The Israeli bombing of Lebanon yesterday Thursday claimed the lives of 92 people and injured 153 others, Lebanon’s health ministry said.
The “Israeli enemy raids” caused the deaths of 40 people in southern Lebanon, 25 others in the Balbek-Hermel region (east), 23 in Bekaa (east) and 4 in the Mount Lebanon region (center-east), the health ministry explained.
Israeli fighter jets hit some 220 targets linked to Hezbollah in raids over the past 24 hours in Lebanon, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said.
According to the briefing, among the targets hit were infrastructure, rocket launchers used in recent attacks against Israel, weapons depots and Hezbollah fighters.
The Israeli armed forces released a video allegedly including images of strikes in Lebanon in the previous hours.
מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר, בהכוונת פיקוד הצפון תקפו במהלך היממה האחרונה כ-220 מטרות טרור של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בלבנון.
בין המטרות שהותקפו, מבנים צבאיים, משגרים שביצעו ירי לעבר שטח מדינת ישראל, מחבלים ומחסני אמצעי לחימה של הארגון בעומק ובדרום לבנון pic.twitter.com/uFU8vlf7EC– צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) September 26, 2024
The Israel has set its sights on commanders of Hezbollah in airstrikes in Beirut amid an escalating conflict with the Iranian-backed Lebanese group.
In fact, Reuters released a list of Israeli operations in Lebanon in which leaders and Hezbollah officials have died.
In particular:
Muhammad Hussein Sarour
.
A new wave of Israeli “precision strikes” on Beirut was launched yesterday by the Israeli military, targeting Hezbollah’s air force commander, Muhammad Hussein Sharour.
As the IDF made known, Sharour was killed in the Israeli airstrike. According to the Israeli military, Sharour directed several airstrikes against Israel, including explosive drones and cruise missiles. In recent years, the IDF says he led the construction of Hezbollah drones and set up sites in Lebanon where the group built UAVs, some of which were located under civilian buildings in Beirut.
היום, 26 בספטמבר 2024, בהכוונה מודיעינית מדוייקת של חיל האוויר ואגף המודיעין, מטוסי קרב תקפו בביירות וחיסלו את מחמד חסין סרור, מפקד היחידה האווירית של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה>> pic.twitter.com/9btewwdOwE
– צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) September 26, 2024
Sharour joined Hezbollah in the 1980s and held various positions, including in the terrorist group’s air defense, the Aziz unit in the Radwan force and as a Hezbollah attaché in Yemen, where he participated in the Houthi air force, according to the Israeli military.
Ibrahim Kubaisi
.
An airstrike on the southern suburbs of Beirut on September 24 killed Ibrahim Qubaisi, a commander and leading member of Hezbollah’s missile division, two security sources said.
⚠️BREAKING: Hezbollah officially announced the elimination of Ibrahim Qubaisi, the Commander of its Rocket and Missile division.
Good riddance. Hell awaits. pic.twitter.com/dQPbSU5kQY
– Vivid.🇮🇱 (@VividProwess) September 24, 2024
Ibrahim Akil
An Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut killed on September 20 Hezbollah’s operations commander, Ibrahim Akil, who served in the organization’s top military body. Akil, who also used the pseudonyms Tahsin and Abdelqader, was a member of Hezbollah’s top military body, the Jihad Council.
The U.S. accused him of involvement in the truck bombings in Beirut that hit the U.S. embassy in April 1983, killing 63 people, and a U.S. Marine barracks six months later, killing 241 people.
Ahmet Wahbi
.
Ahmed Gahbi, was a senior commander overseeing Special Forces Radwan military operations in the Gaza war until early 2024, was killed in an Israeli strike targeting several senior commanders in the Beirut suburbs on September 20, including Ibrahim Akil.
Fuad Shukr
An Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital on July 30 killed Hezbollah supreme commander Fouad Shoukr, identified by the Israeli military as the right-hand man of Hezbollah chief Syed Hassan Nasrallah.
Hezbollah terrorist organization confirms the death of its commander Fuad Shukr, eliminated by an IAF strike in Beirut yesterday pic.twitter.com/geaFb33mih
– Aleph א (@no_itsmyturn) July 31, 2024
Fouad Shoukr has been one of Hezbollah’s leading military figures since it was founded by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards more than four decades ago. The US imposed sanctions on Sukkr in 2015 and accused him of playing a central role in the 1983 bombing of the US Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 US servicemen.
Mohammed Nasser
Mohammed Nasser was killed in an Israeli airstrike on July 3. Israel claimed responsibility, saying he was in charge of a unit responsible for firing from southwestern Lebanon against Israel. Nasser, a senior Hezbollah commander, was in charge of part of Hezbollah’s border operations, according to senior security sources in Lebanon.
Taleb Abdullah
Hezbollah’s senior field commander Taleb Sami Abdullah was killed on June 12 in an attack claimed by Israel, which said it had hit a command and control centre in southern Lebanon. Security sources in Lebanon said he was the head of Hezbollah, commander of the central area of the southern border strip and held the same rank as Nasser. His assassination prompted the group to launch massed fire and missiles along the border into Israel.
