Hezbollah threatens to attack targets across Israel, says ceasefire is solution; Italian PM to visit Lebanon on Friday
US warns Israel arms transfers could halt unless humanitarian situation in Gaza improves
Dubai: At least 55 Palestinians were killed in Gaza, and 41 more in Lebanon in the latest wave of Israeli attacks as Hezbollah threatened on Tuesday to attack targets across Israel.
Hezbollah’s deputy chief, Naim Qassem, said: “We will not be defeated. The Israeli enemy has targeted all of Lebanon, and we reserve the right to retaliate anywhere in Israel.”
He warned that over two million Israelis in the north would remain under constant threat if the conflict persists.
“I am telling the Israeli home front: The solution is a ceasefire,” he added.
US warns Israel
Also yesterday, the Biden administration ramped up pressure on Israel to address the escalating humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, warning that the US may take significant actions — including a possible suspension of military aid — if food and other assistance to Palestinians are not increased within a month.
The warning, according to Washington Post, was detailed in a letter sent to the Israeli government on Sunday, amid rising concerns over civilian casualties and the limited access for aid organisations in northern Gaza.
According to the US, aid deliveries to Gaza have plummeted by over 50 per cent since spring.
Worst aid curbs
The letter came as James Elder, spokesman for Unicef, condemned the dire humanitarian crisis, stating that aid restrictions in Gaza are the worst since the conflict erupted over a year ago.
He lamented the worsening conditions for children, noting that August saw the lowest level of humanitarian aid into the territory since the war began.
Meloni to visit Lebanon on Friday
In Rome, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni warned on Tuesday against withdrawing UN peacekeepers from Lebanon at Israel's unilateral request, as she announced she would visit Lebanon on Friday.
Meloni, who would be the first head of state or government to visit the country since an escalation between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on September 23, told parliament that such a withdrawal would be a "serious error".
Earlier, Meloni, whose country holds the rotating G7 presidency, told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday that Israeli fire against UN peacekeepers in Lebanon was "unacceptable".
At least five peacekeepers have been wounded in recent days as Israel targets Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.
The United Nations peacekeeping mission, UNIFIL, which includes over 1,000 Italian troops, has accused the Israeli military of "deliberately" firing on its positions.
Meloni "reiterated the unacceptability of UNIFIL being attacked by Israeli armed forces" during a call with Netanyahu, her office said.
She "stressed the absolute necessity that UNIFIL personnel security be guaranteed at all times".
Barrage of rockets towards Haifa
In the latest exchanges during the conflict, Hezbollah said it launched a barrage of rockets towards the northern Israeli city of Haifa, while Israel carried out air strikes in several areas of Lebanon.
Hezbollah said its fighters also targeted Israeli bulldozers and a tank near a south Lebanon border village on Tuesday, as the two sides face off at the frontier.
Hezbollah fighters targeted "three bulldozers and a Merkava tank on the outskirts of Ramia with guided missiles", causing a fire and casualties, the Iran-backed group said in a statement.
Hezbollah’s deputy chief, Naim Qassem, declared defiantly: “We will not be defeated. The Israeli enemy has targeted all of Lebanon, and we reserve the right to retaliate anywhere in Israel.”
Also read
- More than 130 people killed in 24 hours as Israel pounds Gaza and Lebanon
- Israel army says sirens sound over central Israel as projectiles fired from Lebanon
- Israel weighs US warning against striking Iran’s nuclear and energy sites
- No water, no food: What’s Israel’s plan for Jabalia residents in northern Gaza? Surrender or starve!
He warned that over two million Israelis in the north would remain under constant threat if the conflict persists.
“Since the Israeli enemy targeted all of Lebanon, we have the right from a defensive position to target any place” in Israel, “whether the centre, the north or the south,” he said.
“I am telling the Israeli home front: The solution is a ceasefire,” he added.
Iran warns US
In Iran, Brigadier-General Ebrahim Jabbari, an adviser to the chief commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said any US military support for Israel if it attacks Iran will lead to retaliation.
“The Americans should know that if one day they enter the battlefield and want to take action against the Islamic Iran, their bases, interests and ships will be within the reach of our weapons,” Jabbari told Iran’s Press TV.
The US “is not prepared at all to confront us, the axis of resistance and the Muslim world,” he said. Jabbari, however, added, the US was unlikely to take part in such a “foolish act”.
Israel’s military launched several strikes in Lebanon on Tuesday, including in the eastern Bekaa Valley where a hospital in Baalbek city was put out of service, Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported.
“It was a violent night in Baalbek, we have not witnessed a similar one since” the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, 50-year-old resident Nidal Al Solh told AFP.
At least 1,315 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel last month escalated its bombing there, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures, though the real toll is likely higher.
41 killed, Catastrophe in Lebanon
Lebanon said on Tuesday that 41 people were killed and 124 injured in Israeli strikes on Monday.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati told AFP in an interview on Tuesday that security had been tightened in the country's only airport in Beirut, to remove any pretexts for an Israeli attack.
"The government is doing everything in its power to remove any pretexts from the Israelis' hands," he said, adding that "tightened security has been in place for a week at the airport", located near Hezbollah's south Beirut stronghold that has seen intense Israeli bombardment.
Unicef and the World Food Programme warned in a joint statement on Tuesday that the fighting has “triggered a catastrophe”.
“We are preparing for the reality that the needs are increasing,” the agencies said. “We need additional funding, without conditionalities.”
Lebanese officials have said 1.2 million people have been affected by the conflict, in which Israel has conducted air attacks on Beirut and many other parts of Lebanon, as well as sending ground troops into the south.
“Around 1.2 million people have been affected, with a significant impact on vulnerable communities,” the statement cautioned. “Nearly 190,000 displaced individuals are currently sheltered in over 1,000 facilities, while hundreds of thousands more are seeking safety among family and friends.”
In addition, hundreds of thousands have crossed into Syria, the statement notes, further complicating the humanitarian response.
Another top Unicef official said more than 400,000 children have been displaced in the past three weeks, warning of a “lost generation” in the small country grappling with multiple crises and now in the middle of war.
Ted Chaiban, Unicef’s deputy executive director for humanitarian actions, has visited schools that have been turned into shelters to host displaced families.
“What struck me is that this war is three weeks old and so many children have been affected,” Chaiban told The Associated Press in Beirut.