Israel ramped up its ground offensive against Hezbollah along Lebanon’s southern coast on Tuesday, deploying more troops and urging civilians near the Mediterranean to evacuate.
The military’s announcement followed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge to keep fighting a “sacred war” until Hezbollah and Hamas are defeated. Both groups have vowed no let-up in the multi-front conflict.
Israel expanded its military operations in Lebanon last month after Hezbollah opened a front in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas, following the deadliest attack in its history on October 7, 2023.
While battling Hamas in Gaza, Israel has also focused on securing its northern border to allow tens of thousands of displaced Israelis to return home.
Israel launched a wave of strikes against Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon on September 23, leaving at least 1110 people dead since then and forcing more than a million people to flee.
Israeli attacks have mostly focused on the Hezbollah strongholds of southern and eastern Lebanon, as well as south Beirut. While the southern coast has not been spared, Israel’s latest evacuation warning suggests it is widening its offensive northwards along the coast.
The Israeli military said its 146th Division began “limited, localised, targeted operational activities” against Hezbollah targets and infrastructure in south-western Lebanon.
The military had on Monday said it would expand its operations against Hezbollah to south Lebanon’s coastal area and warned people to stay away from the shore.
The army “will soon operate in the maritime area against Hezbollah’s terrorist activities” south of the Al-Awali river, military spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote on social media.
In Sidon, fishermen stayed ashore and the southern city’s lively seafood market was unusually quiet after the Israeli warning.
“Fishing was the way we supported our children. If we don’t go out to sea, we won’t be able to feed ourselves,” said fisherman Issam Haboush.
Hezbollah said it had fired a salvo of rockets at Israeli troops in two areas of northern Israel. The intensity of Israeli strikes on southern Beirut, which has been repeatedly pounded even after a bombing killed Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah, decreased somewhat overnight.
The Israeli military said later it struck Hezbollah’s south Beirut bastion and that about 85 projectiles were fired over Haifa and northern Israel.
Hezbollah’s deputy chief Naim Qassem said the group’s leadership structure was in order and that its military capabilities were “fine” despite Israel’s “painful” strikes.
The expansion in the fighting came a day after Israelis and people around the world marked a year since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel. For families of the bereaved, as well as relatives of 251 people taken hostage into Gaza, the pain was especially acute.
As Iran awaits what Israel has said will be retaliation for an Iranian missile barrage last week, Tehran hailed the October 7 attack.
Iran warned Israel on Tuesday against attacking any of its infrastructure amid fears of a possible Israeli assault on oil or nuclear sites following Iran’s missile barrage last week. “Any attack against infrastructure in Iran will provoke an even stronger response,” said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. He has said Iran does not seek war in the region.
US President Joe Biden has cautioned Israel against attacking oil installations in Iran, one of the world’s top 10 producers of crude.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps General Rassul Sanairad has warned Israel that any attack on nuclear or energy sites would cross a “red line”.
“Some political leaders have spoken of a possible change in Iran’s nuclear policy,” he said. Iran has always denied any ambition to develop a nuclear weapons capability, insisting its activities are entirely peaceful.
Netanyahu vowed not to give up on the “sacred mission” of achieving the war’s goals. “As long as the enemy threatens our existence and the peace of our country, we will continue to fight. As long as our hostages are still in Gaza, we will continue to fight,” said the Israeli leader.
Weakened but not crushed after a year of war, Hamas was defiant, with Abu Obeida, spokesperson for Hamas’s armed wing, saying the group would “keep up the fight in a long war of attrition, one that is painful and costly for the enemy”. He also said scores of people taken hostage into Gaza last year were enduring a “very difficult” situation.
A senior Hamas official has acknowledged “several thousand fighters from the movement and other resistance groups died in combat”.
Cape Times