the ground in north Gaza, the Israeli military said it ‘eliminated’ dozens of militants in Jabalia.

Gaza’s health ministry reported at least nine dead in overnight strikes on Jabalia and Nuseirat.

‘The morgue at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah is full’ of bodies, mostly women and children, after Israel’s attack in Nuseirat, said Marwan al-Hams, director of Gaza’s field hospitals.

US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators have long been trying to secure a truce and hostage-prisoner exchange in Israel’s war in Gaza.

Mediators seeking to broker a ceasefire are expected to propose a truce of ‘less than a month’ to Hamas, a source with knowledge of the talks has said.

The proposal involves exchanging Israeli hostages for Palestinians in Israeli prisons and increasing aid to the territory, the source added.

But on Thursday, senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu reiterated that the group rejected a short-term pause.

‘Hamas supports a permanent end to the war, not a temporary one,’ Nunu said.

Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel last year triggered the war and resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory bombardment and ground war have killed 43,259 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to data from the health ministry, figures the United Nations considers reliable.

The WHO said meanwhile that a second round of child polio vaccinations would begin in northern Gaza on Saturday, after Israeli bombing halted the drive.​

 

[Saif]

When Israeli aggression claims a Bangladeshi life

For over a year now, parents in Palestine have mourned their children, families have grieved over their homes turned to dust, as thousands were killed by Israel's genocide on the Gaza Strip.

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When Israeli aggression claims a Bangladeshi life
Airstrike kills Nizam Uddin in Lebanon; family mourns; expats in fear

Mohammad Nizam Uddin

For over a year now, parents in Palestine have mourned their children, families have grieved over their homes turned to dust, as thousands were killed by Israel's genocide on the Gaza Strip.

This year, Lebanon has also become a target of relentless Israeli airstrikes, similar to the devastation in Gaza.

Now, for Bangladesh, this tragedy has hit home -- Mohammad Nizam Uddin, a migrant worker from Brahmanbaria, has fallen victim to the violence in Lebanon.

Nizam, 38, went to Lebanon over a decade ago, leaving behind his family in Kharera village.

On the morning of his death, he had stopped at a small coffee shop on his way to work at Al Hayat Hospital in southern Beirut. It was a routine, an ordinary stop that, tragically, became his last.

Nearby, a motorbike shop was the intended target of an Israeli airstrike.

In seconds, everything nearby was reduced to rubble due to shockwaves from the blast, killing Nizam.

Back in Bangladesh, his elder sister, Saira Begum, now faces the painful reality of his loss. "He went to Lebanon 12 years ago to change our fate," she said, struggling through tears. "But that dream remained elusive. Now he is just a memory. How can we accept it?"

Anwar Hossain, first secretary at the Bangladeshi embassy in Beirut, confirmed the circumstances leading to his death.

The Bangladeshi community in Lebanon is struggling to process the loss of one of their own, he said.

A LIFE OF STRUGGLE

Nizam, son of the late Mohammad Abdul Quddus, was the youngest of two brothers and three sisters. Their father passed away when Nizam was only six. Their mother passed away five years ago.

He spent approximately Tk 7 lakh to migrate to Lebanon, but he struggled to secure regular employment. Lebanon's political and economic crises over the last few years, coupled with the impact of the pandemic, hindered his ability to earn a stable income.

Parul Begum, another elder sister of Nizam, said he could not earn a decent living because he lacked a fixed job and faced significant danger due to his lack of valid documentation.

"At home, he could build only a small tin shed house for his mother," she said.

Since their mother's death, the family had been eagerly waiting for Nizam's return. "Now, we are waiting for his body," Saira Begum sobbed.

A COMMUNITY IN FEAR

This marks the first casualty of a Bangladeshi since the Israeli attacks against Hezbollah began in late September, though some other Bangladeshis have been injured earlier.

"This death has created a sense of fear within our community," said Abdul Karim, president of the Lebanon Probashi Bangladeshi Sramik Union in Beirut.

