▲ Civilians fleeing Lebanon cross into Syria and arrive in Jdeidat Yabus.Afp Photo
Rachel Hagan and Tom Watling
The Independent
The newspaper La Jornada
Thursday, September 26, 2024, p. 29
Tel Aviv. Israel is preparing for a potential ground invasion of Lebanon, military chiefs said yesterday, while US President Joe Biden acknowledged that a large scale war It is possible and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer urged his countrymen to leave the conflict zone immediately.
Airstrikes in Lebanon pave the way for a possible operation to push back Hezbollah and return safely to displaced Israeli citizens, said Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi.
In front of troops on Israel’s northern border, he said that the army prepares the process of a maneuver, which means that your military boots, your maneuver boots, will enter enemy territory, they will enter towns that Hezbollah has prepared as large military posts..
Meanwhile, tensions grew further as Hezbollah launched its largest attack on Israel, targeting Tel Aviv.
Following a day of intense cross-border attacks, in which Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets into Israel, Halevi’s message was the strongest indication yet that his country’s troops could be mobilized.
The escalating violence has left hundreds dead in Lebanon, forced hundreds of thousands of Israelis in the northern region to huddle in bomb shelters and forced 90,000 Lebanese from their homes.
The British Prime Minister renewed his calls for his fellow citizens to leave as long as commercial flights are availablealthough most of these are sold out and others have been cancelled, leaving passengers stranded. The time to leave is nowhe warned.
If Israel bombs Beirut’s only commercial airport, as it did in the 2006 war against Hezbollah, it would cut off the only means of escape. British citizens in Lebanon have told The Independent who are considering routes through Syria because they see no other way out.
President Biden said yesterday that he remains hopeful that a way will be found to avoid further bloodshed, but acknowledged that a large scale war it is still possible.
The latest attack by Iran-backed Hezbollah targeted the headquarters of the Mossad spy agency in a Tel Aviv suburb “in support of our loyal Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip… and in defense of Lebanon and its people,” the militant group said in a statement.
He accused the Mossad of the recent assassination of commanders in the southern suburbs of Beirut, the Lebanese capital, as well as the explosion of beepers and walkie-talkies last week.
Hours later, Israel announced it would launch more extensive attacks into southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, which runs along the border with Syria. The bombings killed 72 people, the Lebanese health ministry said in separate statements.
Hospitals in Lebanon were filled with wounded after a surge in bombing on Monday, the deadliest day in the country since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.
Lt. Gen. Halevi’s comments came after the Israeli military began activating reserve troops to send to its northern front. The army said it will call up two reserve brigades – which could consist of between 6,000 and 10,000 troops – to operational missions in the north.
Israel has expanded its target areas since Tuesday night, including for the first time the beach resort town of Jiyyeh south of Beirut and Maasyrah. There were also strikes in Bint Jbeil, Tebnin and Ain Qana in the south; the village of Joun in the Chouf district near the southern city of Sidon; and Maaysrah in the northern Keserwan district.
In Beirut, thousands of displaced people from the south of the country were taking refuge in schools and other buildings. More than 90,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon since Monday, the United Nations reported yesterday.
This is in addition to the 111,696 people who have been displaced since October 2023. In northern Israel, some 60,000 people have been evacuated so far due to Hezbollah’s almost daily attacks since that month.
The militia began firing across Israel’s northern border on Oct. 8 last year, a day after its Iranian-backed ally Hamas launched a deadly attack from the Gaza Strip into Israel, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages, about half of whom remain in Gaza.
The ensuing Israeli air and ground assault has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry’s most recent tally in the Hamas-ruled strip, and forced more than 90 percent of the enclave’s population to flee their homes, many multiple times.
Local officials in Gaza say the extent of Israeli attacks on the enclave has eased in recent days, as Tel Aviv has shifted its focus toward the border with Lebanon and Hezbollah, at least temporarily.
Hezbollah warns it will not stop firing rockets at Israel until the war in Gaza stops.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is heading to New York, where he will deliver a speech tomorrow.
(With information from Reuters and AP)
© The Independent
Translation: Jorge Anaya
