TEL AVIV, Israel – An Israeli military official said Wednesday that the military is preparing for a possible operation in Lebanon as Hezbollah fires dozens of bombs at Israel, including a missile aimed at Tel Aviv that was the group’s largest strike to date.
Speaking to the soldiers on the northern border, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said the recent Israeli airstrikes were designed to “prepare the ground to enter and continue to humiliate Hezbollah.”
Apparently referring to the missile aimed at Tel Aviv, he said: “Today, Hezbollah increased its fire range, and later today, they will receive a very strong response. Be prepared.”
In order to reach the goal of returning the displaced residents of northern Israel to their homes, “we are preparing a process to straighten things out,” he said.
In recent days, the Israeli military has said it has no immediate plans for a ground attack. Halevi’s statement was too strong for an Israeli leader to suggest that the army could enter.
In other incidents, the health minister in Lebanon said that the continuation of Israeli strikes on Wednesday killed more than 50 people. That brought the death toll from the previous three days to 615, with more than 2,000 injured.
This week was the deadliest week in Lebanon since the month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006. As the situation escalated, the Israeli army said it would open up its forces.
Israeli military officials said they had intercepted a Hezbollah missile from the ground, marking a further escalation after Israel’s airstrikes in Lebanon killed hundreds of people.
The missile set off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv and throughout central Israel. No casualties or injuries were reported. The army said it had raided the area in southern Lebanon where the missile was launched.
The launch has increased hostilities as the region looks set for another major war, as Israel continues to fight Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Thousands have left their homes in parts of Lebanon that are burning with flames.
Israel said on Wednesday its air force struck about 280 Hezbollah targets across Lebanon this afternoon, including rocket launchers in the northern Israeli cities of Safed and Nahariya.
Families who fled have flocked to Beirut and the coastal city of Sidon, sleeping in schools that have been turned into shelters, and in cars, parks and on the beach. Some wanted to leave the country, which caused traffic jams on the border with Syria.
The United Nations has said that more than 90,000 people have been displaced due to Israeli strikes in Lebanon. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Wednesday that a total of 200,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon since Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel nearly a year ago, prompting Israel to retaliate.
Hezbollah said it fired a Qader 1 missile at the headquarters of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, blaming it for a series of assassinations targeting its top brass and an attack last week in which explosives hidden in pagers and walkie-talkies killed dozens. of people and injured thousands, including many members of Hezbollah.
The Israeli military said it was the first time a bomb fired from Lebanon had landed in central Israel. Hezbollah says it targeted an intelligence agency near Tel Aviv last month in an airstrike, but there is no confirmation. The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza repeatedly attacked Tel Aviv in the early months of the war.
The announcement about the reserve forces revealed that Israel is planning to take drastic measures against Hezbollah. The army said it would call up two reserve brigades in the north.
“This will make it possible to continue the fight against the terrorist organization Hezbollah,” said the soldiers.
Hezbollah’s latest strikes included dozens of rockets fired Wednesday into northern Israel, the military said. Two people were wounded in the pits, according to the Israeli Magen David Adom.
Israel responded with its latest strikes on Hezbollah. In Lebanon, at least three people were killed and nine were injured in an Israeli strike near Byblos, according to the country’s Ministry of Health. The coastal town is north of Beirut and far from Hezbollah’s main strongholds.
Tensions between Israel and the Lebanese militant group have steadily increased over the past 11 months. Hezbollah has been firing rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel in cooperation with the Palestinians in Gaza and its partner Hamas, a terrorist group supported by Iran.
Israel has responded with heavy airstrikes and targeted assassinations of Hezbollah commanders while threatening a wider operation.
The UN Security Council organized an emergency meeting in Lebanon on Wednesday at the request of France.
Nearly a year of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel had left tens of thousands of people displaced on both sides of the border before the latest escalation. Israel has vowed to do whatever it takes to ensure its citizens can return to their homes in the north, while Hezbollah has said it will continue its rocket attacks until a ceasefire in Gaza appears to be a long way off.
Rocket fire last week disrupted the lives of more than 1 million people in northern Israel, with schools closed and restrictions on public gatherings. Many restaurants and other businesses are closed in the coastal city of Haifa, and there are few people on the streets. Others who fled south to communities near the border were also hit by rockets again.
Israel has moved thousands of soldiers from Gaza to the northern border. It says Hezbollah has about 150,000 rockets and missiles, including some capable of hitting anywhere in Israel, and that the group has fired about 9,000 rockets and drones since last October.
Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, a spokesman for the Israeli military, said the missile fired on Wednesday was “heavy-headed” but declined to elaborate or confirm that it was the type described by Hezbollah. He dismissed Hezbollah’s claim of targeting the Mossad headquarters, north of Tel Aviv, as “psychological warfare.”
The Iranian-made Qader is a medium-to-long range ballistic missile with a payload. It can carry a payload of up to 800 kilograms (1,760 pounds), according to the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. Iranian officials described the liquid-fueled missile as having a range of 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles).
The cross-border fire started on Sunday after pager and walkie-talkie bombs exploded, killing 39 people and injuring nearly 3,000, most of them civilians. Lebanon blamed Israel, but Israel neither confirmed nor denied responsibility.
The next day, Israel said its warplanes struck 1,600 Hezbollah targets, destroying cruise missiles, long- and short-range rockets and attack aircraft, including weapons hidden in civilian homes. The strikes have raised the death toll in a single day in Lebanon since Israel and Hezbollah fought a fierce month-long war in 2006.
An Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Tuesday killed Ibrahim Kobeisi, whom Israel described as a senior leader of Hezbollah’s rocket and missile unit. Military officials said Kobeisi was responsible for the attack on Israel and planned the attack in 2000 in which three Israeli soldiers were kidnapped and killed. Hezbollah later confirmed his death.
It was the latest in a series of assassinations and setbacks for Hezbollah, a powerful political and military actor in Lebanon and widely regarded as the top military force in the Arab world.
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Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.
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