Anwar Hossain, first secretary of the Bangladesh embassy in Lebanon, advised the Bangladeshi community to exercise caution when going out and to avoid areas at risk of being targeted by Israeli forces.

There are approximately 100,000 Bangladeshis in Lebanon.

Since September, around 3,000 have sought refuge in temporary shelters provided by Bangladeshi community organisations and Lebanese charities.

The Bangladeshi embassy is also supporting them with food supplies.

In the initial phase, about 1,800 Bangladeshis have registered for repatriation, and approximately 350 have already returned under a joint initiative by the Bangladesh government and the International Organization for Migration.

"Initially, we have arranged repatriation for those with all necessary travel documents. Eventually, we will also assist those without work permits or passports," Anwar Hossain said.

He said the Lebanese home ministry has waived fines for undocumented workers and halved exit visa fees.

NO LAST GOODBYES?

However, while repatriation efforts continue, Nizam's siblings may not be able to see his body one last time due to the suspension of flight operations at Beirut airport.

An official from the Bangladesh embassy in Beirut said Nizam had been living in Lebanon with his wife.

"We have informed her that repatriating his body to Bangladesh may not be possible," he said.​

 

[Saif]

Hezbollah says thousands ready to fight Israel

Hezbollah’s chief said on Wednesday his group had tens of thousands of combatants ready to fight, adding that nowhere in Israel was off-limits to attacks.

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Hezbollah says thousands ready to fight Israel
Agence France-Presse . Beirut 06 November, 2024, 23:57

Hezbollah’s chief said on Wednesday his group had tens of thousands of combatants ready to fight, adding that nowhere in Israel was off-limits to attacks.

‘We have tens of thousands of trained resistance combatants’ ready to fight, Naim Qassem said in a speech marking 40 days since his predecessor was killed.

He also said nowhere in Israel would be ‘off-limits’ to the group’s attacks.

He said the results of the US presidential election will have no impact on any possible ceasefire deal.

‘We don’t base our expectations for a halt of the aggression on political developments whether Kamala Harris wins or Donald Trump wins, it means nothing to us,’ he said in a pre-recorded speech before Trump’s win was announced.

‘What will stop this war is the battlefield’ he said, citing fighting in south Lebanon and Hezbollah attacks on Israel.

The speech was Qassem’s second since he was named Hezbollah secretary-general last week.

He replaced the group’s decades-long chief Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in a massive Israeli strike on the group’s south Beirut bastion.

Meanwhile, Lebanon said that it had filed a complaint with the United Nations’ labour agency over deadly attacks on communication devices across the country in September, which it blames on Israel.

Lebanese labour minister Mustafa Bayram called the attack an ‘egregious war against humanity, against technology, against work’, saying his country had filed the complaint with the International Labour Organisation in Geneva.

‘It’s a very dangerous precedent,’ he told journalists in the Swiss city at an event organised by the UN correspondents’ association ACANU.

The move comes after Israel escalated its air raids on Hezbollah strongholds in south Lebanon, Beirut and the eastern Bekaa Valley on September 23, after nearly a year of cross-border fire, and a week later sent ground troops into southern Lebanon.

The escalation kicked off with sabotage attacks on pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah, which killed dozens of people and injured thousands more across Lebanon.

Israel has not officially taken responsibility for those attacks, but Bayram said it was ‘widely accepted internationally that Israel was behind this heinous act’.

‘In a few minutes, more than 4,000 civilians fell, between martyrs and injured and maimed,’ he said, speaking through a translator.

Among the victims not killed, he said many people had ‘lost their fingers; some have totally lost their eyesight’.

‘We are in a situation where ordinary objects, objects you use in daily life, become dangerous and lethal,’ he said.

‘If left unchecked, this crime could become normalised,’ he said, adding that filing the complaint was meant ‘to prevent such crimes from happening in the future’.

‘I consider it a moral obligation to my country and to the world.’

