BEIRUT: Israeli forces clashed with Hezbollah fighters across Lebanon’s southern border on Wednesday as Israel expanded its invasion force with a fourth division.
The two sides exchanged fire early in the day across the Labouneh area, near the coastal border town of Naqoura.
It followed two days of Israeli attempts to infiltrate the towns of Maroun Al-Ras, Adaisseh and Kfar Kila, which were subsequently abandoned after clashes with the militant group.
Hezbollah said on Wednesday that its fighters “targeted an Israeli infantry unit in Ras Al-Naqoura with a missile barrage.”
A military source told Arab News: “The Israeli advances and retreats along the border can be categorized as an assessment of Hezbollah’s strengths and weaknesses in terms of ground confrontation at the primary defense line.”
The Lebanese border region experienced an unprecedented barrage of airstrikes from Tuesday night through Wednesday.
Towns along the border have effectively become military zones devoid of civilian populations, with Khiam enduring about 15 airstrikes within a span of 30 minutes.
Hezbollah said: “While the Israeli enemy’s forces attempted to advance toward Mays Al-Jabal from several locations, the resistance fighters targeted them at 1:30 p.m. with rocket fire and artillery shells, and the clashes are ongoing.”
Hezbollah said in a previous statement: “At 1:20 p.m., a group confronted the forces of the Israeli enemy as they advanced from the Tufa plain toward Mays Al-Jabal and Muhaybib with a barrage of rockets.”
According to its statements this morning, Hezbollah targeted “an Israeli infantry force that tried to infiltrate the Labouneh area with a large missile barrage, killing and wounding them.”
The Israeli army is focused on entering towns situated in highland areas that provide a vantage point into southern Lebanon.
Its activities near Maroun Al-Ras have been particularly significant, with an Israeli unit entering the town between Monday and Tuesday.
During the operation, Israeli soldiers hoisted their national flag on the wall of a garden at the eastern edge of the town after clearing the area and uprooting trees.
Photographs of the event were taken and shared online before the forces withdrew.
Hezbollah acknowledged the Israeli operation.
UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti described the situation on the ground as “unsafe and unclear.”
The Israeli army on Tuesday launched a new incursion into Lebanon’s western sector led by the 146th Division, which includes the 2nd Brigade and 205th Brigade.
It aims to “execute a targeted ground operation against Hezbollah’s infrastructure,” and follows eight days of aerial bombardment over Lebanese territory and warnings for residents in southern villages to move north of the Litani River.
In Tebnine, an Israeli drone targeted two motorcycles, as well as a car on the road to the town of Shaqra.
For the first time, Israel struck the town of Wardaniyeh in the Iqlim Al-Kharroub region of Mount Lebanon, targeting an apartment.
The area is housing displaced people from southern Lebanon, mainly those who left the border town of Aitaroun.
The Ministry of Health reported that the attack killed four people and injured 10 others, including the principal of a local school and his wife.
Their children sustained severe injuries.
Cautious calm prevailed in Beirut’s southern suburb following a series of raids on Tuesday night that targeted several areas in Laylaki, Haret Hreik and Burj Al-Barajneh.
The attacks were preceded by a warning from Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee, who instructed residents of the targeted areas to leave.
The southern suburb has become a ghost town, with unprecedented destruction visible near neighborhood landmarks, as well as flames rising from the rubble of flattened buildings.
A line of four residential buildings in Burj Al-Barajneh collapsed following the most recent Israeli strikes, and Israeli jets have circled over the area round the clock.
In a statement, the Israeli army claimed that its attacks “targeted a weapon factory and Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in Beirut’s southern suburb.”
Saaideh in western Baalbek was also hit by an airstrike, killing a citizen later identified as Hussein Saleh Amhaz and injuring several residents, including three women from the same family — a grandmother, her daughter and her granddaughter.
An Israeli raid also targeted a house in Al-Hallanieh, killing two people and injuring others.
Hezbollah operations targeted Israeli military positions and settlements on and across the border.
Israeli media said that the militant group launched 20 missiles at Kiryat Shmona, killing two people.
Hezbollah said that it targeted “a gathering of the Israeli enemy in the Kiryat Shmona settlement with a rocket salvo.”
Amid Israel’s invasion, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said that Arab and international efforts to end Israel’s “aggression” are “ongoing.”
He added: “However, the Israeli intransigence and the efforts by the enemy to achieve what it considers as gains and victories are still obstructing the success of these efforts.
“Lebanon’s friends from the Arab and foreign countries also continue to pressure Israel into implementing a ceasefire for a specified period in order to discuss the main political steps, most importantly implementing Resolution 1701 fully, and compelling the Israeli enemy to implement it.”
