At least 182 individuals have been killed in Israeli airstrikes, according to Lebanon

Lebanese health officials say that at least 182 people were killed in bombings by Israel on Monday, which hit hundreds of Hezbollah targets. It was the deadliest day in Lebanon in almost a year of fighting with its Iran-backed enemy.

After some of the worst cross-border fighting since the fighting started, Israel told people to leave places where it thought the armed movement was hiding weapons.

Israel has been at war with Hamas in Gaza on its southern border for almost a year. Now it is turning its attention to its northern border, where Hezbollah has been firing rockets into Israel to back Hamas.
In its most widespread attacks so far this week, Israel’s forces went after Hezbollah in the south of Lebanon, the eastern Bekaa valley, and the northern area close to Syria on Monday.

According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel was having “complicated days” as it increased its attacks on Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. He asked Israelis to stay united as the operation went on.

As promised, he said in a message, “We are changing the security balance and the balance of power in the north.” This was done after a situational review at the military headquarters in Tel Aviv.

Earlier, Yoav Gallant, Israel’s Defense Minister, said that the actions would continue until “we achieve our goal to return the northern residents safely to their homes.” This set the stage for a long conflict, since Hezbollah has promised to keep fighting until there is peace in Gaza.

On Monday, Israel launched strikes in Lebanon that killed at least 182 people, mostly women, children, and medical workers. Another 727 were hurt.

Avichay Adraee, a spokesman for the Israeli army, said on X that more than 300 Hezbollah targets had been hit so far. He had earlier warned that airstrikes were going to happen soon on homes in Lebanon where “Hezbollah hid weapons.”

Reuters could not find any independent proof of Israel’s claim that Hezbollah had hidden weapons in homes and towns.

Because of this, Hezbollah, Israel’s main enemy, said it had fired dozens of rockets at a military base in northern Israel.

WE CAN EXPECT MORE AIRSTRIKES

It was likely that there would be more strikes. An Israeli military spokesman said that Israeli planes are getting ready to attack Hezbollah strategic weapons that are hidden in homes in Lebanon’s Bekaa valley. The spokesperson asked people to leave their homes right away.

“What you can see now from south Lebanon are secondary explosions from Hezbollah weapons going off inside homes.” There are guns in every house we’re going after. In a statement shown on TV, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said, “There were rockets, missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles that were meant to kill Israeli civilians.”

Hezbollah hasn’t said anything about Israel’s claims that it hid weapons in homes.

The airstrikes have put more pressure on Hezbollah. Last week, the group’s Secretary General, Hassan Nasrallah, said that thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by its members burst in an attack that had never happened before in the group’s history.

A lot of people thought Israel was behind the operation, but Israel hasn’t said for sure or said no.

An Israeli airstrike on a suburb in the south of Beirut on Friday killed 45 people, including top Hezbollah leaders, according to the Lebanese health ministry. This was another big blow.

The group’s top leader, Ibrahim Aqil, and another commander, Ahmed Wahbi, were among the 16 people Hezbollah said were killed.

Fears have grown that the US, which is a close friend of Israel, and Iran will get caught up in a bigger Middle East war.

Nasser Kanaani, a spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said that the Israeli attacks were wrong. “There will be dangerous consequences to the new adventure of the Zionists,” he stated.

The Israeli medical service says that shrapnel from the most recent rocket attack on northern Israel hurt one person slightly.

The head of the Lebanese telecoms company Ogero, Imad Kreidieh, told Reuters on Monday that the network had picked up more than 80,000 automatic calls telling people to leave their homes. They didn’t all get answered.

His office said that Bassam al-Mawlawi, Lebanon’s Interior Minister, opened schools as refuge in Beirut, Tripoli in the north, and the south because of “heavy displacement” of people.

Phones as far away as Beirut, the city of Lebanon, have been getting calls to evacuate.

“WAR OF THE MINDS”

Ziad Makary, Lebanon’s information minister, said that his ministry had gotten a call telling people to leave the building, but that the ministry would not do that. “This is a war of ideas,” Makary told Reuters.

Lebanon’s finances are in bad shape, so the country can’t afford another war like the one that broke out in 2006, when Israel attacked the country for a month and did a lot of damage to infrastructure.

In the Sassine district in the eastern part of Beirut, Joseph Ghafary, a state worker, said he was afraid that Hezbollah would react to Israel’s bigger attacks and that a full-on war would start.

“If Hezbollah does something big, Israel will fight back and destroy even more.” “It’s too much for us,” he said.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is being pushed by Israel to start a war because it wants to strike and keep going. Without a doubt, it is dangerous.”

A shop owner in the Hamra neighborhood of Beirut named Mohammed Sibai told Reuters that he thought the strikes were “the start of the war.” “What can we do if they want to fight?” It was made us do it. “There’s nothing we can do,” he said.

Hagari was asked if Hezbollah could be defeated from the air or if operations on the ground would also be needed. He replied, “We have a full plan that has been presented.” We are setting up a large-scale aircraft operation today. We are going to keep doing what the plan says. Our only goal is to safely bring the people back from the north.