Asked why Lebanon had chose to file the complaint with the ILO, Bayram pointed to all the workers who were on the job when pagers and walkie-talkies — tools they used to do their work — suddenly exploded.

‘We deemed it necessary to point out that this runs contrary to work environment, security and safety, contrary to decent work principles defended by the ILO,’ he said.

He added that Lebanese authorities could still file complaints over the pager attacks in other international forums, including the World Trade Organisation.

‘In more general terms, the Lebanese government wants to present a myriad of complaints’ against Israel over its operations in the country, he said, since ‘the amount of crimes is huge’.

More than 3,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since clashes between Hezbollah and Israel began in October 2023, according to the health ministry, including at least 1,964 since September 23, according to an AFP tally of official figures.

The war has also pushed more than a million people to flee their homes.​

 

[Saif]

UN peacekeepers wounded in Israeli strike in Lebanon

Four UN peacekeepers were wounded in an Israeli air strike in southern Lebanon on Thursday that also killed three civilians, the Lebanese army said.

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UN peacekeepers wounded in Israeli strike in Lebanon
Agence France-Presse . Beirut 08 November, 2024, 01:43

People inspect the damage at an area next to Beirut International airport on the southern outskirts of Beirut that was targeted by overnight Israeli airstrikes, on Thursday, amid the on-going war between Israel and Hezbollah. | AFP photo

Four UN peacekeepers were wounded in an Israeli air strike in southern Lebanon on Thursday that also killed three civilians, the Lebanese army said.

Israel launched a barrage of strikes Thursday after Lebanon’s Hezbollah said it carried out a missile attack targeting a military base near Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport on Wednesday.

Also on Wednesday, the health ministry said 40 people had been killed in Israeli strikes on the Bekaa Valley and the densely populated ancient city of Baalbek in east Lebanon, where Hezbollah holds sway.

Hezbollah and Israel have been at war since late September, when Israel broadened its focus from fighting Hamas in the Gaza Strip to securing its northern border, even as the Gaza war continues.

Rescuers in the Palestinian territory on Thursday said 12 people were killed in an Israeli air strike on a school-turned-shelter for displaced people in north Gaza, the latest incident of its kind.

Hezbollah began low intensity strikes on Israel last year in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which triggered the Gaza war.

The raid in Sidon, the main city in southern Lebanon, struck near an army checkpoint.

‘The Israeli enemy targeted a car while it was passing through the Awali checkpoint in Sidon,’ the army said in a statement.

Three civilians inside the car were killed, the military said, and four members of the Malaysian contingent in the UN peacekeeping mission, UNIFIL, were injured.

Three soldiers at the checkpoint were also hurt, it said.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports.

Israel launched raids across southern suburbs of Beirut overnight, with one hitting an area near the airport.

Taxi driver Abu Elie, who was at the airport when the strikes hit, said ‘the entire car park shook’.

‘People were carrying their suitcases on their shoulders and running,’ he said.

Officials said the raid had caused minor damage but the terminal building was safe and flights were running as normal.

In the lead-up to Tuesday’s US presidential election, some in Lebanon had been hopeful that new leadership might bring them a reprieve.

But Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said in a speech broadcast on Wednesday that the vote — won by Donald Trump — would have no bearing on the future of the war.

He warned that Hezbollah had tens of thousands of trained militants ready to fight, and that nowhere in Israel was ‘off-limits’.

Israel’s airports authority said Wednesday that operations at its main airport near commercial hub Tel Aviv were not affected after Hezbollah said it fired missiles at a military base nearby.

Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed to keep fighting Hamas and Hezbollah until victory, spoke to Trump on Wednesday.

Netanyahu’s office said the conversation was ‘warm and cordial’ and he had congratulated Trump on his victory.

‘The two also discussed the Iranian threat,’ the office said.

Shortly afterwards, Israel’s defence ministry said it had signed a $5.2 billion agreement with Boeing to purchase 25 ‘next generation’ F-15 fighter jets, which would be financed by US military aid.

