Lebanon State Media Says Israel Army Blows up Houses in Border Village

Lebanon state media says Israel army blows up houses in border village - AFP
Lebanon state media says Israel army blows up houses in border village - AFP
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Lebanon State Media Says Israel Army Blows up Houses in Border Village

Lebanon state media says Israel army blows up houses in border village - AFP
Lebanon state media says Israel army blows up houses in border village - AFP

Lebanese state media said the Israeli army dynamited houses in Lebanese border villages on Saturday, more than a month into its war with Hezbollah.

The official National News Agency said "the army of the Israeli enemy has since dawn blown up and destroyed houses" in the border village of Adaisseh.

The NNA also reported "large explosions" in the border village of Kfar Kila, saying the blasts were heard across the south as columns of smoke rose above the area.

The Israeli military had earlier reported "the explosion of a large quantity of explosives in Lebanon" that was strong enough to trigger earthquake warnings in large parts of Israel.

A video circulating on social media showed massive explosions along the border but AFP could not independently verify its authenticity.

Lebanese state media has reported several incidents of Israeli blasts in border villages in recent days amid Israel's ground invasion.

Hezbollah says it is fighting Israeli troops at close range in the area.

The two sides began exchanging cross-border fire with Hezbollah last year over the Gaza war, but all-out war erupted on September 23, when Israel ramped up its aerial campaign on Hezbollah strongholds in south Lebanon, the capital Beirut and the eastern Bekaa Valley.

The war has left at least 1,580 people dead in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of nationwide health ministry figures though the real number is likely to be higher due to gaps in the data.



Israeli Forces Surround Lebanon’s Khiam Ahead of Storming it

Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
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Israeli Forces Surround Lebanon’s Khiam Ahead of Storming it

Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)

Israeli forces have blocked supply routes to the southern Lebanese border city of al-Khiam ahead of storming it.

They have also surrounded the strategic city with Hezbollah fighters still inside, launching artillery and air attacks against them.

Hezbollah fighters have been holding out in Khiam for 25 days. The capture of the city would be significant and allow Israeli forces easier passage into southern Lebanon.

Field sources said Israeli forces have already entered some neighborhoods of Khiam from its eastern and southern outskirts, expanding their incursion into its northern and eastern sectors to fully capture the city.

They cast doubt on claims that the city has been fully captured, saying fighting is still taking place deeper inside its streets and alleys, citing the ongoing artillery fire and drone and air raids.

Israel has already cut off Hezbollah’s supply routes by seizing control of Bourj al-Mamlouk, Tall al-Nahas and olive groves in al-Qlaa in the Marayoun region. Its forces have also fanned out to the west towards the Litani River.

The troops have set up a “line of fire” spanning at least seven kms around Khiam to deter anti-tank attacks from Hezbollah and to launch artillery, drone and aerial attacks, said the sources.

The intense pressure has forced Hezbollah to resort to suicide drone attacks against Israeli forces.

Hezbollah’s al-Manar television said Israeli forces tried to carry out a new incursion towards Khiam’s northern neighborhoods.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that since Friday night, Israeli forces have been using “all forms of weapons in their attempt to capture Khiam, which Israel views as a strategic gateway through which it can make rapid ground advances.”

It reported an increase in air and artillery attacks in the past two days as the forces try to storm the city.

The troops are trying to advance on Khiam by first surrounding it from all sides under air cover, it continued.

They are also booby-trapping some homes and buildings and then destroying them, similar to what they have done in other southern towns, such as Adeisseh, Yaround, Aitaroun and Mais al-Jabal.

Khiam holds symbolic significance to the Lebanese people because it was the first city liberated following Israel’s implementation of United Nations Security Council 425 on May 25, 2000, that led to its withdrawal from the South in a day that Hezbollah has since declared Liberation Day.