On Thursday, there were mutual attacks between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia. Tens of thousands of people have reportedly been displaced since Israel began its massive bombardment of Lebanon four days ago.
After months of cross-border skirmishes between Israeli forces and Iranian-backed militias, which say they are acting in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza, Israel has launched an intensive air campaign targeting Hezbollah targets, bringing the region to the brink of all-out war.
There are international efforts underway to negotiate a ceasefire. But Israel denies it has agreed to such a plan, with the military saying a possible ground operation in Lebanon could still take place.
More than 600 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon this week, according to Lebanese authorities. Among them are more than 100 Syrian refugees, according to human rights activists.
A total of 70,100 displaced people are currently registered in 533 emergency centers, Lebanese Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said at a press conference in Beirut.
The exact number of displaced people in Lebanon is difficult to determine, as many have fled to relatives. Others are sleeping on the streets.
Beirut suburb hit again by Israel
A top Hezbollah commander in charge of the group’s drone fleet has been killed in an airstrike near Beirut, the Israeli military said.
According to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), the commander of the air force unit Muhammad Hussain Sarur was killed in the targeted attack.
A witness reported that the third floor of an 11-story building was hit in the Jamous neighborhood of southern Beirut, an area seen as a Hezbollah stronghold.
At least two people were killed and 15 injured in the bombing, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
The attack took place near the site where a senior Hezbollah military commander, Ibrahim Akil, was killed last week.
The Israeli military also continued its airstrikes in southern and eastern Lebanon. At least four people were killed in attacks near the border with Israel, the Health Ministry said.
State media reported about two dozen locations where attacks took place overnight and into the morning.
The Israeli military said its air force had struck about 75 sites in Lebanon, including the Bekaa Valley in the east. It specifically targeted Hezbollah weapons depots and rocket launchers, it said.
In northern Israel, the western Galilee was attacked by 45 rockets from Lebanon, the Israeli army reported. Some of them were intercepted by the missile defense system, the rest fell in open areas.
News site ynet reported a rocket attack on the Mediterranean city of Acre, leaving two people in shock.
Israel strikes targets in Syria for the first time this week
According to the military, Israel also attacked infrastructure used by Hezbollah along the Lebanon-Syria border, specifically the routes Hezbollah uses to transport weapons through Syria to Lebanon.
Since Israel intensified attacks in Lebanon on Monday, four border crossings have been hit, Lebanese security sources said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has been documenting violence in Syria since 2011, reported that Israeli warplanes attacked a border crossing near the Syrian town of al-Qusayr, near the border with Lebanon.
According to the war observer, several people were injured.
It is the first Israeli attack on Syrian territory since Monday, the observatory said.
According to information from the war monitor, Hezbollah tried to use the border crossings to bring more fighters into the country from Yemen and Iraq.
They would come to the country to support the Shiite militias in the event of a feared ground attack by the Israeli army, the report said.
As a result of the severe Israeli attacks in Lebanon, about 13,500 people have fled to Syria since Monday, most of them Syrian nationals, the Lebanese Interior Ministry said.
An estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees live in Lebanon.
Netanyahu denies report of impending ceasefire
As a group of countries led by the US and France work to reach an agreement for a 21-day ceasefire between the two sides, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected a report indicating he has given the green light to the plan.
“The news about a ceasefire is false,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. “This is an American-French proposal that the prime minister has not even responded to.”
A report by broadcaster N12 that Netanyahu had ordered the military to reduce attacks in the northern neighbor was also “the opposite of the truth,” his office said. “The prime minister has ordered the IDF to continue fighting with full force, according to the plan presented to him.”
A joint demand for a 21-day ceasefire was issued on Wednesday. The pause is intended to create space for a diplomatic solution to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as the nearly year-long war in Gaza.
The joint statement was supported by the US, Germany, the EU, Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