In Lebanon, the strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs were so intense many residents of the city were unable to sleep.

‘Death has become a matter of luck. We can either die or survive,’ said Ramzi Zaiter, a resident of south Beirut.

Since September 23, more than 2,600 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, according to health minister Firass Abiad.

Iran, which arms and finances Hezbollah, also dismissed the impact of the US vote.

‘It makes no difference to us who won the US election,’ president Masoud Pezeshkian was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.

Iran and the United States have been adversaries since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which overthrew the Western-backed shah, but tensions peaked during Trump’s first term from 2017 to 2021.

Tareq Hamad, a man displaced by the war from his south Lebanon village Kfar Kila, was cautious.

Trump ‘had said that if he wins, he would work towards a ceasefire. But these are just words,’ he said.

In Gaza, ravaged by 13 months of war since the deadliest attack in Israeli history, people were desperate for a solution.

‘We were displaced, killed there’s nothing left for us, we want peace,’ said Mamduh al-Jadba, who was displaced to Gaza City from Jabalia, where one month ago the Israel military began an air and ground assault, vowing to stop Hamas militants from regrouping.

The UN has described ‘apocalyptic’ conditions in Gaza’s north.

French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot, on a visit to Jerusalem, said Trump’s victory could yet provide a ‘window’ for peace because the US president-elect had a ‘wish to see the end of the Middle East’s endless wars’.

Hamas’s attack on Israel resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 43,469 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

In Israel, recent surveys have shown that a majority of people were hoping to see Trump return to the White House.

‘Now we just need him to give us weapons,’ said fruit vendor Yossi Mizrachi, 51, adding he believed Trump would be able to ‘bring an end to the war’.

In a cafe in Jerusalem, Yechiel Hajbi, 57, also said he was ‘very happy’ Trump had won and felt hopeful his return to power would ‘bring peace’.​

 

[Saif]

Hezbollah fires missiles at central Israel air base

Hezbollah said its fighters launched missiles at an air base in central Israel on Friday, the latest attack by the Iran-backed group in more than a month of war.

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Hezbollah fires missiles at central Israel air base
Agence France-Presse . Beirut 09 November, 2024, 01:26

Hezbollah said its fighters launched missiles at an air base in central Israel on Friday, the latest attack by the Iran-backed group in more than a month of war.

Hezbollah said it ‘targeted the Tel Nof Air Base, south of Tel Aviv with a salvo of advanced missiles.’

Lebanese state media said the Israeli army detonated explosives planted inside houses in three border villages that have been battered by the Israel-Hezbollah war.

Hezbollah says it is engaged in fighting Israeli forces in the area, more than a month into an Israeli ground invasion aimed at pushing the Iran-backed group away from the border.

‘Since this morning, the Israeli enemy’s army has been carrying out bombing operations inside the villages of Yaroun, Aitaroun and Maroun al-Ras in the Bint Jbeil area, with the aim of destroying residential homes there,’ the official National News Agency said.

Israeli forces also conducted a raid in the nearby town of Bint Jbeil, NNA said, after Hezbollah said it targeted Israeli troops in the flashpoint border region.

Hezbollah said on Thursday it had ‘ambushed’ Israeli ground forces attempting to infiltrate Yaroun.

The Iran-backed group has claimed eight operations since Wednesday targeting Israeli troops on the outskirts of Maroun al-Ras.

Friday’s explosions are the latest in a string of similar incidents that have impacted the border area.

According to NNA, Israeli troops blew up buildings in at least seven border villages last month.

Footage verified by AFP on Monday showed massive blasts that ripped through Mais al-Jabal and reduced homes to rubble.

Israel’s Channel 12 last month broadcast footage appearing to show one of its presenters blow up a building while embedded with soldiers in the village of Aita al-Shaab.

Israel has been at war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah since late September when it broadened its focus from fighting Hamas in Gaza to securing its northern border.

It escalated its air campaign and later sent in ground forces into the country’s south.

