Hezbollah rains rockets on Haifa as Israel intensifies ground offensive

Dubai: Hezbollah pounded Haifa with more than 100 rockets on Tuesday, marking the heaviest attack yet on the northern Israeli port city, as group’s deputy chief Naim Qassem said the leadership was in order, despite heavy Israeli air strikes.

“The party’s leadership and the resistance (Hezbollah) are meticulously organised... We have overcome painful blows,” Qassem said in a televised speech.

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His comments came as Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine, who was in line to replace the group’s assassinated leader Hassan Nasrallah, was likely killed in last week’s strike in Beirut.

Hezbollah chief’s likely successor apparently killed

Safieddine “has apparently been eliminated,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Tuesday in comments aired by Israel’s Channel 12.

Multiple Lebanese reports said Safieddine was at Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in the Lebanese capital of Beirut when Israel bombed it last week as part of its campaign against the Iran-backed militant group.

Gallant said Safieddine’s apparent death - which hasn’t been announced by Hezbollah or formally by the Israeli military - underscored how the group’s leadership has almost been totally wiped out.

“There is no one to make decisions,” Gallant said. “It will take another day, another week, another two weeks, and when the smoke and fog clear, they will understand in Iran that they have lost their most valued asset - which is Hezbollah.”

Gallant to visit US to discuss Iran attack response

Gallant is set to travel to Washington as the country weighs how to respond to an Iranian missile attack a week ago and steps up its military operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Gallant will discuss “ongoing Middle East security developments” with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Wednesday, the Pentagon said. As well as considering a riposte to Tehran, Israel is engaged in ever-broader warfare with Iran-backed Hezbollah, adding more ground troops and maritime forces.

US President Joe Biden has urged Israel not to attack Iran’s nuclear program or oil infrastructure, amid concerns either move could trigger a wider war that drags in Washington, pushes up energy prices and hits the global economy.

The US and its allies have been coordinating communications to convince Israel to focus instead on military targets, according to people familiar with the matter. Hitting energy infrastructure would be unacceptable for some, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Israel intensified its ground offensive against the militant group along Lebanon’s southern coast, deploying more troops and urging civilians living near the Mediterranean to evacuate.

Israeli operations have for the most part focused on areas in the south and east of Lebanon, traditional strongholds of Hezbollah, as well as the Iran-backed group’s main bastion in south Beirut.

While areas along the southern coast have not been spared, Israel’s latest evacuation warning to residents suggested a further expansion of the conflict northwards along the coastline.

On its Telegram channel, the Israeli military said its 146th Division began “limited, localised, targeted operational activities” against Hezbollah targets and infrastructure in southwestern Lebanon.

The military on Monday said it would expand its operations against Hezbollah to south Lebanon’s coastal area and warned people to stay away from the shore.

The army “will soon operate in the maritime area against Hezbollah’s terrorist activities” south of the Al Awali river, army spokesman Avichay Adraee wrote on social media.

1,100 people killed in 2 weeks, and million displaced

Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon has killed more than 1,100 people and displaced upwards of a million in less than two weeks.

In Washington, US officials told Axios that the Biden administration is increasingly distrustful of what Israel is saying about its military and diplomatic plans.

“Our trust of the Israelis is very low right now and for a good reason,” says one of the four US officials who spoke with the outlet.

Two of the officials tell the outlet that White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer on Friday that that the US expects “clarity and transparency” from Israel over its plans for a potential attack on Iran after Tehran fired some 200 ballistic missiles at Israel last week.

Similar scene of devastation as seen in Gaza

In Geneva, UN humanitarian officials called Tuesday for urgent action to stop the escalating conflict in Lebanon from spiralling into a similar scene of devastation as seen in Gaza.

“We need to do everything we can to stop that from happening,” said Matthew Hollingworth, Lebanon country director for the United Nations’ World Food Programme.

Speaking from Beirut, he told a press briefing in Geneva that he spent the first half of the year coordinating WFP’s operations in Gaza before taking the helm of its Lebanon office, and was deeply concerned by the similarities.

“It is in my mind from the time I wake until the time I sleep, that we could go into the same sort of spiral of doom... We shouldn’t allow that to happen,” he said.

Israel’s war in Gaza, launched after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack inside Israel, has killed more than 41,900 people, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. The UN has said the figures are reliable.

The October 7 attack left 1,206 dead, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, which includes hostages killed in captivity.

The resulting conflict has spilled into Lebanon, with intensifying airstrikes and Israeli troops battling Hezbollah militants on the ground.

Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon has killed more than 1,100 people and displaced upwards of a million in less than two weeks.