Israeli Forces Clash with Hezbollah Amid Gaza Escalation \ Newslooks \ Washington DC \ Mary Sidiqi \ Evening Edition \ Israel launched a ground incursion into Lebanon against Hezbollah, leaving eight soldiers dead, while also conducting deadly strikes in Gaza that killed dozens. These developments come as Iran escalated tensions by launching missiles at Israel, risking a wider Middle East war. Israel vowed retaliation, raising fears of further escalation.
Israel Faces Hezbollah in Lebanon, Strikes Gaza: Quick Looks
- Hezbollah Conflict: Israel’s ground incursion into Lebanon left eight soldiers dead in clashes with Hezbollah.
- Gaza Assault: Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 51 people, including women and children.
- Iran’s Missile Attack: Iran launched 180 missiles into Israel in retaliation for attacks on its allies, pushing the region closer to conflict.
- Wider Regional Tensions: The situation has escalated into a potential regional conflict, involving Iran, Hezbollah, and U.S. military assets.
- UN Relations Sour: Israel declared UN Secretary-General António Guterres persona non grata over his failure to directly condemn Iran’s attack.
- Hezbollah Engagements: Hezbollah fighters clashed with Israeli troops along the Lebanese border, intensifying fears of a broader war.
- Damascus Strike: An Israeli airstrike in Damascus targeted a residential building, killing three people.
- Casualties in Lebanon: Strikes over the past two weeks have killed over 1,000 in Lebanon, including women and children.
Deep Look
Israel fought militants on two fronts Wednesday as its military forces engaged in a ground incursion into Lebanon against Hezbollah while also conducting deadly airstrikes in Gaza. These twin operations claimed the lives of at least eight Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and dozens of Palestinians in Gaza, including women and children. The region braced for even greater instability as Israel vowed to retaliate for Iran’s ballistic missile attack just one day earlier, intensifying fears of a broader Middle East conflict.
The escalation began on Tuesday night, when Iran, a key backer of both Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, launched a barrage of at least 180 missiles into Israel. The missile attack represented a sharp escalation, pushing the already volatile region closer toward a potential regional war. Israel, in response, promised that Iran’s actions would have “repercussions,” a warning that raised concerns about imminent retaliatory strikes.
In southern Lebanon, the Israeli military reported that seven soldiers died in two separate attacks, while another soldier, a 22-year-old captain, was killed earlier. These losses marked some of the deadliest assaults on Israeli forces in recent months. The violence unfolded just before the Jewish new year of Rosh Hashanah, making the loss even more poignant for Israel.
On the same day, Israeli military operations in Gaza targeted Khan Younis, a city that has suffered heavily throughout the nearly yearlong conflict between Israel and Hamas. The strikes killed at least 51 people, including women and children, according to Palestinian medical officials. Among the dead were seven women and twelve children, including a 22-month-old child, hospital records showed. Another 23 people, including two children, were killed in separate strikes across the Gaza Strip.
Residents described the destruction as massive, with heavy shelling and airstrikes leveling parts of three neighborhoods in Khan Younis. Mahmoud al-Razd, a local resident who lost four relatives in the attacks, described a scene of chaos as first responders struggled to rescue those trapped under the rubble. “The explosions and shelling were massive,” al-Razd told The Associated Press. “Many people are thought to be under the rubble, and no one can retrieve them.”
The strike in Gaza was the latest in a series of Israeli attacks that have persisted nearly a year after Hamas’s large-scale assault on Israeli territory on October 7. The ongoing operations have been part of Israel’s efforts to suppress Hamas militants, who have regrouped in several parts of Gaza since the conflict began.
Israel’s escalation on multiple fronts has raised fears that the ongoing skirmishes could evolve into a full-scale regional war. The situation has already drawn the involvement of Iran, which supports both Hezbollah and Hamas, and has prompted the United States to deploy additional military assets to the region in support of Israel.
Tensions spilled over into neighboring Syria as well, where Syria’s state-run SANA news agency reported an Israeli airstrike on a residential building in Damascus late Wednesday. The strike reportedly killed three people and wounded at least three more. An Associated Press journalist on the scene observed that the missile targeted the bottom floor of a four-story apartment building. Israel has a history of striking targets in Syria that are linked to Iran or allied groups, though it rarely acknowledges such operations. There was no immediate comment from Israel about the Damascus strike.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah, often seen as one of the most powerful armed groups in the Middle East, claimed that its fighters clashed with Israeli troops in two separate locations along the Lebanese border. Israel confirmed that its ground forces, supported by airstrikes, engaged in what it described as “close-range engagements” with militants, though it did not specify the locations. The Lebanese army confirmed that Israeli forces advanced approximately 400 meters across the border but withdrew after a short period.
Israeli media reported that infantry and tank units had moved into southern Lebanon following the military’s deployment of thousands of additional troops and artillery to the border. Israel has also called for the evacuation of people in and around 50 villages and towns north of the Awali River, which is located about 60 kilometers from the Lebanese border. The Awali River is significantly farther north than the Litani River, the boundary of a United Nations-declared buffer zone established after the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.
As hundreds of thousands of residents have fled their homes in Lebanon, Israel stated that it would continue its strikes against Hezbollah until it is safe for the tens of thousands of Israeli citizens displaced near the Lebanon border to return home. Hezbollah, on the other hand, vowed to keep firing rockets into Israel until a ceasefire is declared in Gaza.
The Health Ministry in Lebanon reported that Israeli strikes have killed over 1,000 people in the country over the past two weeks, nearly a quarter of them women and children. This level of casualties has only deepened concerns over the escalating violence in the region and the potential for the conflict to widen further.
Meanwhile, Israel’s diplomatic ties with the United Nations took a severe hit as Israeli officials declared UN Secretary-General António Guterres persona non grata, effectively banning him from entering the country. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz accused Guterres of failing to directly and unequivocally condemn Iran’s missile attack on Tuesday. In response to the escalation, Guterres had released a statement saying, “I condemn the broadening of the Middle East conflict, with escalation after escalation. This must stop. We absolutely need a ceasefire.” The Israeli government’s response to Guterres’ statement further exacerbates the growing rift between Israel and the United Nations, which has criticized both sides in the conflict.
The origins of this latest escalation trace back to Iran, which launched a barrage of missiles at Israel on Tuesday in what it described as retaliation for Israel’s recent attacks on militant leaders. Iran said the strikes were in response to the killings of senior figures in Hezbollah, Hamas, and Iran’s own Revolutionary Guard. This included Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Revolutionary Guard General Abbas Nilforushan, both of whom were killed last week in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut. Iran also referenced Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader who was assassinated in Tehran in July, allegedly by Israeli operatives.
In response to the missile attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed retaliation, stating that Iran “made a big mistake tonight and it will pay for it.” The Israeli military said it intercepted many of the incoming Iranian missiles, though some managed to land in central and southern parts of the country, as well as in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where a Palestinian man was killed.
The escalation has also drawn attention from the United States, with President Joe Biden reaffirming his administration’s full support for Israel. Biden indicated that discussions were ongoing within his administration regarding an appropriate response to the Iranian missile strikes. Iran, for its part, warned that it would respond to any further violations of its sovereignty with even more severe strikes on Israeli infrastructure.
As tensions continue to escalate, the world watches anxiously, bracing for the possibility of an even broader regional war involving Iran, Israel, Hezbollah, Hamas, and potentially other global powers.
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