The United States announced this Monday that Israel is conducting “limited” ground operations against Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon, and the Israeli military declared three border towns “closed military zones”.
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In Lebanon, the Israeli army repositioned its troops in the south of the country, on the border with Israel, a military official told AFP.
Despite the devastating blow dealt to Hezbollah with the assassination of its leader, Hasan Nasrallah, on Friday in a bombing near Beirut, Israeli leaders warned that the battle is not over against the pro-Iran movement, Israel’s arch-enemy.
We have been informed that they are currently carrying out what they say are limited operations against Hezbollah infrastructure near the border.
Israel is “currently” carrying out “limited” ground operations against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, said US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
“We have been informed that they are currently carrying out what they say are limited operations against Hezbollah infrastructure near the border,” he said, alluding to talks between Israel and the United States.
In Israel, the army announced that it had established a “closed military zone” around the municipalities of Metula, Misgav Am and Kfar Giladi, “declared a closed military zone. Entry into this area is prohibited.”
‘All our capabilities’
Previously, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stated that Nasrallah’s death is “an important step” but it is not the “end.”
“To ensure the return of communities in northern Israel, we will use all our capabilities,” Gallant declared during a visit to soldiers deployed on the Israel-Lebanon border.
For his part, the number two of the Lebanese Islamist movement, Naim Qasem, assured that “we are ready if the Israelis decide to enter our territory, our resistance forces are ready for a ground confrontation” and also promised to continue fighting “in support of Gaza.” “, where the Israeli army has been carrying out an offensive since October 7, 2023 in response to the Hamas attack.
Furthermore, Qasem stated that The group will choose Nasrallah’s successor “as soon as possible.”
Israel promised to fight its “enemies” and “eliminate them” wherever they are, and this Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that “there is no place in the Middle East that Israel cannot reach.”
Calls to avoid a ground operation
The UN announced that the more than 10,000 blue helmets deployed in southern Lebanon can no longer patrol due to the intensity of the fighting. And the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, reiterated his opposition to any Israeli “land invasion.”
In Washington, President Joe Biden hinted that opposes Israeli ground operations in Lebanon and called for a ceasefire “now.”
Present in Beirut, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot also called on Israel to “refrain from any ground incursion” into Lebanon and to “cease fire.” He also asked Hezbollah to stop firing on northern Israel.
Any new Israeli military intervention in Lebanon “must be avoided,” said the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell.
Hezbollah opened a front on the border with Israel almost a year ago, after the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, in support of its Islamist ally Hamas, in power in that Palestinian territory.
Since mid-September, Israel has shifted the bulk of its military operations to the north, with the aim of stopping Hezbollah’s rocket fire and allowing thousands of inhabitants of northern Israel who had to leave their homes due to those shots to return home.
First bombing in Beirut
For its part, Iran, a key ally of Hezbollah and also an ally of Hamas, ruled out deploying fighters in Lebanon and Gaza to confront its archenemy Israel.
“It is not necessary to deploy auxiliary or volunteer forces” from Iran, declared diplomatic spokesman Naser Kanani, adding that Lebanon and the fighters in the Palestinian territories “have the capacity and power necessary to confront the aggression of the Zionist regime.”
This Monday, At least 25 people were killed in Israeli bombings in Lebanon, including three members of a Palestinian group, the head of Hamas in Lebanon and a Lebanese soldier, according to multiple sources. Hezbollah, meanwhile, fired rockets toward northern Israel.
Since the wave of Hezbollah beeper and walkie-talkie explosions in Lebanon in mid-September, attributed to Israel, and the intensification of Israeli bombing that followed, more than 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health. .
This Monday and for the first time since October 8, Israel bombed the center of Beirut, destroying the floor of a building.
According to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), three of its members were killed in that attack. Israel claims it killed two commanders of that group, considered “terrorist” by both Israel and the EU.
In the Gaza Strip, bombed relentlessly for almost a year, the number of Israeli airstrikes has decreased considerably in recent days.
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