At least 10 dead are the tally of the evening expenses of the Israeli Air Force, in Lebanon and of course in Beirut, but also other cities, with Hezbollah responding to the strikes and the American Secretary of State Anthony Blinken insisting to his contacts that it should be pursued ceasefire and to continue the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health announced this evening that at least 10 people were killed and 31 wounded in two Israeli strikes, one in the south and one in the east of the country, which has been bombarded mercilessly by Israel in recent weeks.
In two separate announcements, the health ministry said five people were killed and 10 injured due to an Israeli strike in the Ermel area (near the Syrian border), while another five people were killed and 21 injured in Nabatiya (south).
Hezbollah
Hezbollah said tonight it had launched drones at a military base near Haifa, the largest city in northern Israel, and destroyed seven Israeli tanks on the border, where heavy fighting continues.
In its statement, the Shiite organization said its fighters carried out an “air attack with a squadron of drones” against an Israeli army base south of Haifa.
In another statement, it says it targeted seven Israeli tanks, five of them in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah fired at least 65 rockets at Israel on Tuesday, including at central Israel in the morning.
In the evening, sirens in Israel warning of a suspected drone incursion along Israel’s northern coast, sending an estimated one million Israelis to shelters. The IDF Home Front Command said the incident ended after more than an hour.
The IDF said the drone was launched from Lebanon and likely crashed in an open area, although it had not been located.
Israeli fighter jets struck several Hezbollah weapon depots in Beirut’s southern suburb earlier today, the IDF says.
The military issued evacuation warnings before the strikes, as part of steps to mitigate civilian harm. pic.twitter.com/OTwxptwbKa
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The fighting in Lebanon
Two Israeli reservists were killed and three others wounded on Tuesday as the Israeli army continued to engage Hezbollah in Lebanon, while the Iran-backed Shiite group fired dozens of missiles into northern Israel.
One of the dead soldiers is Major Aviram Hariv, 42, deputy commander of the 9308th battalion of the Alon brigade, from Dolev. He was killed during fighting in southern Lebanon. The other is Master Sergeant Saar Eliad Navarsky, 27, of the 508th Artillery Battalion of the 7338th “Adirim” Regiment, from Tel Aviv. He was killed by rocket fire in northern Israel.
The Israeli military has been calling on residents of the southern suburbs of Beirut, a known Hezbollah stronghold, to evacuate the area ahead of military operations targeting the Lebanese terror group “in the near future.”
Arabic-speaking army spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on social media platform X a map showing specific buildings in southern Beirut, saying: “You must immediately evacuate these buildings and those adjacent to them and stay away from them at a distance of no less than 500 meters (0.3 miles)’.
The Lebanese say they don’t have time to move away, because the strikes are done very quickly after the notification.
The Blinken contacts
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in talks with Foreign Secretary Anthony Blinken on Tuesday acknowledged the “seriousness” of US warnings to increase aid to the Palestinians in Gaza, according to a US official.
“They recognize the seriousness with which we have expressed our concern about the current situation and are committed to responding to it and acting on the requests,” the official said during a press briefing after the meeting with Blinken, who had warned on withholding aid to Israel in a recent letter, with top Israeli leaders, including Netanyahu, in Jerusalem earlier today.
Blinken also discussed with Netanyahu the mechanisms to be put in place, including “transitional structures” needed for post-war governance in Gaza, US official says.
Spectacular footage was released earlier of the collapse of a building hit by the Israeli army in South Lebanon, which collapsed entirely after being hit by a single rocket. Israel also hit targets today that it says were Hezbollah command structures or funding centers
Source: www.enikos.gr