This came after a year of cross-border exchanges with Hezbollah, which has said it was acting in support of Hamas Palestinian militants fighting Israel in Gaza.

Hezbollah said it targeted a naval base near the Israeli city of Haifa with missiles Friday, the second such attack in less than 24 hours.

The Iran-backed Lebanese group said it targeted the ‘Stella Maris’ naval base northwest of Haifa with a missile barrage, ‘in response to the attacks and massacres committed by the Israeli enemy.’

The group had on Thursday claimed another attack on the same area.

In a separate statement, the group claimed that it had also targeted the Ramat David airbase, southeast of Haifa, with missiles.

Israel has been at war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah since late September when it broadened its focus from fighting Hamas in the Gaza Strip to securing its northern border.

It escalated its air campaign and later sent in ground forces into the country’s south.

This came after a year of cross-border exchanges with Hezbollah, which has said it was acting in support of Hamas Palestinian militants fighting Israel in Gaza.

The war has killed more than 2,600 people in Lebanon since September 23, according to the Lebanese health ministry.​

 

[Saif]

Israel PM confirms he okayed Lebanon pager attacks that killed 40

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today said, in a first public disclosure, that he had okayed a September attack on Hezbollah in which hundreds of communication devices exploded across Lebanon

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Israel PM confirms he okayed Lebanon pager attacks that killed 40

Photo: Collected

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today said, in a first public disclosure, that he had okayed a September attack on Hezbollah in which hundreds of communication devices exploded across Lebanon.

"Netanyahu confirmed Sunday that he greenlighted the pager operation in Lebanon," his spokesman Omer Dostri told AFP of the attacks that killed nearly 40 people and wounded nearly 3,000, and preceded Israel's ongoing military operation in Lebanon.​

 

[Saif]

20 killed in Israeli strike north of Beirut

Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli strike yesterday killed 20 people including three children in the village of Almat, north of the capital Beirut.

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20 killed in Israeli strike north of Beirut
Says Lebanon; three children among dead

Palestinians gather to receive meals cooked by a charity kitchen, amid the ongoing Israeli offensive, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip yesterday. PHOTO: REUTERS

Lebanon's health ministry said an Israeli strike yesterday killed 20 people including three children in the village of Almat, north of the capital Beirut.

The Shia Muslim majority village of Almat is located in a mostly Christian region. It is outside Hezbollah's traditional strongholds of south Beirut and south and east Lebanon which Israel has heavily bombed since late September in its war against the Iran-backed movement.

"The Israeli enemy strike on Almat in the Jbeil district killed 20 people including three children and injured six, in an updated toll," the health ministry said in a statement.

The ministry also said Israeli strikes killed three Hezbollah-affiliated rescuers in the south.

Earlier, Lebanese official media reported an Israeli strike on a house in the main eastern city of Baalbek, which was not preceded by an Israeli army evacuation warning.

"Enemy aircraft launched a strike on a house in the Al-Laqees neighbourhood" of the city, the state-run National News Agency said.

Overnight and yesterday morning, Israel conducted a series of air strikes on southern and eastern villages and locations, NNA said.

On Saturday, Israeli strikes killed 20 people in eastern Lebanon and 13 in the south, according to health ministry figures.

Israel intensified its air campaign mainly targeting Hezbollah bastions in Lebanon on September 23 and a week later sent in ground troops.​

 

[Saif]

Israel cites progress on Lebanon truce

Israel said yesterday there was progress in talks about a ceasefire in Lebanon and indicated Russia could play a part by stopping Hezbollah from rearming via Syria, although the Iran-backed group said it had not received any truce proposals yet.

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Israel cites progress on Lebanon truce
Says Russia can help; Hezbollah says no official proposal received yet

Israel said yesterday there was progress in talks about a ceasefire in Lebanon and indicated Russia could play a part by stopping Hezbollah from rearming via Syria, although the Iran-backed group said it had not received any truce proposals yet.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the main challenge would be enforcing any ceasefire agreement, and that Israel was working with the United States on the diplomatic efforts.