Hezbollah repels Israeli incursions as deadly clashes continue
https://arab.news/vmr4r
Hezbollah repels Israeli incursions as deadly clashes continue
- The two sides exchanged fire early in the day across the Labouneh area, near the coastal border town of Naqoura
- The Lebanese border region experienced an unprecedented barrage of airstrikes from Tuesday night through Wednesday
Hamas says Israeli strikes in Yemen ‘dangerous development’
GAZA: Palestinian militant group Hamas said Thursday that Israel’s strikes in Yemen after the Houthi rebels fired a missile at the country were a “dangerous development.”
“We regard this escalation as a dangerous development and an extension of the aggression against our Palestinian people, Syria and the Arab region,” Hamas said in a statement as Israel struck ports and energy infrastructure in Yemen after intercepting a missile attack by the Houthis.
Separated for decades, Assad’s fall spurs hope for families split by Golan Heights buffer zone
- Golan Heights is a rocky plateau that Israel seized from Syria in 1967 and annexed in 1981
- US is the only country to recognize Israel’s control; the rest of the world considers the Golan Heights occupied Syrian territory
MAJDAL SHAMS, Golan Heights: The four sisters gathered by the side of the road, craning their necks to peer far beyond the razor wire-reinforced fence snaking across the mountain. One took off her jacket and waved it slowly above her head.
In the distance, a tiny white speck waved frantically from the hillside.
“We can see you!” Soha Safadi exclaimed excitedly on her cellphone. She paused briefly to wipe away tears that had begun to flow. “Can you see us too?”
The tiny speck on the hill was Soha’s sister, Sawsan. Separated by war and occupation, they hadn’t seen each other in person for 22 years.
The six Safadi sisters belong to the Druze community, one of the Middle East’s most insular religious minorities. Its population is spread across Syria, Lebanon, Israel and the Golan Heights, a rocky plateau that Israel seized from Syria in 1967 and annexed in 1981. The US is the only country to recognize Israel’s control; the rest of the world considers the Golan Heights occupied Syrian territory.
Israel’s seizure of the Golan Heights split families apart.
Five of the six Safadi sisters and their parents live in Majdal Shams, a Druze town next to the buffer zone created between the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights and Syria. But the sixth, 49-year-old Sawsan, married a man from Jaramana, a town on the outskirts of the Syrian capital, Damascus, 27 years ago and has lived in Syria ever since. They have land in the buffer zone, where they grow olives and apples and also maintain a small house.
With very few visits allowed to relatives over the years, a nearby hill was dubbed “Shouting Hill,” where families would gather on either side of the fence and use loudspeakers to speak to each other.
The practice declined as the Internet made video calls widely accessible, while the Syrian war that began in 2011 made it difficult for those on the Syrian side to reach the buffer zone.
But since the Dec. 8 fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime, families like the Safadis, are starting to revive the practice. They cling to hope, however faint, that regime change will herald a loosening of restrictions between the Israeli-controlled area and Syria that have kept them from their loved ones for so long.
“It was something a bit different. You see her in person. It feels like you could be there in two minutes by car,” Soha Safadi, 51, said Wednesday after seeing the speck that was her sister on the hill. “This is much better, much better.”
Since Assad’s fall, the sisters have been coming to the fence every day to see Sawsan. They make arrangements by phone for a specific time, and then make a video call while also trying to catch a glimpse of each other across the hill.
“She was very tiny, but I could see her,” Soha Safadi said. “There were a lot of mixed feelings — sadness, joy and hope. And God willing, God willing, soon, soon, we will see her” in person.
After Assad fell, the Israeli military pushed through the buffer zone and into Syria proper. It has captured Mount Hermon, Syria’s tallest mountain, known as Jabal Al-Sheikh in Arabic, on the slopes of which lies Majdal Shams. The buffer zone is now a hive of military and construction activity, and Sawsan can’t come close to the fence.
While it is far too early to say whether years of hostile relations between the two countries will improve, the changes in Syria have sparked hope for divided families that maybe, just maybe, they might be able to meet again.
“This thing gave us a hope … that we can see each other. That all the people in the same situation can meet their families,” said another sister, 53-year-old Amira Safadi.
Yet seeing Sawsan across the hill, just a short walk away, is also incredibly painful for the sisters.
They wept as they waved, and cried even more when their sister put their nephew, 24-year-old Karam, on the phone. They have only met him once, during a family reunion in Jordan. He was 2 years old.
“It hurts, it hurts, it hurts in the heart,” Amira Safadi said. “It’s so close and far at the same time. It is like she is here and we cannot reach her, we cannot hug her.”
