Photo: AP
Beirut: In an operation that has been long expected and that officials claim will facilitate the return of displaced Israelis to northern settlements, the Israeli military announced early on Tuesday that it has begun a ground invasion of Lebanon.
Israel's military claimed that the operation against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon was localised, and limited and that the ground forces would be supported by air force and artillery units. The operation was based on precise intelligence.
According to the military, its targets were villages near Lebanon's border that represent "an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel.”
For months, Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging gunfire across the border, forcing a large number of people living on both sides to leave or abandon dangerous zones. Residents of Aita al-Shaab, Lebanon, reported hearing military aircraft activity and heavy shelling.
According to Lebanese authorities, Israeli actions throughout the nation on Monday resulted in the deaths of ninety-five persons. On Monday, Hezbollah declared that it had attacked the Israeli troops.
At least six attacks struck south Beirut on Monday night, as Israeli fire once again aimed towards the capital of Lebanon. Many people continue to sleep outside for safety reasons or because they have nowhere else to go after receiving notifications telling them to leave target sites.
In Sidon, a strike targeted Mounir Maqdah, leader of the Lebanese branch of the Palestinian Fatah movement’s military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Reuters said quoting two Palestinian security officials, and his fate remained unclear early Tuesday. In the south of the city, in the Palestinian refugee settlement of Ain Al-Hilweh, a building was struck by the strike.
Three persons, including a journalist, were reportedly killed in neighbouring Syria on Tuesday as a result of air defences intercepting "hostile" targets near Damascus, according to official media.
Syria's official SANA news agency claimed, "Our air defence systems are intercepting hostile targets in the Damascus area," using a term typically used to allude to Israeli strikes, Arab News reported.
The US was notified by Israel of the raids, according to State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, who described them as "limited operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure near the border.”
A Western official in Cairo, whose nation is actively involved in de-escalation efforts, stated that Israel had communicated its plans to the United States and other Western partners and that the operation would "be limited" before the entry of Israeli ground forces into Lebanon.
According to a Lebanese military officer who spoke to AFP, the army of Lebanon is moving soldiers who are stationed on its southern border. The officer, who asked to remain anonymous in order to discuss sensitive topics, stated that the Lebanese army is "repositioning and regrouping forces" along the southern border in response to fears of an Israeli assault.
Amid concerns of a larger escalation that might involve Iranian participation to support Hezbollah, Britain and Canada indicated on Monday that they intended to remove their citizens from Lebanon.
Naim Qassem, the deputy head of Hezbollah, stated earlier on Monday in his first public speech that the group's fighters are ready to challenge any Israeli land invasion of Lebanon following the death of its veteran leader Hassan Nasrallah last week due to Israeli airstrikes. Israel won't succeed in its objectives, he declared.
“We will face any possibility and we are ready if the Israelis decide to enter by land and the resistance forces are ready for a ground engagement,” he said in an address from an undisclosed location.
The greatest blow to the group since Iran founded it in 1982 to oppose Israel is the death of Nasrallah, in addition to several hits to the group's communications equipment and the murder of other senior leaders.
Hezbollah now has to replace a charismatic, towering leader who stood up to Israel winning him over millions of supporters, despite being labelled a terrorist mastermind by the West.
“We will choose a secretary-general for the party at the earliest opportunity...and we will fill the leadership and positions on a permanent basis,” Qassem said.
According to Qassem, Hezbollah's fighters were prepared to repel any potential Israeli ground invasion and have continued to launch missiles up to 150 km (93 miles) into Israeli territory.
“What we are doing is the bare minimum...We know that the battle may be long,” he said. “We will win as we won in the liberation of 2006 in the face of the Israeli enemy,” he added, referring to the last big conflict between the two foes.
Israel, which in the Gaza War also killed leaders of the Palestinian organisation Hamas, declares it would stop at nothing to ensure the safe return of its citizens to settlements evacuated along its northern border.
“The elimination of Nasrallah is an important step, but it is not the final one. In order to ensure the return of Israel’s northern communities, we will employ all of our capabilities, and this includes you,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops deployed to the country’s northern border.