The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), deployed in the south of the country, warned on Saturday, October 12, of a regional conflict “catastrophic”while the Israeli army fights against Lebanese Hezbollah and Palestinian Hamas, allies of Iran.
At least fifteen people were killed on Saturday in Israeli attacks in three towns north and south of Beirut, outside the strongholds of pro-Iran Hezbollah, the Lebanese Ministry of Health reported in the afternoon.
The war in Gaza, triggered by an unprecedented attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023 on Israeli soil, and that in Lebanon are accompanied by an escalation between Israel and Iran, with Israeli leaders threatening to retaliate against an Iranian attack with missiles on 1Ahem October.
After weakening Hamas in Gaza, Israel moved the war front to Lebanon in September, with the aim of moving Hezbollah away from the border areas and stopping its rocket fire to allow some 60,000 displaced inhabitants to return to northern Israel.
The front opened in October 2023 by Hezbollah against Israel, in support of Hamas, transformed into open war on September 23 with the start of intense Israeli bombings against Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon, which notably killed the movement’s leader. , Hassan Nasrallah. The Israeli army then launched a ground offensive on September 30 in southern Lebanon.
Five peacekeepers injured in forty-eight hours
“The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel is not just a conflict involving two countries. “Very soon it could become a regional conflict, with a catastrophic impact for everyone.”UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Saturday.
Israel came under attack on Friday after UNIFIL accused Israeli troops of shooting. “repeatedly” AND “deliberate” about their positions. Five peacekeepers were wounded in forty-eight hours, according to UNIFIL, whose positions suffered “a lot of damage”according to Tenenti. The Israeli army said it fired in the direction of a ” threat “.
US President Joe Biden called on Israel to stop firing on UN forces in Lebanon, while his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron said “unacceptable” that these are directed “deliberately by Israeli forces”.
On Saturday, at least forty countries, including thirty-four contributors to UNIFIL, lent their support. ” complete “ to the UN contingent and urged them to protect the peacekeepers.
South Lebanon residents urged not to return
Since October 2023, more than 2,100 people have been killed in Lebanon, including more than 1,200 since September 23, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. The UN has registered almost 700,000 displaced people.
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The Lebanese Health Ministry said nine people were killed on Saturday in Israeli strikes targeting the villages of Maaysrah and Barja, north and south of Beirut, on the outskirts of Hezbollah strongholds.
In the afternoon, there was an attack on a market in Nabatiyé, in southern Lebanon, according to the official Lebanese agency ANI. The Israeli army had recently asked residents of twenty-five towns, including this large city, to move north. On Saturday, the Israeli military ordered residents of southern Lebanon not to return there until further notice.
320 projectiles fired at Israel during Yom Kippur, army says
After the intensification, on September 23, of Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon, a Hezbollah stronghold bordering northern Israel, tens of thousands of families fled this region, according to the UN.
The Israeli army announced, for its part, that Hezbollah had fired around 320 projectiles into Israel during Yom Kippur, Judaism’s holiest day, from Friday afternoon until sunset on Saturday. Emmanuel Macron urged Hezbollah to “stop immediately” attacks against Israel and added that a ceasefire must be achieved “start immediately” in Lebanon.
During Yom Kippur, the Israeli army also said it had attacked 280 “terrorist targets” in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
In Gaza, the Jabaliya region bombed
On Saturday, the speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, visiting Beirut, denounced the “crimes” of “savage zionist regime” in Lebanon. The day before, Iran repeated that it was “Ready to defend its sovereignty”as Israel promised a response to its sworn enemy “amazing” to his attack at 1Ahem October.
In the devastated and besieged Gaza Strip, the Israeli army continued its offensive, mainly bombing the Jabaliya region in the north, where it accuses Hamas of trying to reconstitute its forces. Israel also asked residents in an area near Jabaliya to evacuate.
The Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, killed 1,206 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures and which includes hostages who died or were killed in captivity in Gaza. At least 42,175 Palestinians died, most of them civilians, in the Israeli offensive in Gaza, according to data from the Ministry of Health of the Hamas government, considered reliable by the UN.
