Fears of a regional war grew on Thursday after Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah said no one would be spared in an all-out conflict and announced that Israel had approved plans to attack Lebanon.
Israeli soldiers at the scene of a Hezbollah anti-tank missile hitting a house in Moshav Shtura, near the Lebanese border. (Bloomberg) {{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}} {{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}}
Hezbollah said it had fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel in retaliation for a deadly airstrike in southern Lebanon in which Israel said it had killed a Hezbollah operative.
Watch your favorite games anytime, anywhere with Crickit. Here's how
Hezbollah also claimed several other attacks on Israeli troops and positions on Thursday.
Nearly nine months after Israel vowed to eradicate the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, experts are divided on the possibility of a broader war.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's group and Israeli forces have been exchanging gunfire almost daily since Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, starting the Gaza war, with combative talks escalating along with the attacks.
In a televised address, Nasrallah said that if a larger war broke out, “no part of Israel would be safe from our rocket attacks.”
{{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}} {{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}}
The Iran-backed group's leader also threatened neighboring Cyprus if it opened its airports or bases to Israel to “target Lebanon.”
Cyprus, a member of the European Union, is home to two British bases, including an airbase, but they are on British territory and not under the control of the Cypriot government.
Cypriot government spokesman Konstantinos Letimviotis on Thursday denied any suggestions of possible involvement in the Lebanon-related conflict as “completely baseless.”
Warplanes from a Royal Air Force base on the island of Cyprus coordinated with U.S. forces to strike Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have been targeting shipping in the Red Sea for months.
The US military said on Wednesday that its forces had destroyed two Houthi strongholds in Yemen.
“Urgent” de-escalation
Hamas attacks on Israel in October killed 1,194 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
{{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}} {{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}}
The militants have also taken hostages, and the military says 41 have been killed but 116 remain in Gaza.
The health ministry in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip said Israel's retaliatory strikes had killed at least 37,431 people, the majority of them civilians.
The latest death toll on Thursday was an increase of at least 35 from the previous day, the ministry said.
Both the Houthis and Hezbollah say they are acting in response to Israeli actions in Gaza.
The Israeli military said on Tuesday that “the operational plan for attacking Lebanon has been approved and verified.”
On the same day, Hezbollah released footage it said was taken by a drone over northern Israel, including the city of Haifa and parts of the port.
US special envoy Amos Hochstein called for an “urgent” de-escalation, while UN special coordinator for Lebanon Janine Henis-Plusschaert, visiting UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, said “conflict is not inevitable.”
{{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}} {{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}}
Cross-border violence has left at least 479 people dead in Lebanon, mostly combatants but also 93 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
Israeli authorities said at least 15 soldiers and 11 civilians were killed in the north of the country.
Beirut's exhausted residents on Thursday downplayed the possibility of war in Lebanon, where political deadlock has left the country effectively leaderless and dragged on five years of economic collapse.
In Israel, some citizens have called for action against Hezbollah, with Noam Galili, 29, saying: “I know what it's like to live near Lebanon, but I've never felt more unsafe than I do now.”
pressure
The violence has already forced tens of thousands of people to flee, mostly in Lebanon but also in northern Israel.
{{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}} {{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}}
UN investigators found hundreds of thousands of displaced people in southern Gaza “suffering from inadequate access to shelter, health care, food, water and sanitation,” a UN report released late Wednesday said.
Residents in central Gaza said they use cooking oil to fuel their cars.
U.S. President Joe Biden called for the implementation of a ceasefire plan announced last month.
Hochstein and his Washington counterpart Blinken have said any agreement to curb fighting in Gaza would also ultimately lead to a resolution to violence between Hezbollah and Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right coalition partners are strongly opposed to a Gaza ceasefire.
There have also been regular street demonstrations by tens of thousands of people calling for an agreement to release the hostages and accusing them of prolonging the war.
{{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}} {{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}}
“We will not withdraw from the Gaza Strip until all the hostages are returned,” Netanyahu told families of hostages killed in the strip on Thursday.
“Giving up is not an option”
In a separate statement on Thursday, he said the war was an existential fight for Israel.
“I am prepared to face personal attacks if Israel receives from the United States the ammunition it needs in its war for survival,” he said.
His comments came after he angered the country with a video statement accusing Washington of “withholding arms and ammunition to Israel.”
The White House on Thursday called Netanyahu's video statement “frustrating.”
“Talking about eliminating Hamas is like throwing sand in people's eyes. If we don't provide an alternative, then in the end Hamas will remain,” Israeli military spokesman Maj. Gen. Daniel Hagari told Israel's Channel 13 on Wednesday.
{{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}} {{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}}
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last month that the United States had not seen Israel's post-war plans and that the “path they're following” would still leave thousands of Hamas fighters behind.
Israeli government spokesman David Mensah said on Thursday that Hamas' “last stronghold” in Rafah on the border with Egypt was being systematically destroyed.
“And we will win,” he told a news conference.
Get the latest updates on World News, USA News, Hollywood News, Anime and top news from around the world. News / World News / Israel-Hezbollah tensions spark fears of escalating Gaza war
Source link
