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Lebanon is now ‘number one arena of this war’
Sami Nader, director of the Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs, says the focus of Israel’s war has shifted away from Gaza as he describes the situation in Lebanon as an “all-out war”.
“It’s now clear that the number one arena of this war is Lebanon and is not Gaza anymore,” Nader told Al Jazeera.
Civilians have also suddenly come “in the line of fire”, he said.
“This is the new turning point that we are reaching. … All the military engagement was kind of restricted to military targets and the military organisation of Hezbollah,” Nader said. “But today what we are witnessing is a mass migration of civilians, [and] a huge death toll among the civilians.”
Scenes currently unfolding are similar to those witnessed in 2006, he said, when Hezbollah and Israel last went to war. At the time, civilians “paid a heavy price”, and now, the chances of a “compromise” are slim, he said.
Lebanon attacks meant to make people ‘forget about Gaza failures’
Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, says one of the top goals of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in its attacks on Lebanon is to make people “forget about Israel’s failures in Gaza”.
“Although it destroyed most of Gaza and killed thousands of children, destroyed families, destroyed schools and hospitals, it is yet to be able to bring back its captives from Gaza nor destroy Hamas – two of its main objectives,” he said.
Bishara also noted that the Israeli government has “failed to fulfill its promise about allowing its northern residents to go back to their homes because of the clashes in the northern front”.
In addition, he said, the attacks on Lebanon have “something to do with October 7” and the failures of Netanyahu’s government to prevent the Hamas-led attacks.
“To make people forget about that,” Bishara said, “I think he’s launching another war.”
Lufthansa Group cancels flights to Tel Aviv and Tehran, citing security situation
The German airline group says in a statement that effective immediately, all connections to and from Tel Aviv and Tehran are cancelled until October 14. Lufthansa Group includes Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Discover Airlines, Eurowings and Swiss International Air Lines.
Flights to Beirut remain suspended until October 26, the group said, adding that it continues to monitor the situation in the Middle East closely and will further assess the situation in the coming days.
The statement was issued as Israel continues to drastically step up its attacks on Lebanon, carrying out about 800 bombings today alone by its army’s account.
