LAST UPDATE | 22 Sep
THE TENSIONS BETWEEN Lebanon and Israel are at a high today as heavy attacks are launched from both sides, with Israel threatening to send Hezbollah a “message”.
The world is watching as the conflict grows, bringing more death and destruction with it, despite calls from leaders around the world to de-escalate the situation and avoid descending into a formal war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said today that Israel will “not tolerate” attacks in the wake of Hezbollah attacks overnight, which were done in retaliation for the co-ordinated detonations this week of handheld devices used by Hezbollah members that killed dozens of people and injured around 3,000.
Hezbollah’s deputy leader Naim Qassem followed this afternoon with comments that the group is ready for “all military possibilities” and that threats “will not stop” them.
Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the explosions that occurred on Tuesday and Wednesday. Israel has not formally accepted or denied responsibility.
In an interview with Sky News, Israel’s president Isaac Herzog said he “reject[s] out of hand any connection” to device explosions but that Israel has “the inherent right to defend ourselves”, adding also that “there are many enemies of Hezbollah out there”.
Netanyahu said this morning: “In recent days, we have landed a series of blows on Hezbollah that it could never have imagined.”
“If Hezbollah did not get the message, I assure you, it will get the message,” he said in a statement.
He said Israel “will not tolerate” attacks and vowed that Israelis who left homes near the border due to fighting would be able to return.
Israel gave a count of 150 rockets, cruise missiles and drones that were launched towards it overnight, saying a “small number” made hits but there was no “significant damage”.
Hezbollah said it targeted military production facilities and an air base in northern Israel, including the city of Haifa, and that the barrage was in response to the device explosions.
One of its targets was the Ramat David base and airport, which is around 45 kilometres from the border, and is one of the deepest locations inside Israel that the group has said it has targeted over the last year.
Israel has launched its own barrage of attacks on Lebanon, hitting locations in the south of the country.
Yesterday, the Israeli army said it was “attacking widely in southern Lebanon following the identification of Hezbollah’s preparations to fire into Israeli territory” and that its aircraft had “struck thousands of launcher barrels that were ready for immediate use to fire toward Israeli territory”.
The EU’s top foreign affairs diplomat Josep Borrell issued a statement to say that the EU is “extremely concerned by the escalation in Lebanon following Friday’s attacks in Beirut – where at least three children were also killed – and the increasing cross border violence between Israel and Hezbollah”.
“Heavy attacks are reported also today, both in Israel and Lebanon. A ceasefire is urgent across the Blue Line [dividing Lebanon and Israel] as in Gaza,” he said.
Civilians on both sides are paying a high price. They will also be the ones suffering once again the most in a full-blown war that must be averted, including by renewed intense diplomatic mediation efforts.
Borrell said the matter is high on the EU’s agenda at the UN General Assembly taking place from today in New York.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the US has told Israel that military escalation with Lebanon is not in Israel’s “best interests”.
The UN’s Lebanon agency’s Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis has said the region is on “the brink of an imminent catastrophe”.
“It cannot be overstated enough: there is NO military solution that will make either side safer,” she said in a statement released on social media.
“With the region on the brink of an imminent catastrophe, it cannot be overstated enough: there is NO military solution that will make either side safer.” - @UN Special Coordinator for #Lebanon @JeanineHennis. pic.twitter.com/CNXSO4VhTF
— UNSCOL (@UNSCOL) September 22, 2024
At the same time, Israel is continuing its bombardment of Gaza, where the health ministry’s latest death toll says 41,431 people have been killed since last October.
This morning, Israel has striked a school building that had been turned into a shelter in the Al-Shati refugee camp where hundreds of displaced Palestinians were sheltering, killing seven people.
Israel claims the attack was targeting Hamas militants.
In a similar attack on a school run by the UN in central Gaza on 11 September, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said that six of the 18 people killed in the strike were members of its staff.
In the West Bank, armed and masked Israeli forces raided the office of news network Al Jazeera.
Staff were ordered to leave the office, which has now been issued a 45-day closure order.
Additional reporting by AFP
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