The military conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon escalated on Wednesday after Israel announced additional troop mobilizations and sent warplanes to northern Beirut, while Hezbollah struck Tel Aviv for the first time.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it is mobilizing two additional reserve brigades for missions in the northern area and that troops must be ready for a ground maneuver.
“We have entered a new phase in the operation,” said Ori Gordin, the IDF commander for the north. He said Israel “must change the security situation and we must be fully prepared for maneuvers and actions.”
According to the army, the aim is to enable the approximately 60,000 displaced residents of northern Israel to return to their homes.
Hezbollah sources said the militias were “ready to face any possible ground invasion.”
More back and forth
Israeli strikes on Wednesday morning killed 51 people and wounded 223, Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said at a news conference later in the day.
The attacks hit towns and villages in the south of the country and also north of Beirut.
According to the ministry, a total of around 600 people have been killed since the escalation began on Monday.
For the first time since the conflict with the Shiite Hezbollah militia escalated about a year ago, Israeli warplanes carried out strikes on predominantly Christian areas north of Beirut.
The towns of Maaysra, north of Beirut, and Joun, near the coastal city of Sidon, were also hit.
Maaysra, however, is the only Shiite village in the predominantly Christian area, which is about an hour’s drive north of Beirut. Joun is mainly Sunni Muslim with some Christians.
Lebanon’s state news agency NNA also reported numerous attacks on sites in the east of the country. There was no immediate confirmation from the Israeli army.
Hezbollah tries to attack Tel Aviv
The attacks followed a rocket attack by the Hezbollah militia, which for the first time carried out a direct attack on the Israeli coastal metropolis of Tel Aviv.
According to the Israeli military, the rocket was intercepted.
Hezbollah later said the rocket attack targeted the headquarters of Israel’s foreign intelligence agency Mossad in a Tel Aviv suburb.
The Mossad was responsible for the killing of several militia leaders and for the apparently coordinated mass explosions of communications equipment used by Hezbollah in Lebanon last week, the organization said.
Hezbollah continued to shell Israel and said it had fired dozens of rockets at a military base in the north of the country.
About 40 rockets were fired from Lebanon and some were intercepted, the Israeli military said. One rocket fell near a nursing home near Safed in the north; no injuries were reported.
Hezbollah hides behind Lebanese civilians
Observers and former military officers in Lebanon confirmed the Israeli army’s accusation that Hezbollah is hiding weapons in residential areas.
“(Hezbollah) has no barracks or places to store their weapons because Israel will discover them,” said former Lebanese army Brigadier General Wehbe Katischa, who served in southern Lebanon.
“That’s why their main depots are located between houses and in mountainous areas near residential areas.”
The Hezbollah militia had an estimated 150,000 rockets in the region before the war in Gaza began almost a year ago.
The Israeli military has repeatedly said that the attacks in Lebanon would target the militias’ weapons caches.
Israel has long accused Hezbollah of hiding weapons in residential areas and producing rockets there. The Lebanese government has tried to refute some of these accusations.
According to Lebanese Middle East expert Riad Chawahdschi, the explosions that follow Israeli bombardments are also evidence of weapons depots in residential areas.
The videos that Israel is releasing about this are not propaganda. There are also similar videos that residents release after attacks, he noted.
Thousands of displaced in Lebanon
At least 90,530 people have been displaced since Monday, with nearly 40,000 in 283 reception centres, according to the United Nations.
Nearly 600 people, including 50 children and 94 women, were reported killed in almost 1,700 attacks in the country.
According to the UN, humanitarian organizations urgently need at least $170 million to maintain ongoing assistance and respond to emerging needs.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has called on parties to the Middle East conflict to respect international humanitarian law, given the increasing number of civilian casualties in Lebanon.
The ICRC said in Geneva on Wednesday that international humanitarian law makes clear that care must at all times be taken to spare the civilian population and civilian objects when conducting military operations.
No signs of Iranian military intervention so far
Iran’s religious leader expressed confidence that Hezbollah shows no signs of defeat, despite losing high-ranking commanders to Israeli strikes. However, he made no mention of Iran taking a more active role in the ongoing conflict.
“It was undoubtedly a loss for Hezbollah, but it was not a loss that would entail defeat,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 85, said Wednesday at a veterans’ meeting in Tehran, adding that Hezbollah’s organizational and human strength was much greater.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned against underestimating Hezbollah. “It is more than capable of destroying the bases and colonies of the Israeli regime,” he wrote on the X platform.
Hezbollah has long been seen as Iran’s main ally in the Middle East. However, observers say Tehran is unlikely to come to Iran’s aid in the event of a war between Hezbollah and Israel.
The new Iranian government led by President Masoud Pezeshkian is facing a serious economic crisis and is trying to restore ties with the West.
Tehran’s military and political leaders have so far only made threats against Israel and the West, but have not yet carried out any direct attacks.
