Israel Says Eight Soldiers Killed in Clashes with Hezbollah in Lebanon

Israeli army tanks maneuver in a staging area in northern Israel near the Israel-Lebanon border, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
Israeli army tanks maneuver in a staging area in northern Israel near the Israel-Lebanon border, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
TT
20

Israel Says Eight Soldiers Killed in Clashes with Hezbollah in Lebanon

Israeli army tanks maneuver in a staging area in northern Israel near the Israel-Lebanon border, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
Israeli army tanks maneuver in a staging area in northern Israel near the Israel-Lebanon border, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

Israel said on Wednesday eight of its soldiers were killed in combat in south Lebanon as its forces thrust into its northern neighbor in a campaign against the Hezbollah armed group.

The losses were the deadliest suffered by the Israeli military on the Lebanon front in the past year of border-area clashes between Israel and its Iranian-backed Lebanese foe.

Hezbollah said its fighters were engaging Israeli forces inside Lebanon on Wednesday, reporting ground clashes for the first time since Israeli forces pushed over the border. Hezbollah said it had destroyed three Israeli Merkava tanks with rockets near the border town of Maroun El Ras.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a condolence video, said: "We are at the height of a difficult war against Iran's Axis of Evil, which wants to destroy us.

"This will not happen because we will stand together and with God's help, we will win together," he said.

The Israeli military said regular infantry and armored units were joining its ground operations in Lebanon, a day after Iran fired more than 180 missiles into Israel, a barrage which raised concerns that the Middle East could be caught up in a wider conflict.

Iran said on Wednesday its missile volley - its biggest ever assault on Israel - was over barring further provocation, but Israel and the United States promised to hit back hard.

A 38-year-old Palestinian from Gaza, the only known fatality in Iran's attack on Israel, was buried on Wednesday.

Sameh Khadr Hassan Al-Asali had been staying in a Palestinian security forces compound in the West Bank when he was killed by falling missile debris during Tuesday's attack, which Israel said was largely foiled by its air defense systems.

Hezbollah said it had repelled Israeli forces near several border towns and also fired rockets at military posts inside Israel.

The group's media chief Mohammad Afif said those battles were only "the first round" and that Hezbollah had enough fighters, weapons and ammunition to push back Israel.

Israel's addition of infantry and armored troops from the 36th Division, including the Golani Brigade, the 188th Armored Brigade and 6th Infantry Brigade, suggested that the operation might expand beyond limited commando raids.

The military has said its incursion is largely aimed at destroying tunnels and other infrastructure on the border and there were no plans for a wider operation targeting the Lebanese capital Beirut to the north or major cities in the south.

Nevertheless, it issued new evacuation orders for around two dozen towns along the southern border, instructing inhabitants to head north of the Awali River, which flows east to west some 60 km (37 miles) north of the Israeli frontier.

BORDER CLASHES

Israel renewed its bombardment early on Wednesday of Beirut's southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has its headquarters, with more than a dozen airstrikes against what it said were targets belonging to Hezbollah.

Israel also carried out an airstrike on a residential building in the Mezzah suburb in the west of Syria's capital Damascus, killing three civilians and injuring three, Syrian state media reported on Wednesday. Israel has been carrying out strikes on Iran-linked targets in Syria for years.

More than 1,900 people have been killed and over 9,000 wounded in Lebanon in almost a year of cross-border fighting, with most of the deaths occurring in the past two weeks, according to Lebanese government statistics.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said that about 1.2 million Lebanese had been displaced by Israeli attacks.

Malika Joumaa, from Sudan, was forced to take shelter in Saint Joseph's church in Beirut after being forced from her house near Sidon in coastal south Lebanon with her husband and two children.

"It's good that the church offered its help. We were going to stay in the streets; where would we have gone? We were (sheltering) under the bridge, it is not safe. If we go back home, it is not safe, they are striking everywhere."

Iran described Tuesday's missile assault as a response to Israeli killings of militant leaders, including Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, attacks in Lebanon against the group and Israel's war against Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza.

The general staff of Iran's armed forces said any Israeli response would be met with "vast destruction".