Israel’s deprivation of water in Gaza is act of genocide – Human Rights Watch
- ‘What we have found is that the Israeli government is intentionally killing Palestinians in Gaza by denying them the water that they need to survive’
- Israel’s campaign has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, displaced most of the 2.3 million population and reduced much of the coastal enclave to ruins
THE HAGUE: Human Rights Watch said on Thursday that Israel has killed thousands of Palestinians in Gaza by denying them clean water which it says legally amounts to acts of genocide and extermination.
“This policy, inflicted as part of a mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, means Israeli authorities have committed the crime against humanity of extermination, which is ongoing. This policy also amounts to an ‘act of genocide’ under the Genocide Convention of 1948,” Human Rights Watch said in its report.
Israel has repeatedly rejected any accusation of genocide, saying it has respected international law and has a right to defend itself after the cross-border Hamas-led attack from Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023 that precipitated the war.
Although the report described the deprivation of water as an act of genocide, it noted that proving the crime of genocide against Israeli officials would also require establishing their intent. It cited statements by some senior Israeli officials which it said suggested they “wish to destroy Palestinians” which means the deprivation of water “may amount to the crime of genocide.”
“What we have found is that the Israeli government is intentionally killing Palestinians in Gaza by denying them the water that they need to survive,” Lama Fakih, Human Rights Watch Middle East director told a press conference.
Human Rights Watch is the second major rights group in a month to use the word genocide to describe the actions of Israel in Gaza, after Amnesty International issued a report that concluded Israel was committing genocide.
Both reports came just weeks after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense chief for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. They deny the allegations.
The 1948 Genocide Convention, enacted in the wake of the mass murder of Jews in the Nazi Holocaust, defines the crime of genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”
The 184-page Human Rights Watch report said the Israeli government stopped water being piped into Gaza and cut off electricity and restricted fuel which meant Gaza’s own water and sanitation facilities could not be used.
As a result, Palestinians in Gaza had access to only a few liters of water a day in many areas, far below the 15-liter-threshold for survival, the group said. Israel launched its air and ground war in Gaza after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israeli communities across the border 14 months ago, killing 1,200 people and taking over 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s campaign has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, displaced most of the 2.3 million population and reduced much of the coastal enclave to ruins.
Israel hits ports, energy sites in Yemen after missile intercepted
- Raids ‘targeted two central power plants’ in Yemen’s capital Sanaa
- The Houthi militants have said they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians
JERUSALEM: Israel said Thursday it struck ports and energy infrastructure it alleges are used by Houthi militants, after intercepting a missile fired by the group.
Israel’s military said it “conducted precise strikes on Houthi military targets in Yemen — including ports and energy infrastructure in Sanaa, which the Houthis have been using in ways that effectively contributed to their military actions.”
The announcement came shortly after Israel said it had intercepted a missile fired from Yemen.
Al-Masira, a media channel belonging to the Houthis, said a series of “aggressive raids” were launched in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa and the port city of Hodeidah.
It reported raids that “targeted two central power plants” in Yemen’s capital Sanaa, while in Hodeidah it said “the enemy launched four aggressive raids targeting the port... and two raids targeting” an oil facility.
The strikes were the second time this week that Israel’s military has intercepted a missile from Yemen.
On Monday, the Houthis claimed a missile launch they said was aimed at “a military target of the Israeli enemy in the occupied area of Yaffa” — a reference to Israel’s Tel Aviv area.
Also Monday, an Israeli navy missile boat intercepted a drone in the Mediterranean after it was launched from Yemen, the military said.
The Houthi militants have said they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians and pledged Monday to continue operations “until the aggression on Gaza stops and the siege is lifted.”
On December 9, a drone claimed by Houthis exploded on the top floor of a residential building in the central Israel city of Yavne, causing no casualties.
In July, a Houthi drone attack in Tel Aviv killed an Israeli civilian, prompting retaliatory strikes on the Yemeni port of Hodeidah.
The Houthis have also regularly targeted shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, leading to retaliatory strikes on Houthi targets by United States and sometimes British forces.
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said the group had become a “global threat,” pointing to Iran’s support for the militants.
“We will continue to act against anyone, anyone in the Middle East, that threatens the state of Israel,” he said.
Israeli army says intercepted missile fired from Yemen
JERUSALEM: The Israeli army said sirens sounded across central Israel as it intercepted a missile fired from Yemen on Thursday.
The Israeli Air Force “intercepted one missile that was launched from Yemen before it crossed into Israeli territory,” said a statement from the army, adding that there could be “falling debris from the interception.”
