Tel Aviv reports eight soldiers killed, but Hezbollah assures there are more // Tehran was moderated for more than two months, highlights chancellor
▲ Neighbors remove debris from a house bombed by Israel in Beirut.Photo Ap
Ap, Europa Press, Afp and Reuters
La Jornada Newspaper
Thursday, October 3, 2024, p. 24
Beirut. Israel advanced yesterday on three fronts, with a ground incursion into Lebanon against Hezbollah, as well as new bombings on Beirut and Gaza, which killed dozens of people, including children, while attacking a residential area in Damascus, capital of Syria.
As Israel reiterated its promises to retaliate for Iran’s ballistic missile attack, the region prepared for a new escalation of the conflict.
Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian said Israel will face a harsh reaction if it does not end his crimesand said that the salvo of missiles launched the day before “demonstrates again that the anti-missile system Iron Dome It is more fragile than glass”, while indicating in Doha that his country does not seek war, but will respond if Tel Aviv acts against the Islamic republic.
General Mohammad Bagheri, chief of the army staff, warned that Iran will bomb all infrastructure of Israel, if attacked.
In this context, the Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Aragchi, held telephone calls with his French counterparts, Jean Noël Barrot; from Germany, Annalena Baerbock, and from the United Kingdom, David Lammy, in which he highlighted the moderation of your country for more than two months.
The Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army, Herzi Halevi, asserted that his country has sufficient military capacity to attack any point of the Middle East, by taking up threats from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army indicated that eight soldiers were killed in two attacks carried out by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, without giving further details. Seven other soldiers were injured.
The deaths are among the highest casualties suffered by Israeli forces in months.
At the time of going to press, it was reported that this morning Israel bombed the center of Beirut, leaving six dead.
Witnesses told Reuters they heard a large explosion, and a security source said the target was a building in the Bachoura neighborhood in the center of the capital, near Parliament, the closest place to the Lebanese government headquarters.
Hezbollah said its fighters clashed with Israeli forces in two locations near the border with Israel.
The Israeli military said ground forces, backed by air, eliminated militants in close range confrontationswithout specifying where.
Israeli media reported that infantry and tank units were operating in southern Lebanon, following the sending of thousands of additional soldiers and artillery to the border.
Israeli attacks have killed more than a thousand people in Lebanon in the last two weeks, almost a quarter of them women and children, the Health Ministry said.
Hezbollah assured that these fighting in Lebanon, They are just the beginningand stated that Israel is hiding the volume of its combat casualties.
The group’s spokesman, Mohamad Afif, told reporters in Beirut that the number of enemy casualties is very largeand argued that Israel has imposed an information blackout so as not to reveal the number of fallen.
They cross the blue line
The Lebanese armed forces claimed that Israeli troops crossed the blue line from the border, they advanced about 400 meters and withdrew after a short period.
In Gaza, Israel continued its attacks on what it considers Hamas targets, almost a year after the attack by the Islamic resistance movement on October 7 that sparked this war.
The Gaza Health Ministry reported that at least 51 people were killed and 82 injured in Khan Younis. European Hospital records indicated that the deceased included seven women and 12 children.
Another 23 people, including two minors, died in more attacks in the strip, according to local hospitals.
Residents said Israel carried out heavy airstrikes while its ground forces raided three neighborhoods in Khan Younis.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a Shiite militant group, claimed responsibility for three dawn drone attacks on three sites in northern Israel.
In an online statement, the group indicated that the offensive was carried out in solidarity with the people of the Gaza Strip and promised to continue attacking the enemy’s strongholds.
On the other hand, an Israeli airstrike hit a residential building in Damascus last night, killing three people, the Sana agency reported.
In the early hours of today, a pair of drones sounded sirens in the Israeli town of Bat Yam, one of which was intercepted, while the other hit an open area, the military command reported. There were no injuries, published the Times of Israel.