Fighting between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia continued on Thursday, killing hundreds and displacing tens of thousands of people in Lebanon since Israel began its massive bombardment four days ago.
After months of cross-border skirmishes between Israeli forces and the Iran-backed militia, which says it is acting in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza, Israel on Monday launched an intensive air campaign to strike Hezbollah targets – with the region now on the brink of a crisis stands. total war.
International efforts are underway to negotiate a ceasefire, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied that a plan had been agreed and vowed to continue attacking Hezbollah with “full force.”
At least 92 people were killed in Lebanon on Thursday and more than 150 were injured as a result of Israeli attacks, the Lebanese Health Ministry said.
According to Lebanese authorities, more than 600 people have been killed this week. According to human rights activists, they include more than a hundred Syrian refugees.
A total of 70,100 displaced people are currently registered in 533 emergency centers, Lebanese Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the attacks would continue despite calls for a ceasefire and that he had “approved the next series of operations.”
“We continue to eliminate Hezbollah terrorists, dismantle offensive infrastructure and destroy rockets and missiles,” he wrote on X.
Israel: That of Hezbollah drone chief killed
The Israeli military said an airstrike near Beirut killed a senior Hezbollah commander in charge of the group’s drone fleet.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said air unit commander Muhammad Hussain Sarur was killed in the targeted attack.
Hezbollah confirmed the commander’s death late on Thursday.
A witness said the third floor of an 11-story building was hit in the Jamous neighborhood, south of Beirut, an area considered a Hezbollah stronghold.
The Lebanese Health Ministry said at least two people were killed and 15 injured in the bombing.
The attack took place near the site where a senior Hezbollah military commander, Ibrahim Akil, was killed last week.
Southern Lebanon and Northern Israel under fire
The Israeli military also continued its airstrikes in southern and eastern Lebanon, with the army saying its air force had hit around 220 Hezbollah militia targets, including weapons depots and rocket launch pads.
Hezbollah said it launched 80 rockets at the Israeli city of Safed and another 50 at the city of Ahihud, as well as at military sites in northern Israel.
As of Thursday morning, the Israeli military said some 170 rockets had been launched from Lebanon, with some of the impacts reportedly setting off fires around Safed.
Israel attacks Syrian targets for the first time this week
Israel has also attacked infrastructure used by Hezbollah along the Lebanese-Syrian border, particularly routes used by Hezbollah to bring weapons to Lebanon through Syria, according to the military.
Four border crossings have been hit since Israel intensified its attacks in Lebanon on Monday, Lebanese security sources said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has been documenting violence in Syria since 2011, said Israeli fighter jets attacked a border crossing in the area around the Syrian town of al-Qusayr, near the border with Lebanon.
According to the war monitor, several people were injured.
It is the first Israeli attack on Syrian territory since Monday, the Observatory said.
According to the war monitor, Hezbollah tried to use the border crossings to bring more fighters from Yemen and Iraq into the country.
They would enter the country to support the Shiite militia in the event of a feared ground offensive by the Israeli army, the report said.
As a result of the Israeli attacks in Lebanon, approximately 13,500 people have fled to Syria since Monday, most of them Syrian nationals, according to the Lebanese Interior Ministry.
There are an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees living in Lebanon.
Netanyahu denies reports of an impending ceasefire
As a group of countries led by the US and France work to reach an agreement for a 21-day ceasefire between the two sides, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a report that he had greenlit the plan.
“The ceasefire report is incorrect,” said a statement from Netanyahu’s office. “This is an American-French proposal to which the prime minister has not even responded.”
A report by broadcaster N12 that Netanyahu had ordered the military to reduce attacks in the northern neighbor was also “the opposite of the truth,” his office said. “The Prime Minister has ordered the IDF to continue fighting with full force, according to the plan presented to him.”
A joint demand for a 21-day ceasefire was previously issued by a handful of countries, including the US, Germany, France, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
According to the US government, the demand was coordinated with Israel. White House spokesman John Kirby said the statement was “not simply made in a vacuum.”
It happened after careful consultation, Kirby said, “not only with the countries that signed it, but also with Israel itself.”
The pause is intended to create space for a diplomatic solution to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as the nearly year-long war in Gaza.