"I think there is a certain progress," Saar told a press conference in Jerusalem. "We are working with the Americans on the issue."

"We will be ready to be there if we know, first of all that Hezbollah is not on our border, is north of the Litani river and that Hezbollah will not be able to arm again with new weapons systems."

Israel has been waging a major offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon since late September, pounding its strongholds in Beirut's southern suburbs, southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley and sending troops into areas near the border.

The Litani river runs across southern Lebanon some 30 km (20 miles) north of the Lebanese-Israeli border.

In Beirut, a Hezbollah official indicated an intensification of diplomatic efforts was under way but said that neither the group nor the Lebanese state had received any new proposals.

"There is a great movement between Washington and Moscow and Tehran and a number of capitals," Mohammad Afif said in a televised news conference.

"I believe that we are still in the phase of testing the waters and presenting initial ideas and proactive discussions, but so far there is nothing actual yet," he added.

Israel Hayom reported on Sunday that substantial progress has been made in diplomatic negotiations over a proposed Lebanon ceasefire that would require Hezbollah to withdraw north of the Litani River, barring its military presence near the Israeli border, while the IDF would return to the international border.

Israel's offensive has forced more than 1 million people to flee their homes in Lebanon in the last seven weeks.

Since the eruption of hostilities a year ago, Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,189 people in Lebanon, the vast majority of them since late September, according to health ministry figures, which do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.​

 

[Saif]

Israeli army unable to occupy any Lebanese villages: Hezbollah

Hezbollah said on Monday that the Israeli military has been incapable of occupying even a single village in Lebanon since launching cross-border ground operations six weeks ago.

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Israeli army unable to occupy any Lebanese villages: Hezbollah
Agence France-Presse . Beirut, Lebanon 12 November, 2024, 01:40

AFP photo

Hezbollah said on Monday that the Israeli military has been incapable of occupying even a single village in Lebanon since launching cross-border ground operations six weeks ago.

Israeli troops on September 30 began what the military called ‘localised and targeted raids’ against Hezbollah in Lebanon’s southern border area, a week after escalating air strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

‘After 45 days of bloody fighting, the enemy is still unable to occupy a single Lebanese village,’ Hezbollah spokesman Mohammad Afif told a news conference in south Beirut, a stronghold of the movement and a repeated target of Israeli air raids.

Hezbollah, armed and financed by Iran, had on October 23 issued a similar statement that said Israel’s army ‘has not been able to fully establish its control or completely occupy any village’ in southern Lebanon.

Israel has said its aim is to make its northern border safe for the return of tens of thousands of Israelis displaced when Hezbollah began cross-border fire, which it described as support for Hamas Palestinian militants in Gaza, more than a year ago.

On November 3, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told troops at the Lebanon border that the operation aimed to push Hezbollah back over the Litani River.

He said a second goal was to stop any attempt to rearm and the third was ‘to respond firmly to any action taken against us’, according to his office.

On Monday Hezbollah spokesman Afif said the group’s fighters had repulsed Israeli troops in Khiam, about six kilometres from the border.

He added that the Israelis also failed in attempts ‘to penetrate on several fronts at Bint Jbeil’, about 17 kilometres southwest of Khiam.

Footage verified by AFP last week showed massive detonations in the village of Mais al-Jabal, between Bint Jbeil and Khiam. Similar aerial scenes have been captured from several border villages since Israel sent in ground troops.

Hezbollah accuses Israel of seeking to create a ‘no man’s land’ on the frontier.

Afif denied that Israeli strikes on Lebanon had diminished the group’s missile stock.

He asked how that could be the case ‘when we targeted the suburbs of Tel Aviv several days ago’ and employed for the first time Fateh missiles.

The group announced on November 6 that it had begun to use Fateh-110 Iranian-made surface-to-surface guided missiles.

