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)
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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.



Israel Pounds Lebanon ahead of Hamas Attack Anniversary

Fire and smoke rise over an area targeted by an Israeli air strike on Beirut's southern suburbs on October 6 - AFP
Fire and smoke rise over an area targeted by an Israeli air strike on Beirut's southern suburbs on October 6 - AFP
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Israel Pounds Lebanon ahead of Hamas Attack Anniversary

Fire and smoke rise over an area targeted by an Israeli air strike on Beirut's southern suburbs on October 6 - AFP
Fire and smoke rise over an area targeted by an Israeli air strike on Beirut's southern suburbs on October 6 - AFP

A fireball lit up the sky and smoke billowed over Beirut on Sunday as Israel unleashed intense strikes on Lebanon, almost a year since the Hamas attack that sparked war in Gaza.

In Gaza, Israel's military said it had encircled the northern area of Jabaliya after indications Hamas was rebuilding despite nearly a year of devastating air strikes and fighting.

As another strike hit Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati appealed to the international community to put pressure on Israel for a ceasefire.

Lebanon's official National News Agency said Beirut's Dahieh was hit by more than 30 strikes, with a petrol station and a medical supplies warehouse also hit.

"The strikes were like an earthquake," said shopkeeper Mehdi Zeiter, 60.

Israel's military claimed it struck weapons storage facilities and infrastructure while taking measures "to mitigate the risk of harming civilians".

AFPTV footage showed a massive fireball over a residential area, followed by a loud bang and secondary explosions. Smoke was still billowing from the site after dawn.

Later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid a visit to troops along the northern border, his office said, nearly a week after the army launched a ground operation inside Lebanon.

For his part, Israeli President Isaac Herzog called Iran an "ongoing threat" after Tehran launched around 200 missiles at Israel on Tuesday in revenge for Israeli killings of militant leaders including Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.

It came the same day Israeli ground forces began raids into Lebanon after days of intense strikes on Hezbollah strongholds.

- 'Resistance won't back down' -

One Israeli military official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to discuss the issue publicly, said the army "is preparing a response" to Iran's attack.

Netanyahu noted Iran had twice launched "hundreds of missiles" at Israel since April.

"Israel has the duty and the right to defend itself and to respond to these attacks and that is what we will do," he said in a statement.

Netanyahu's critics accuse him of obstructing efforts to reach a Gaza ceasefire and a deal to free hostages still held by Hamas.

Iran has prepared a plan to respond to a possible Israeli attack, Tasnim news agency reported, citing an informed source.

The Islamic republic's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Friday warned that "the resistance in the region will not back down".

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Friday that "the resistance in the region will not back down"

- 'Never-ending nightmare' -

UN's refugee agency head Filippo Grandi said Lebanon "faces a terrible crisis" and warned "hundreds of thousands of people are left destitute or displaced by Israeli air strikes".

Israeli bombardment has put at least four hospitals in Lebanon out of service, the facilities said.

The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon said it rejected a request by Israel's military to "relocate some of our positions" in south Lebanon.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, in Damascus Saturday after visiting Beirut, renewed his call for ceasefires in both Gaza and Lebanon and threatened Israel with an "even stronger" reaction to any attack on Iran.

US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators tried unsuccessfully for months to reach a Gaza truce and secure the release of 97 hostages still held there.

Gaza's civil defense agency said on Sunday an Israeli strike on a mosque-turned-shelter in central Deir al-Balah killed 26 people. Israel said it had targeted Hamas militants.
A Palestinian medic searches for survivors in the rubble of a building after it was hit during an Israeli strike on Gaza City's Zeitun neighbourhood

Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,870 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Gaza's health ministry and described as reliable by the UN.

Ahead of the October 7 anniversary, thousands joined pro-Palestinian rallies in London, Paris, Cape Town and other cities.