New wave of Israeli attacks on Lebanon’s Nabatieh
There’s been another wave of strikes here in Lebanon by the Israeli military on the city of Nabatieh, it’s about 70 kilometres south of Beirut. It is a predominantly Shia-Muslim city. We will bring you more information on that strike as soon as we have it.
We’ve also heard Hezbollah announcing the death of Mohammed Hussein Surur who was the head of what they call their air force since 2020, that’s their drone and missile unit. He was killed today in that strike on Dahiyeh, the southern suburb of Beirut.
So, the situation here on the ground remains very tense. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced. Just today, the Lebanese Ministry of Health announced that 92 people have been killed in the last 24 hours and 153 wounded.
And the International Organization for Migration is saying 64,000 people have moved into just over 500 makeshift shelters across the country. So it’s putting huge strains on all the resources here.
We’ve also had this quite horrible report from Save the Children that said that their staff here in Lebanon are seeing “children arriving at shelters showing severe signs of distress”. So it’s a very difficult situation here in Lebanon and a lot of pressure is being put on both the capital Beirut and the country.
About 140,000 children have been displaced from strikes in Lebanon, Save The Children says
Israeli strikes on Lebanon over the past four days have displaced about 140,000 children “with many arriving at shelters showing signs of severe distress,” Save the Children, a humanitiarian organization, said in a statement on Thursday.
“Over 400,000 people have been displaced since the start of Israeli airstrikes on Sunday in the latest escalation in cross-border violence, with numbers expected to increase in the coming days,” the statement added.
Dr Firass Abiad, Lebanon’s health minister, told CNN earlier on Thursday that he estimates there are likely 400,000 to 500,000 internally displaced people, much higher than officially recorded figures. He said authorities only know how many people have been internally displaced to official shelters but there are “multitudes” that have also fled to stay with relatives, friends or the homes of strangers who have offered them accommodation.
Save the Children staff expressed concern over the psychological impact of the conflict on children, “many of whom are showing signs of severe distress due to the displacement and constant shelling,” according to the statement.
The humanitarian group also expressed concerns about the closure of many schools across Lebanon, saying it has impacted “all of the country’s 1.5 million children, with Lebanon’s already critical mental health crisis worsening as the hostilities continue to escalate,” the statement said.
“Children are telling us that danger is everywhere, and they can never be safe. Every loud sound makes them jump now. Many children’s lives, rights, and futures have already been turned upside down and now their capacity to cope with this escalating crisis has been eroded.”
Israeli army draws up new plans for Lebanon offensive as Netanyahu rejects calls for a truce
There’s still no sign from the Israelis about ending the hostilities on both sides of the border. In fact, the Israeli military has said that they have hit more than 200 Hezbollah targets in the last day alone.
There were some reports within the last 24 hours about Netanyahu giving the green light for his negotiators to start the process of negotiating so that there can be an end to the fighting. However, when Netanyahu got off his plane in New York, he said that that was not true.
His office also released several statements saying that the military action against Hezbollah is still going to continue.
And it comes after a lot of pushback from members of Netanyahu’s government, specifically from the far right. Itamar Ben-Gvir, the country’s national security minister and a known ultra-nationalist, had reportedly given Netanyahu a lot of pushback about a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah and publicly said on Thursday that he and his party would leave the government and essentially topple the ruling coalition if Netanyahu agrees to a ceasefire deal.
Nonetheless, the Israeli army’s chief of staff has said that he and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant had approved new plans in a continuation of their offensive in Lebanon. It comes as a lot of fears are looming about a potential ground invasion into Lebanese territory – something that the Israeli army chief of staff, the head of the Israeli air force and the country’s defence minister have all said they would do if necessary.