US news website Axios on Wednesday cited Israeli officials as saying Israel will launch a "significant retaliation" for Iran's attack within days that could strike oil production facilities inside Iran and other strategic sites.

On social media, Iranians were apprehensive about Israeli reprisals and said past wars, such as the eight-year conflict with Iraq in the 1980s that killed about one million people, would only bring more suffering.

FEARS OF FURTHER VIOLENCE  

"The destruction of generations, young people being cannon fodder, the enrichment of generals and elites, and the empowerment of extremists? Leaders will not pay for dragging Iran into war," said Nima Mokhtarian, who works at an NGO.

Some Iranians believe their government had no choice but to send scores of missiles to Israel, but fear what will come next as Israel's military, the most powerful and advanced in the region, prepares to hit back.

"If there is a war, I'm just worried for my children," said an Iranian mother walking to work past a towering billboard in Tehran's Valiasr Square featuring a portrait of Nasrallah, who was Iran's strongest regional proxy.

Iran's missile strikes and Israeli operations in Lebanon have caused alarm around the world as Tehran's Middle East proxies - Hezbollah, Yemen's Houthis and armed groups in Iraq -- have shown no let-up in attacks in support of Hamas.



Sudan Lashes Out at Kenya's 'Hostile' Support for Rival Govt

Sudanese attend a protest in support of the army in the eastern city of Gedaref on February 22, 2025. (AFP)
Sudanese attend a protest in support of the army in the eastern city of Gedaref on February 22, 2025. (AFP)
TT
20

Sudan Lashes Out at Kenya's 'Hostile' Support for Rival Govt

Sudanese attend a protest in support of the army in the eastern city of Gedaref on February 22, 2025. (AFP)
Sudanese attend a protest in support of the army in the eastern city of Gedaref on February 22, 2025. (AFP)

Sudan's army-aligned administration lashed out Monday at what it called Kenya's "irresponsible and hostile" support for efforts by Khartoum's paramilitary rivals to form a parallel government.

Since April 2023, army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, once allies, have been locked in a power struggle that has dragged the country into war.

Late Saturday, the RSF and a coalition of political and armed groups signed in Nairobi a charter that would pave the way for a "peace and unity" government in rebel-held areas, with Kenya's foreign minister later saying the proposed administration would restore "democratic governance" in Sudan.

Sudan's foreign ministry condemned the "dangerous precedent" on Monday, saying that "in a grave threat to regional security and peace, the Kenyan leadership has adopted the parallel government that the genocidal militia and its followers intend to declare in some of the remaining pockets under their control".

The government, it added, would take "the necessary steps to respond to this irresponsible and hostile behavior".

Those steps appeared to be taking shape Monday, with foreign ministry undersecretary Hussein Al-Amin Al-Fadil telling a press conference in Port Sudan that "measures against Kenya are escalating, and there are arrangements for economic measures, including a ban on importing Kenyan products".

He also said Sudan was in the process of withdrawing its ambassador from Nairobi and would file a complaint against Kenya through regional and international channels.

Among the signatories of the charter was a faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu, which controls parts of the southern states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile.

The United Nations warned that the signing of the charter would "increase the fragmentation" of the war-torn country.

But in a post on X on Sunday, Kenyan Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi called the charter "a peace agreement", describing the proposed administration as a "a unity government" that would restore "peace, stability, and democratic governance in Sudan".

In its statement, Khartoum accused Nairobi of creating a "false facade for the militia to directly obtain weapons", while "relieving regional sponsors of some embarrassment".

The foreign ministry said that this "would expand the scope of war and prolong its duration" and warned of potential damage to bilateral ties with Kenya.

Fadil said Monday that Kenyan President William Ruto "has known personal interests with the militia leader and its sponsors, and is betting on losing cards".

Saturday's signing of the charter comes as the army and its allied factions are making advances against the RSF in the capital Khartoum and in central Sudan.

The war in Sudan, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives, erupted after a rift emerged between Burhan and Daglo over the future structure of the government.

The war has triggered the world's largest displacement and hunger crisis.

Both warring sides face accusations of committing grave atrocities against civilians, with their leaders sanctioned by the US.