At least 5 people confirmed dead following Israeli attack in Sidon
At least five people are now confirmed dead following the Israeli military strike on the Ein al-Hilweh refugee camp in the coastal city in southern Lebanon, the Al Mayadeen news outlet reports.
Earlier, we reported that the Israeli air attack hit the home of Munir al-Maqdah, a brigadier general with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade in Lebanon – a coalition of Palestinian armed groups aligned with the Fatah movement.
The attack marks the first Israeli air attack on the overcrowded refugee camp – Lebanon’s largest of several Palestinian camps – since fighting between Hezbollah and Israel began in October last year.
Israeli forces entering Lebanon face very different opponents than in Gaza, occupied West Bank
This is a situation that is escalating on all fronts. Just in the last hour, Israel was striking Gaza, Lebanon and Syria.
Israel does not typically comment on its military actions in Syria. But when it comes to Lebanon, the Israelis say they are launching what they call limited, targeted raids into Lebanese territory.
But this is still an invasion into a sovereign country.
The Israeli army says that their focus is on the villages in the south of Lebanon where they say there are Hezbollah targets, Hezbollah military infrastructure and other Hezbollah strongholds.
Tonight, at the cabinet meeting that essentially gave the approval for these plans to go ahead for the Israeli military, there was concern from a lot of ministers within the government who said that this needed to be a very small-scale operation because they are not sure what they are going to be up against once they hit Lebanese soil.
It is different from what they have been facing in Gaza. It’s different from the occupied West Bank.
But the Israeli army has said that this is what they need to do to accomplish their goals. To change the balance of power in the north and return Israelis back to those evacuated towns and settlements along the border.
An Israeli tank manoeuvres in northern Israel near the Lebanon border on Monday night
Israeli soldiers entering Lebanon have Hezbollah special forces in their sights: Analyst
Elijah Magnier, a military and security analyst based in Brussels, said rather than a limited ground operation, the Israeli force on the Lebanon border is growing in size and likely plans to surround and eliminate Hezbollah special forces in southern Lebanon.
“It is not what the Israelis are telling us. From open source [intelligence], we understand that the Israelis have prepared at least 18 brigades. So we are talking about between 70,000 and 100,000 soldiers,” Magnier told Al Jazeera.
“If we look at the composition of the strength of Hezbollah, it is made up mainly of the missile units and the special forces. Israel believes that it has destroyed most of the missile units or at least 50 to 60 to 70 percent. And now, what Israel wants is to surround the special forces that are deployed – two units to the south of the Litani River and one unit to the north of the Litani River,” Magnier said.
“The decision to go after the three units will depend on the first engagement with these forces south of the Litani River. But I don’t think the Israelis are going to start attacking these two units immediately,” he said.
Magnier added: “It is not going to be like Gaza”.
A picture taken from northern Israel, along the border with southern Lebanon, shows a fire following Israeli bombardment on an area of south Lebanon on Monday night
Israel turns ‘deaf ear’ to US’s calls for ceasefire, protection of civilian life
There has been no reaction since this ground operation actually began from the White House or the State Department.
However, earlier in the day, the State Department made very clear that it was aware of such Israeli plans. The nature of these plans it would not discuss, saying that it could not reveal the contents of diplomatic exchanges between allies.
The State Department intimated that it had some knowledge of the impending operation by Israel but the details were not forthcoming.
We heard President Biden saying as well that it was time for a ceasefire. He’s been calling for a ceasefire in Lebanon for a period of time and for months in Gaza and yet, Israel, despite these calls, continues its operations.
The US administration has been constantly stating that Israel must take care to preserve civilian life, that it must try and avoid humanitarian disaster. At the same time, even in these particular cases, this is not followed by Israel on many an occasion.
Quite clearly, the Netanyahu government is just turning a deaf ear to what the US is saying to it.
