On Monday, Israel launched a new campaign of intense bombings against different areas of southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley, strongholds of the Shiite group Hezbollah, against a backdrop of growing tensions following last week’s unprecedented attacks on Lebanese territory.
According to the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA), the airstrikes hit a large number of areas in the south, including about 80 bombardments concentrated in the Nabatieh region and others against areas up to about 40 kilometers from the common border, such as Aazze.
State media also reported a “heavy” wave of bombings against at least seven different areas in the Bekaa, including around the historic city of Baalbek and on the outskirts of Hermel, on the border with Syria.
Israel included the Bekaa Valley in its range this year, but until now the eastern region had only been exposed to limited attacks against specific targets such as alleged weapons depots or coinciding with an escalation of tensions between the sides.
“The Israel Defense Forces are now intensively attacking Hezbollah terrorist targets in Lebanon,” the Israeli military announced in a brief statement released early this morning.
Israel urges southern citizens to stay away from Hezbollah bases
The Israeli military also warned Lebanese citizens on Monday to stay away from buildings used by the Shiite group Hezbollah to store weapons, as it will launch a series of attacks in the country against militia targets.
“In the past few hours, we have detected plans by Hezbollah to attack the citizens of the State of Israel. The army began attacking an hour ago. In the near future, the army will attack terrorist targets in Lebanon to eliminate threats,” top military spokesman Daniel Hagari told a news conference.
In his speech, Hagari detailed how the militants from the Iranian-allied Shiite group were preparing to launch a missile from a house in which they had prepared an opening for the launch. “In a precise attack, the army eliminated the terrorists and this missile launching infrastructure, shortly before the launch,” the spokesman said.
An Israeli military official later told reporters that the projectile in question was a Russian cruise missile, likely imported from Syria.
Israeli forces have accused the Lebanese group of turning southern Lebanon into a battlefield, using civilian infrastructure to store missiles, rockets and drones, and said their attacks were aimed at “degrading” these capabilities.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Sunday that the Shiite group Hezbollah is “beginning to feel” Israel’s offensive capabilities after a week of attacks in Lebanon that have cost the lives of dozens of its fighters.
The minister assured that Israel would continue its attacks until it manages to bring back to their homes the 60,000 residents of the north of the country evacuated due to the constant exchanges of fire, specifying that the Israeli forces will do whatever is necessary to achieve this objective.
Fears of an open war
The situation has raised fears of an open war in the region, although Hezbollah has acknowledged that it does not want to reach that point and has insisted that its attacks on northern Israel would cease if a ceasefire agreement is reached in Gaza.
The Hebrew state has launched several massive bombing campaigns against Lebanese territory in the last two days, in the midst of an unprecedented escalation since the start of its crossfire with Hezbollah on October 8, the day after the outbreak of the Loop war.
Both sides confirmed that the clashes have entered a new stage, after thousands of communications devices in the hands of Hezbollah members exploded simultaneously last week, in two different waves, and a bombing in the suburbs of Beirut killed several senior leaders of the Shiite group.
The three attacks, attributed to Israel, left a total of nearly 80 dead and some 3,000 injured.
