Israel Attacks Deep into Lebanon in Preparation for Potential Escalation

This picture taken during a guided tour by the Hezbollah media office shows a man salvaging the remains of a destroyed greenhouse at the site of reported overnight Israeli bombardment on Sarein in the Bekaa valley in east-central Lebanon on August 20, 2024. (AFP)
This picture taken during a guided tour by the Hezbollah media office shows a man salvaging the remains of a destroyed greenhouse at the site of reported overnight Israeli bombardment on Sarein in the Bekaa valley in east-central Lebanon on August 20, 2024. (AFP)
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Israel Attacks Deep into Lebanon in Preparation for Potential Escalation

This picture taken during a guided tour by the Hezbollah media office shows a man salvaging the remains of a destroyed greenhouse at the site of reported overnight Israeli bombardment on Sarein in the Bekaa valley in east-central Lebanon on August 20, 2024. (AFP)
This picture taken during a guided tour by the Hezbollah media office shows a man salvaging the remains of a destroyed greenhouse at the site of reported overnight Israeli bombardment on Sarein in the Bekaa valley in east-central Lebanon on August 20, 2024. (AFP)

Israel announced on Tuesday that its recent attacks deep inside Lebanon came in anticipation of a potential escalation.

The announcement was made hours after the Israeli army targeted a Hezbollah ammunition depot in the eastern Bekaa valley, about 80 kilometers from the nearest border point.

On Monday night, Israeli aircraft launched heavy raids on three Hezbollah sites in the Bekaa, including weapons depots. No casualties were reported.

On Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant assessed the situation at the 36th Division headquarters on the northern front with Lebanon.

“Our center of gravity is gradually shifting from the south to the north,” he said, pointing to a readiness to shift from operations in Gaza to a focus on the Lebanese front.

Galant added that the strikes deep inside Lebanon were in preparation for “any potential developments”.

The Israeli army confirmed its strikes on several warehouses storing Hezbollah weapons in the Bekaa on Monday.

It noted that following the raids, secondary explosions were observed, indicating a significant presence of weapons in the targeted locations.

Eleven people were injured in the attack, according to the Ministry of Public Health’s Emergency Operations Center.

In retaliation, Hezbollah fired a barrage of missiles at Israeli military positions in the occupied Golan Heights on Tuesday.

In a statement, the party said: “In response to the Israeli enemy’s attack on the Bekaa region, the Mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance launched an intense missile strike on the headquarters of the 210th Golan Division in the Nafah Barracks, as well as on the Artillery Regiment and Armored Brigade of the 210th Division in the Yarden Barracks.”

The Israeli army responded with a statement saying that its aircraft struck a Hezbollah launch site, from which missiles were fired, in the Beit Lif area in southern Lebanon on Monday.

It also said its jets targeted a Hezbollah military facility in Aita al-Shaab in the South.



Video Shows Last Moments for Slain Gaza Aid Workers, Red Crescent Says

This image grab from a handout video reportedly recovered from the cellphone of an aid worker killed in Gaza alongside other rescuers - AFP
This image grab from a handout video reportedly recovered from the cellphone of an aid worker killed in Gaza alongside other rescuers - AFP
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Video Shows Last Moments for Slain Gaza Aid Workers, Red Crescent Says

This image grab from a handout video reportedly recovered from the cellphone of an aid worker killed in Gaza alongside other rescuers - AFP
This image grab from a handout video reportedly recovered from the cellphone of an aid worker killed in Gaza alongside other rescuers - AFP

A video recovered from the cellphone of an aid worker killed in Gaza alongside other rescuers shows their final moments, according to the Palestine Red Crescent, with clearly marked ambulances and emergency lights flashing as heavy gunfire erupts.

The aid worker was among 15 humanitarian personnel who were killed on March 23 in an attack by Israeli forces, according to the United Nations and the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS).

The Israeli military has said its soldiers "did not randomly attack" any ambulances, insisting they fired on "terrorists" approaching them in "suspicious vehicles".

Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said that troops opened fire on vehicles that had no prior clearance from Israeli authorities and had their lights off, AFP reported.

But the video released by PRCS on Saturday appears to contradict the Israeli military's claims, showing ambulances travelling with their headlights and emergency lights clearly flashing.

The six minute and 42 second video, apparently filmed from inside a moving vehicle, captures a red firetruck and ambulances driving through the night.

The vehicles stop beside another on the roadside, and two uniformed men exit. Moments later, intense gunfire erupts.

In the video, the voices of two medics are heard -- one saying, "the vehicle, the vehicle," and another responding: "It seems to be an accident."

Seconds later, a volley of gunfire breaks out, and the screen goes black.

PRCS said it had found the video on the phone of Rifat Radwan, one of the deceased aid workers.

"This video unequivocally refutes the occupation's claims that Israeli forces did not randomly target ambulances, and that some vehicles had approached suspiciously without lights or emergency markings," PRCS said in a statement.

"The footage exposes the truth and dismantles this false narrative."

Those killed included eight PRCS staff, six members of the Gaza civil defence agency and one employee of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, also known as UNRWA.

Their bodies were found buried near Rafah in what the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) described as a mass grave.

- Fear and prayers -

OCHA has said that the first team was targeted by Israeli forces at dawn on that day. In the hours that followed, additional rescue and aid teams searching for their colleagues were also struck in a series of successive attacks.

According to the PRCS, the convoy had been dispatched in response to emergency calls from civilians trapped under bombardment in Rafah.

In the video, a medic recording the scene can be heard reciting the Islamic declaration of faith, the shahada, which Muslims traditionally say in the face of death.

"There is no God but God, Mohammed is his messenger," he says repeatedly, his voice trembling with fear as intense gunfire continues in the background.

He is also heard saying: "Forgive me mother because I chose this way, the way of helping people."

He then says, "accept my martyrdom, God, and forgive me." Just before the footage ends, he is heard saying, "The Jews are coming, the Jews are coming," referring to Israeli soldiers.

The deaths of the aid workers has sparked international condemnation.

Jonathan Whittall, the head of OCHA in the Palestinian territories, said the bodies of the humanitarian workers were "in their uniforms, still wearing gloves" when they were found.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, condemned the attack, raising concerns over possible "war crimes" by the Israeli military.

"I am appalled by the recent killings of 15 medical personnel and humanitarian aid workers, which raise further concerns over the commission of war crimes by the Israeli military," Volker Turk told the UN Security Council on Thursday.

Turk called for an "independent, prompt and thorough investigation" into the attack.

An Israeli military official said the bodies had been covered "in sand and cloth" to avoid damage until coordination with international organizations could be arranged for their retrieval.

The military said it was investigating the attack.