Israel’s tactics in Gaza are on the minds of the Lebanese
A civil defence centre was just hit in a small town outside the Tyre governorate and we’re hearing that four people were killed and several were injured.
Questions are being asked about why this particular fire service unit was attacked. And, it is also affiliated with the Islamic Scout Association. So it has a community centre feel to it.
Overnight we saw several air strikes take place around southern Lebanon. Israel isn’t letting up its pressure at all.
People are saying to each other, “Where can we go?” Beirut isn’t safe, Tyre isn’t safe. This is now not just affecting Shia Muslim villages, but also the Christians, Druze villages, Sunni villages and the mixed towns.
The one thing, the one word that keeps getting brought up, and repeatedly, is Gaza, Gaza, Gaza. They saw how the Israelis pushed everybody to the south, called it a safe zone and then started bombing the safe zone. That’s how people are feeling about the Israeli operations here.
Israel imposing ‘military blockade’ of Lebanon
It looks like we’re heading towards further escalation.
Maybe in the past few hours, the Israeli strikes on Lebanon have not been as intense as we’ve seen on Friday and throughout Saturday, but the Israeli army is going to exert pressure on Hezbollah.
There are also some unconfirmed reports about a possible ground manoeuvre along the border. No doubt – whether this is true or not – this is part of the pressure that Israel is exerting on Hezbollah.
It has also imposed a military blockade on this country. Beirut international airport is still functioning but the Israeli army made clear that if Iranian planes, Syrian planes or any planes it considers hostile towards Israel, they will not be allowed to land.
They also said the border crossings that they have hit along the border with Syria will not be allowed to reopen.
Hezbollah ‘disarray’ amid top leaders’ killings temporary: Analysts
Hezbollah may be suffering from “temporary organisational paralysis” following the assassination of its leader Hassan Nasrallah and the killing of numerous senior and middle-level commanders in Israeli air strikes, military analysts said.
US-based defence think tanks the Critical Threats Project (CTP) and the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), said Nasrallah’s death has worsened the group’s “internal disarray” coming so soon after Israel caused mass casualties by detonating thousands of Hezbollah pagers and other communication devices.
But that turmoil will likely only be temporary.
“All the commanders that Israel has killed have deputies who should in principle be able to fill those roles and help the force recover, although they will have taken over under extremely difficult circumstances and under intense pressure,” according to the latest CTP-ISW joint report on the fighting.
Resistance groups ‘will emerge victorious in the war’, says Iranian speaker
The Iranian parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a former IRGC commander, says Hezbollah has built its structure over decades in a way that the deaths of its leaders and commanders would not lead to the group’s collapse.
“The resistance front will emerge victorious in the war, and we will see that the different pillars of resistance, with the help of the Islamic Republic of Iran, will continue to confront the regime in a unified and strong manner, continuing the regime’s defeat in the field of battle,” he said during an address to parliament in reference to Israel.
A large image of Nasrallah was erected on the parliament floor as lawmakers convened this morning.
