Israel launches 'extensive' strikes on 'Hezbollah targets' as IDF tells people in southern Lebanon to leave their homes

23 September 2024, 07:04 | Updated: 23 September 2024, 09:07

Israel has said it launched a fresh wave of strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon this morning as fears of a regional war in the Middle East grow.

Israeli warplanes were seen carrying out heavy strikes on a number of Hezbollah posts on Monday morning, Reuters reports.

This comes after the IDF and Iranian-backed militant group exchanged heavy fire for much of last week.

Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari warned residents of south Lebanon to stay away from Hezbollah posts.

"Hezbollah is endangering you. Endangering you and your families," Hagari said.

He said Israel launched the strikes after learning of Hezbollah's plans to launch missiles across the border on Monday.

It marked the first warning of its kind in nearly a year of low-level conflict along the border and came after a particularly heavy exchange of fire on Sunday, when Hezbollah fired more than 100 rockets into a wider and deeper area of northern Israel than it had struck previously.

The move was in retaliation over recent Israeli strikes that killed a top commander of Hezbollah and dozens of its fighters. Residents of different villages in southern Lebanon posted photos on social media of their hometowns that were being struck.

The state-run National News Agency also reported air strikes on different areas.

This comes after the Lebanese health minister told LBC that his country is at war with Israel and said he fears it will spill over into a full-blown regional conflict, amid days of bombing by the IDF and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Dr Firass Abiad told LBC's Lewis Goodall that he feared the conflict could get even worse.

Israel's president Isaac Herzog said earlier that his country did not want a war with Lebanon, but that militant group Hezbollah had "hijacked" the country and was driving the conflict.

He added that Hezbollah, an Iran-backed hard-line Lebanese group that has been described as a "state within a state" had been planning a similar attack to the October 7 massacre that launched the war with Gaza.

It comes as several days of heavy bombing between Israel and Hezbollah continued. Both sides have said they are targeting military installations, and have said the other has hit civilians.

Dr Abiad said that some 47 people were killed by Israeli bombs in Beirut, including four children and seven women.

Read more: Israeli strikes 'hit 400 Hezbollah sites', as Lebanese militants return fire, after Beirut attack death toll rises to 45

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That followed the explosion of electronic devices belonging to Hezbollah operatives on Tuesday and Wednesday, killing dozens and injuring thousands. Israel has been blamed for the attack but has not taken responsibility.

Dr Abiad said: "Yesterday, it was a night of heavy bombardment. A lot of areas in the south have been under heavy attacks by rockets or by airplanes.

"We are still working very hard to recover all the bodies from the attack that occurred on Friday. Up till now, the latest tally of people who were killed in that attack is 47 including four children and seven women.

"And we are still also managing the casualties that are still in the hospital from the attacks that related to the communication devices that exploded over Tuesday and Wednesday."

Dr Abiad warned that the week of conflict, combined with the ongoing fighting and bombing in Gaza, could spill over into a major regional war.

Israel said earlier this week that it would move into a new phase of the war, which Dr Abiad labelled "a provocation".

"I think that since the beginning of what happened in Gaza, up till now, I think this is the closest we are to what appears to be a full blown conflict," he said.

"It's very clear that what happened this week is seen as a major escalation or even a provocation, if you want, the statements that are coming out from Israel seems to be pointing in the direction of... enlargement of the conflict, and even talking about land invasion.

"And also, unfortunately, [from] what we have also been [hearing] from other parties, including parties in the region, makes us worry that if this indeed escalates, it will not only be a conflict between Lebanon Israel, it might just escalate into a regional conflict as well."

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Dr Abiad said that the Lebanese government considered itself at war with Israel but wanted a diplomatic solution instead.

"But unfortunately, as I said, you know, it's very difficult to work on this when these events continue to happen, and when we see, especially when we see innocent civilians, women and children are suffering from these attacks, it actually these, you know, result in more... provocation, anger.

"It inflames the whole situation and makes it very difficult for any party to back up."

Asked what the British government and the wider international community could do to help defuse the situation, Dr Abiad said it was "in the interest of everybody to make sure that conflicts do not... involve a large number of civilians."

He said that what Lebanon "would like to see from the UK government and other governments is to put more pressure on all parties to reach further de-escalation."

LBC has contacted the Israeli government for comment on Dr Abiad's remarks.

Overnight, Hezbollah launched more than 100 rockets across a wider and deeper area of northern Israel, with some landing near the city of Haifa,

The overnight rocket barrage set off air raid sirens across northern Israel, sending thousands of people scrambling into shelters.

The Israeli military said rockets had been fired "toward civilian areas", pointing to a possible escalation after previous barrages had mainly been aimed at military targets.

Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said it treated four people for shrapnel wounds, including a 76-year-old man who was injured in Kiryat Bialik, a community near Haifa where buildings were damaged and cars set on fire.

It was not immediately clear if the damage was caused by a rocket or an Israeli interceptor.

Meanwhile the Israeli military said it carried out a wave of strikes across southern Lebanon over the past 24 hours, hitting some 400 militant sites, including rocket launchers. Lt Col Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, said those strikes had thwarted an even larger attack.