Israel attacked Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and an Iran-backed group attacked military bases in northern Israel on Tuesday, raising fears of a full-scale conflict after Lebanon suffered its worst day of attacks in decades.
An Israeli army chief said Hezbollah, which has suffered heavy blows recently, must not be given a break and the attack by the Iran-backed group will accelerate after Lebanon’s worst day in decades.
“The situation calls for continued, drastic measures to be taken on all fronts,” said Army Chief Herzi Halevi after a security inspection.
Israel’s military said it struck dozens of Hezbollah targets overnight, a day after an attack on the militant group that Lebanese authorities said killed more than 550 people and sent tens of thousands fleeing for safety.
“In the last hour, warplanes bombarded Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, including missile launchers, military buildings, and buildings where weapons were stored,” Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee told X.
Hezbollah said it targeted several Israeli military targets overnight, including an explosives factory 60 kilometers to Israel, which it attacked with rockets in Fadi at around 4 am local time. It said it also attacked Megiddo airport near the northern Israeli city of Afula on separate occasions.
After nearly a year of war against Hamas in Gaza on its southern border, Israel has shifted its focus to the northern border, where Hezbollah has been firing rockets into Israel in support of Hamas, which is also backed by Iran.
It is being called the deadliest day of conflict in Lebanon in nearly 20 years. Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah killed hundreds of people on Monday, including children. This outbreak has forced tens of thousands of people to flee in search of safety.
‘Very scary’
Some hospitals in Lebanon are overwhelmed by the number of casualties, the head of the World Health Organization in Lebanon said, while Haifa’s main hospital has moved operations underground after the attack on the Israeli city on Monday.
“We are looking at tens of thousands [of displaced in Lebanon]but we expect those numbers to start to rise,” said the spokesman for the UN refugee agency, Matthew Saltmarsh. “The situation is very alarming.”
The war has raised fears that the United States, a close ally of Israel, and regional power Iran, which has members in the Middle East – Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis and armed groups in Iraq – will enter a wider war.
Maj.-Gen. Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, said that “a small number of US troops will be sent” to the region, where there are currently about 40,000 US troops stationed at various bases. The Pentagon declined to specify the exact number or mission of the troops deployed.
Calls for an immediate truce between Israel and Hezbollah are growing louder after airstrikes killed hundreds of people in Lebanon on Monday. The US is sending more troops to the Middle East, to strengthen its presence in the region.
The strikes piled pressure on Hezbollah, which last week suffered a heavy loss when thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by its members exploded in the worst security breach in its history.
The project is said to be carried out by Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility.
Israel’s intelligence and technological prowess have given it a strong edge in Lebanon and Gaza. It tracked down and killed top Hezbollah commanders and Hamas leaders.
The G7 is concerned about regional war
The Israeli military said about 55 projectiles fell on Israel in the latest attack, but most were intercepted and a few explosives were found to have fallen in the Upper Galilee region.
“Damage was caused to buildings in the area,” it said, adding that some projectiles were intercepted in the HaAmakim area and others fell in open areas.
Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations Bob Rae tells Power & Politics that the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon is a ‘very disturbing situation.’
Hezbollah said it bombed the warehouses of the 146th Division in the Naftali area with a rocket salvo.
The G7 foreign ministers, including Mr. Mélanie Joly of Canada, said that the Middle East is at risk of being drawn into a wider conflict that will not benefit the country, according to a joint statement issued after meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Both Canada and the US have advised their citizens still in Lebanon to leave while trade options are still available. Joly estimated last week that there were about 45,000 Canadian citizens in Lebanon.
Endless war could create more instability in the Middle East than the devastating war in Gaza, which shows no sign of abating.
Possible Israeli options would include an attack on southern Lebanon and expanding airstrikes to attack more southern Hezbollah-controlled areas of Beirut or Lebanese infrastructure, including bridges and highways that were blown up in the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.
More than 1,800 were injured in Monday’s strikes
Lebanon will not be able to afford such destruction as it is still suffering from the financial crisis that its leaders have allowed to flourish for five years.
Hezbollah is likely to be Israel’s most formidable adversary on the ground than Hamas. Created in 1982 by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to counter the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, it is more experienced, more disciplined and better armed than its Palestinian counterparts.
But Israel’s government is facing public pressure to secure its northern border and return civilians there safely — a wartime priority.
Families from southern Lebanon on Monday loaded cars, vans and trucks with goods and people young and old. The main roads to the north were closed.
Israel’s military said it struck Hezbollah in southern, eastern and northern Lebanon on Monday, including targeting rocket launchers, officials and terrorist infrastructure. The Israeli air force struck about 1,600 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, it said.
The Ministry of Health in Lebanon said on Tuesday that at least 558 people died in the previous day’s strikes, including 50 children and 94 women, and 1,835 were injured.
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