The Israeli military carried out a series of airstrikes on Lebanon on Monday, reportedly killing over 350 people. The strikes, which have been described as the deadliest since the 2006 Israeli-Hezbollah war, come amid the Jewish State’s expanding campaign against the Lebanese militant group.
Lebanese authorities have reported that over 1,200 people have been injured. The country’s Health Minister Firass Abiad has claimed that the strikes have hit hospitals, medical centers and ambulances.
The government has ordered schools and universities across the country to begin preparing shelters as thousands of people flee from the southern regions of Lebanon.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military claimed to have struck over 1,300 targets, describing them as Hezbollah weapons sites.
23 September 2024
Egypt has called on “international powers and the UN Security Council to intervene immediately” to stop the “dangerous Israeli escalation in Lebanon” that “threatens to drag the region into a comprehensive regional war,” according to a statement by the Foreign Ministry in Cairo.
Egypt has expressed solidarity with Lebanon and denounced “any violations of Lebanon’s sovereignty and territory,” while continuing to work towards a ceasefire in Gaza, the ministry added.
Israeli strikes on Lebanon “mark a new phase in its efforts to drag the entire region into chaos,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Monday evening.
“The countries that unconditionally support Israel are helping [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu shed blood for his political interests,” the ministry said in a statement, calling on the UN Security Council and “all institutions responsible for maintaining international peace and security” to act without delay and stop the hostilities.
The NGO Save the Children has condemned the Israeli bombing of Lebanon as “the deadliest day since last October,” noting that around 1.5 million children will face school closures on Tuesday.
“We’re seeing strikes in dozens of towns, families desperately trying to flee with whatever they can carry, children crying, terrified by the sound of drones and fighter jets,” according to Jennifer Moorehead, the NGO’s director in Lebanon.
At least 24 children were killed in Israeli air attacks on Monday, according to Lebanese authorities.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has called for an urgent meeting of Arab leaders in New York, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, to “review the repercussions of the Zionist aggression on our peaceful people in Lebanon” and work to stop the “criminal behavior,” according to a statement released to the press.
Hezbollah commander Ali Karaki is “well” and in a safe place, the group said on Monday evening. Israeli media earlier reported that Karaki was the target of a series of IDF airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Lebanese capital Beirut earlier in the day.
Spain has condemned the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon, calling for a ceasefire and respect for UN Security Council Resolution 1701.
“War must be avoided at all costs. All parties must respect civilian lives and the basic principles of international humanitarian law,” the Foreign Ministry in Madrid said on Monday in a statement, according to an unofficial translation. “The spiral of violence must stop.”
At least 356 Lebanese have been killed and 1,246 wounded in Israeli airstrikes on Monday, the health ministry in Beirut announced later in the day. Among the casualties were 42 women and 24 children, the authorities said.
On Monday evening, the IDF said it had struck “more than 1,300” Hezbollah targets in Lebanon with over 1,400 munitions. The Israeli military claimed it was targeting storage facilities and deployment points of rockets, missiles, launchers, and drones that “posed a threat and were intended to have been used against Israel.”
Hezbollah has fired around 200 rockets at northern Israel since Monday morning, according to the IDF.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “alarmed” by the escalating conflict in Lebanon and has expressed “great concern” for the safety of civilians in that country and in Israel, according to his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
“The secretary-general notes the ongoing efforts by the UN special coordinator for Lebanon and the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon to reduce tensions, and he reiterates the urgent need for de-escalation – that all efforts should be devoted to a diplomatic solution,” Dujarric added.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Israel of acting “not as a state but as a terrorist organization,” saying that it has shown it doesn’t care about civilian lives when it remotely blew up hundreds of communications devices across Lebanon last week.
“Israel’s plan is to spread the war to the entire region,” Erdogan said on Monday, after Israel’s military announced earlier in the day it had conducted “extensive” airstrikes on 300 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.
There have been casualties from an Israeli “precision strike” on the Dahiyeh neighborhood of southern Beirut, the Lebanese National News Agency has said. The attack took place in Bir al-Abed but the exact number of people injured or killed remains unknown.
In a video message addressed to the people of Lebanon, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu argued that “Israel’s war is not with you. It’s with Hezbollah.”
Netanyahu claimed that Hezbollah has used Lebanese civilians as “human shields” and that Israel needs to destroy the group’s weapons.
”Starting this morning, the IDF has warned you to get out of harm’s way,” Netanyahu said. “Please, get out of harm’s way now. Once our operation is finished, you can come back safely to your homes.”
The Lebanese government has dismissed the Israeli calls as “psychological warfare.”
Israel is “crushing what was built by Hezbollah for 20 years,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Monday, while visiting the IDF Operations Directorate.
“[Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah remains alone at the top, entire units of the Radwan Force were taken out of service, and tens of thousands of rockets were destroyed,” Gallant added, according to the IDF.
The US will send additional troops to the Middle East, the Pentagon announced on Monday, citing the “spike in violence” between Israel and Hezbollah.
Washington has an estimated 40,000 troops in the region. Pentagon spokesman General Pat Ryder would not say how many additional forces would be deployed, or what their mission might be.
The US State Department has warned Americans to leave Lebanon due to the rising risk of a regional war.
Israeli jets have carried out an airstrike in Beirut targeting senior Hezbollah commander Ali Karaki, the Times of Israel has reported, citing security sources. Karaki is allegedly the head of Hezbollah’s southern command, responsible for military activity in south Lebanon, and a member of the Jihad Council.
Hezbollah has issued a statement claiming to have targeted two Israeli bases in retaliation for the Jewish state’s attacks on southern Lebanon. The group said it has launched dozens of rockets at the two bases.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has said the army is expanding strikes against Hezbollah positions “all over Lebanon.”
The Israeli military has also announced on X that it is currently targeting the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has claimed that Israel’s strikes on Lebanon are an attempt to create a “wider conflict” and has warned that a war in the Middle East would not benefit anyone.
A spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry has also described the strikes as “insane” and has warned of “dangerous consequences” for West Jerusalem’s “new adventure.”
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has expressed “grave concern” over Israeli strikes and their impact on civilians in southern Lebanon. The organization has called for a “diplomatic solution” and urged Israel and the Lebanon-based armed group Hezbollah to prioritize civilian lives.
Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad has urged hospitals to stop taking regular light cases to make space for those wounded in the Israeli airstrikes in the south.
He has also announced plans to turn first-aid centers into places that can receive the injured. The displaced who have cancer, kidney failure and chronic diseases are planned to be transferred to other medical centers.