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Most Israeli strikes hit within 5km of Lebanon’s border
Most of the Israeli strikes on Lebanon were in the border area, up to 5km [3 miles] deep along the 120km [74 miles] border.
The border area is now a military zone. It’s been evacuated of civilians. It’s been repeatedly hit by the Israeli army in recent months. Many of the villages … have been levelled to the ground but Hezbollah is still present there.
Another strategy that Israel has been employing in recent months is targeted killings, taking out members and commanders of Hezbollah as well as other Palestinian groups that are allied with Hezbollah.
Remember, Hezbollah opened this front in October to help its ally, Hamas, in Gaza, and Hezbollah has repeatedly said it will not stop or halt firing until there’s a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. So this conflict will continue and will remain a dangerous conflict as long as the war in Gaza continues and, without that ceasefire, there can be no diplomatic solution to this conflict.
Biden ‘closely monitoring events in Israel and Lebanon’: Spokesperson
US President Joe Biden has been “engaged with his national security team throughout the evening” and has directed senior US officials to be “communicating continuously with their Israeli counterparts”, White House National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said in a brief statement.
“We will keep supporting Israel’s right to defend itself and we will keep working for regional stability,” Savett added.
The way you're interpreting self defense, those two goals are mutually exclusive...
‘A major escalation in scope and intensity’
Israel’s strikes have “the potential to draw the whole region into the full-blown war”, Sami Nader, the director of the Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs, told Al Jazeera.
He said that while this signals a “major escalation in terms of scope of operation and intensity”, both Hezbollah and Israel “are trying to avoid full-blown war”.
Israel, he said, is “exhausted” by its war on Gaza, and the Lebanese group does not want to see a war similar to the one that occurred in 2006 as Lebanon is in a “serious economic crisis”.
However, he said, no diplomatic settlement appears to be taking form and “Israel is determined to change rules of engagement” that would allow a return of all Israelis who were evacuated from northern Israel.
Yair Lapid backs military operations in Lebanon
The Israeli opposition leader added in a post on X: “Any attempt to attack Israel will bet met with a heavy hand and the capabilities of the [Israeli army] and the security system”.
Israel does not seek ‘full-scale war’: FM Katz
“Israel does not seek a full-scale war but will act according to development on the ground,” Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz has said, according to the Reuters news agency.
One person critically injured in southern Lebanon
Lebanon’s NNA news agency is reporting that one person was critically injured in a drone attack in Qasimia in southern Lebanon. Israeli warplanes also fired air-to-ground missiles towards al-Mansouri town in Tyre district, NNA added, with no injuries reported.
Smoke rises from the southern Lebanese town of Khiam, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and the Israeli forces
Israeli military restricts gatherings, closes some beaches
The Israeli military has announced a series of restrictions on civilians in northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights as it traded fire with Hezbollah.
The military’s Home Front Command closed beaches near the border with Lebanon and restricted outdoor gatherings to 30 people and indoor meetings to 300, according to The Times of Israel.
It also said educational activities and workplaces would be able to operate if an adequate shelter was located nearby.
A Hezbollah UAV explodes after being intercepted by Israeli forces over northern Israel