Israel’s defense minister: We will continue to put Hezbollah off balance
We will continue to keep the Israelis on the sidelines of the conflict, and we will continue to keep the Israelis on the sidelines.
Earlier on Thursday (9/26), Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galland had met with senior IDF leadership to approve the “next series of operations.”
“The Israeli army is continuing its sequence of operations, focusing on neutralizing Hezbollah terrorists, dismantling its offensive infrastructure and destroying rockets and missiles,” Yoav Galad said, adding that the army “will continue to put Hezbollah off balance and deepen its losses.”
“The missions before us are clear and we are determined to ensure the safe return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes,” he said in a statement.
I have approved the next set of operations that will be executed by the IDF in the northern arena. We continue to eliminate Hezbollah terrorists, dismantle offensive infrastructure, and destroy rockets and missiles.
The missions ahead of us are clear, and we are determined to… pic.twitter.com/K4jqdN4kXn
– יואב גלנט – Yoav Gallant (@yoavgallant) September 26, 2024
In the… war game and the Houthis: They attacked Israel with a rocket
In successive Telegram announcements, the Israeli armed forces first announced the activation “in various sectors of central Israel” of air defense system sirens, before explaining that it was due to “a missile fired from Yemen” – apparently by the Houthi movement.
The missile was “successfully intercepted by the ‘Arrow’ anti-aircraft defence system,” they clarified shortly afterwards.
בהמשך לאזעקות במרכז הארץ, טיל קרקע-קרקע ששוגר מתימן יורט על ידי מיירט מדגם “חץ” מחוץ לגבולות המדינה.
נכון לשלב זה, אין שינוי בהנחיות פיקוד העורף
– צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) September 26, 2024
They added that “sirens and explosions were heard after (he) was intercepted and debris fell.”
#BREAKING: Arrow-2 and 3 anti-ballistic missiles of the #IDF successfully shot-down all ballistic missiles of the #Houthi terrorists of #IRGC that were launched at #TelAviv, central #Israel. The #IsraeliAirForce is preparing for a heavy response. They will destroy energy… pic.twitter.com/JRXtNcoq3Z
– Babak Taghvaee – The Crisis Watch (@BabakTaghvaee1) September 26, 2024
Houthis will not hesitate to support Hezbollah, says their leader
Yemen’s Houthi rebels “will not hesitate to support Lebanon and Hezbollah,” their leader asserted yesterday, as Israeli airstrikes against the Lebanese movement continued for a fourth day.
In a televised speech, rebel leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi claimed that Israel launched the attacks on Lebanon to prevent Hezbollah from “supporting Gaza and the Palestinians.”
Israel’s “no” to ceasefire
Israel is “not going to go for a ceasefire now” according to a member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s entourage, amid escalating relations with Hezbollah in Lebanon. The issue was not raised in yesterday’s cabinet meetings, the official said. “We remain determined to return the residents [of the north] to their homes safely,” the official noted.
“We are continuing with the war plan approved by the prime minister.” “If [Hezbollah chief Hassan] Nasrallah has not understood the message by now, he will understand it in a different way,” the official concluded.
Macron: It would be a mistake for Netanyahu to reject ceasefire proposal
France’s president, Emanuel Macron, ruled yesterday (Thursday) that it would be a “mistake” for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “reject” a ceasefire proposal on Israel’s border with Lebanon, as the decision would make him “responsible” for any regional escalation.
“The proposal that was made is a well-established proposal. It was not made in the air,” Macron pointed out during a joint press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Montreal.
The proposal was “prepared” and “negotiated” with “Prime Minister Netanyahu and his teams” by both “the Americans” and “ourselves,” the French president explained.
“I think it would be a mistake on the part of the (Israeli) prime minister to deny it, because he would take responsibility for regional escalation, obviously the new victims in the ranks of civilians in Lebanon, as well as possible further escalation that no one could contain,” he warned.
“It is absolutely imperative that a ceasefire be agreed immediately,” Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau pleaded, calling it a “horrific picture.”
“I call on Israel and Hezbollah to stop the violence, to move away from the brink of the abyss. We must have an immediate ceasefire to allow room for a diplomatic settlement,” Kir Starmer, Britain’s prime minister said in his first major speech to the UN General Assembly in New York.
The US, the EU and allies including Arab states have issued a joint call for a 21-day ceasefire on the Israel-Lebanon border, as Israeli aerial bombardments have killed hundreds of people and forced tens of thousands of others to flee their homes in Lebanese territory this week.
US: An all-out war would be disastrous for Israel and Lebanon
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said yesterday that an “all-out war” between Israel and Hezbollah would be disastrous for both Israel and Lebanon. The US secretary called for a “diplomatic solution” as Israel’s massive airstrikes on disputed areas of Lebanon continue.
“We face the risk of an all-out war” that “would be catastrophic for both Israel and Lebanon,” said the US defence secretary, who is in London for contacts with his British and Australian counterparts. He added that a possible ceasefire agreement “could also serve to establish and implement a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.”
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