In a March report, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies described Hezbollah as ‘probably the most heavily armed non-state group in the world’, with an estimated 1,20,000-2,00,000 rockets and missiles.

Asked about ceasefire prospects, Afif said that since the election of Donald Trump last week to the United States presidency, there were ‘contacts between Washington, Moscow, Tehran and other capitals’.

But he said, ‘according to my information nothing official has reached Hezbollah or the Lebanese state.’

Israeli strikes killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and other commanders but Afif said the group remains ‘ready for a long war’.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler called for immediate ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon at a joint Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit that will renew calls for a Palestinian state on Monday.

Arab and Muslim leaders gathered in Riyadh, more than a year into the Israel-Hamas war and regional escalation, in what is seen as a chance to send a message to Trump.

Opening the summit, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said the international community must “immediately halt the Israeli actions against our brothers in Palestine and Lebanon”, condemning Israel’s campaign in Gaza as “genocide”.

Saudi Arabia “affirms its support for the brothers in Palestine and Lebanon to overcome the disastrous humanitarian consequences of the on-going Israeli aggression,” he said.

A draft resolution for the summit stresses ‘firm support’ for “national rights” for the Palestinian people, ‘foremost among which is their right to freedom and to an independent, sovereign state’.

Just hours earlier, newly appointed Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar said it was not “realistic” to establish a Palestinian state, dismissing it as a ‘Hamas state’.

‘I don’t think this position is realistic today and we must be realistic,’ Saar said in Jerusalem.

Prince Mohammed also called on Israel not to attack Iran, highlighting improving ties between Saudi Arabia and its former regional rival.

Meanwhile, Lebanon’s prime minister Najib Mikati warned that the country was suffering an ‘existential’ crisis and hit out at countries meddling in its internal affairs — a thinly veiled swipe at Iran.

Countries should stop ‘interfering in its internal affairs by supporting this or that group, but rather support Lebanon as a state and entity’, Mikati said.​

 

[Saif]

Israeli air strikes hit Beirut suburbs

The Israeli military pounded Beirut’s southern suburbs with airstrikes yesterday, mounting one of its heaviest daytime attacks yet on the Hezbollah-controlled area after the defence minister ruled out a ceasefire until Israeli goals were met.

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Israeli air strikes hit Beirut suburbs
15 buildings destroyed; drone from Lebanon hits kindergarten yard in Israel

The Israeli military pounded Beirut's southern suburbs with airstrikes yesterday, mounting one of its heaviest daytime attacks yet on the Hezbollah-controlled area after the defence minister ruled out a ceasefire until Israeli goals were met.

Smoke billowed over Beirut as around a dozen strikes hit the southern suburbs from mid-morning. They followed an Israeli army warning identifying 12 sites in the area and saying it would take action against them soon. The warning, posted on social media, told residents they were near Hezbollah facilities.

In northern Israel, people were forced to take shelter as attack drones were launched from Lebanon, the military said. One hit the yard of a kindergarten in a Haifa suburb, where the children had been rushed into a shelter, meaning none were hurt, rescue workers said. TV footage showed damage to the building.

There were no immediate reports of casualties in Beirut.

Residents have largely fled the southern suburbs since Israel began bombing it in September. Footage of one strike shared on social media showed two missiles slamming into a building of around 10 storeys, demolishing it and sending up clouds of debris. Yesterday's strikes destroyed 15 buildings in the southern suburbs, security sources said.

Meeting with Israel's general staff for the first time, Israel's newly appointed Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Monday there would be no ceasefire in Lebanon until Israel achieves its goals.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said earlier on Monday there had been "a certain progress" in ceasefire talks, whilst adding the war was not yet over. The main challenge facing any ceasefire deal would be enforcement, he said.

Despite the blows it has suffered, Hezbollah has said it is ready for a long war against Israel.

Israel's offensive has driven more than 1 million people from their homes in Lebanon, causing a humanitarian crisis.

Hezbollah rocket fire into northern Israel has forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate the area over the last year.​