Hezbollah and IDF exchange heavy fire across Israel-Lebanon border

Pelican Press · September 22, 2024

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Hezbollah and IDF exchange heavy * across ***-Lebanon border

The Hezbollah militia reported launching an ******* on an industrial complex and an ******** military base near the port city of Haifa in northern ******* early on Sunday, while the ******** army said it launched attacks on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah described its ******* as retaliation for *******’s “brutal massacre” last week, in which coordinated blasts involving electronic devices across Lebanon caused ****** and injury.

The Iran-backed militia also said it had attacked the ******* Defence Forces’ (IDF) Ramat David airbase near Haifa in response to “repeated ******** aggression in various regions in Lebanon.”

It did not mention the name of Ibrahim Akil, the senior Hezbollah commander ******* in an ******** ******* on a Beirut suburb on Friday.

The ****** toll from Friday’s ******** ******* on Beirut’s southern suburbs, a hotbed of the Hezbollah movement, rose to 45, the Lebanese Health Ministry said on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the IDF reported on Sunday that Hezbollah had launched around 115 attacks on civilian targets in northern *******.

IDF forces were on high alert in the region to ward off the attacks and to “intensify” attacks on Hezbollah, it said. The attacks penetrated further south than previously.

Air raid sirens were also heard to the south-west of Nazareth, which ***** inland from Haifa.

Lebanese authorities described the ******** air attacks as the heaviest since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip on October 7 last year. Some 70 targets had been attacked within 20 minutes, they said.

Hospitals in northern ******* to move patients to bunker

Amid increased cross-border rocket attacks from Lebanon, hospitals in northern ******* have been instructed to move patients to shelters, Isreali media reported on Sunday.

Rambam Hospital in Haifa, the region’s largest, announced it would begin relocating patients to its underground emergency facility at midday, following army directives.

Rambam’s so-called “bunker hospital,” built in 2014 and located more than 16 metres underground, can accommodate up to 1,400 patients, both soldiers and civilians, according to its website.

Normally used as a car park, the facility is also fortified against biological and chemical attacks.

Since the war began in the Gaza Strip on October 7 last year between ******* and the ************ Islamist ****** movement, which is allied with Hezbollah, there have been almost daily military confrontations between the ******** army and Hezbollah in the border area between the two countries.

There have been deaths on both sides, most of them members of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia. Hezbollah says it is acting in solidarity with ******.

Concerns are rising that the IDF could launch a ground offensive into southern Lebanon to force Hezbollah units back from the border in order to allow thousands of ******** civilians to return to their homes in the region.

UN warns of ‘imminentcatastrophe’ in the Middle East

The ******* Nations special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, has warned that the Middle East is facing a catastrophic situation, stating that the region is “on the brink of an imminent catastrophe.”

She said: “It cannot be overstated enough: there is no military solution that will make either side safer.”

Hennis-Plasschaert’s remarks referred to the ongoing exchanges between *******’s army and Hezbollah in Lebanon, which continued through the night.

Both sides have engaged in some of the most intense exchanges since their renewed confrontations began nearly a year ago.

The UN observer mission UNIFIL has been monitoring the *******-Lebanon border since 1978. Last month, three UNIFIL soldiers were slightly injured by an ********** near their vehicle in southern Lebanon.

The mission currently involves around 10,000 troops and 800 civilians. Since its inception nearly 50 years ago, more than 300 UN peacekeepers have lost their lives.

US calls on citizens to leave Lebanon

Meanwhile, in view of the escalation, the ******* States is calling on its citizens to leave Lebanon.

“Due to the unpredictable nature of ongoing conflict between [Hezbollah] and ******* and recent explosions throughout Lebanon including the capital Beirut,” the US Embassy is advising its citizens to leave Lebanon while commercial options are still available, the US State Department said in a statement.

At this time, flights are still available, but with reduced capacity, it added.

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An excavator removes a destroyed vehicle in Kiryat Bialik, following a reported strike by the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement. Ilia Yefimovich/dpa