Israel says it will launch ground raids on Hezbollah bases in Lebanon

Israel said that commando and paratroop units went into Lebanon on Tuesday as part of a “limited” ground incursion. Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, said it had fired a lot of rockets at Israel, including at Israel’s spy agency near Tel Aviv.

On Tuesday, an Israeli security official said that the raids by Israeli troops in southern Lebanon that started overnight were limited and only went a short distance over the border. The official also said that there were no reports of direct fighting with Hezbollah forces.

Mohammad Afif, who is in charge of Hezbollah’s media relations, said that Israel’s claim that its troops had entered Lebanon was false.

Avichay Adraee, a spokesman for the Israeli military, had earlier warned people in southern Lebanon in Arabic that they should be careful because of heavy fighting with Hezbollah.

“Urgent warning to the people who live in South Lebanon. South Lebanon is in the middle of a heavy battle, with Hezbollah members using civilian areas and people as human shields to start attacks.

The Israeli raids come after heavy bombings that destroyed the leadership of Hezbollah and killed its leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut last week.

The Israeli military said that the ground raids would be aimed at Hezbollah strongholds along the border that pose a danger to Israel. They also said that the war was not against the people of Lebanon.

“Hezbollah turned villages in Lebanon that were next to Israeli villages into military bases that were ready to attack Israel,” Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, a military spokesman, said. Reuters was told by sources in southern Lebanon that people left their homes on Monday and Tuesday as Israeli attacks got closer.

Hezbollah said in a statement on Tuesday that the “Fadi 4” had been fired at military posts in the suburbs of Tel Aviv, which is the most important city for business in Israel. It is the fourth model in a line that Hezbollah has started to use in recent weeks. Each model has a bigger charge and a longer range.

The group also said it fired missiles at the headquarters of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency and a military intelligence unit outside of Tel Aviv. Mossad is blamed for killing Hezbollah leaders and officers.

The ambulance service in Israel said that two people were hurt by shrapnel from the rockets that were fired at Tel Aviv and other parts of central Israel. Part of a missile that fell on a highway near the town of Kfar Qasim, which is east of Tel Aviv, also slowed down traffic.

Two security sources in Lebanon told Reuters that Israeli units had crossed into Lebanon overnight to do monitoring and investigation work. The source also said that Lebanese troops left their posts along the border.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Tuesday that Lebanon is in one of the most dangerous times in its history. He said this while meeting with UN agencies and ambassadors from donor countries to ask for more than $400 million in help to deal with the rising violence.

Even though Israel has had its biggest wins against Hezbollah in decades, it has made it clear that it is ready for a full-on invasion of Lebanon. The stated goal is to allow thousands of Israelis who fled Hezbollah rockets to safely return to their homes near the northern border.

The strikes by Israel have forced one million Lebanese to leave their houses and killed more than 1,100, according to the government of Lebanon. A ground assault that is about to happen has made people in Lebanon scared and angry.

“This time, the whole country of Lebanon will fight, not just Hezbollah.” “All of Lebanon is set on fighting Israel for the killings it did in Gaza and Lebanon,” Abu Alaa, who lives in the port city of Sidon in the south, said.

The Lebanese army fights back.

Iran’s friends, like Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen, and armed groups in Iraq, have attacked the area to back Hamas in the Gaza war. This has made people worry that the conflict will spread to the rest of the Middle East and involve both Washington and Tehran.

The Houthi movement in Yemen used drones to attack Israeli military posts in Tel Aviv and Eilat on Tuesday, the group’s military spokesman, Yahya Saree, said in a TV speech.

People who live in the border town of Aita al-Shaab in Lebanon said they heard heavy fire and helicopters and drones flying above. Over the border town of Rmeish in Lebanon, flares were fired over and over, lighting up the night sky.

Two Palestinian security sources say that an Israeli attack in Lebanon early on Tuesday was aimed at Mounir Maqdah, who is in charge of the Lebanese branch of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the military wing of the Palestinian Fatah movement.

No one knew what happened to him.

Sources say the attack hit a building in the busy Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, which is close to the city of Sidon in the south. It was the first attack on Lebanon’s biggest Palestinian camp since fighting started across the border almost a year ago.

Israel hasn’t said anything about the attack.

From a military source, Syrian state media said that an Israeli airstrike on the capital Damascus killed three people and hurt nine others. The Israeli military said it doesn’t comment on stories from other countries.

Targets in Syria that are linked to Iran have been hit by Israel for years, but the number of raids has increased since Oct. 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas attacked Israel’s southern border.

Israeli numbers show that Hamas killed 1,200 people and held about 250 hostage during its attack on Israel. In reaction, Israel launched a huge attack on Hamas in Gaza, which killed more than 41,300 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in Gaza.

Attacks on Beirut

Overnight, several strikes happened in the southern suburbs of Beirut after the Israeli military told people to leave areas near buildings south of the city that they said housed Hezbollah infrastructure.

Israel has attacked southern Lebanon, the eastern Bekaa Valley, and Beirut in the last 24 hours, killing at least 95 people and hurting 172 others, according to Lebanon’s health ministry early Tuesday morning.