Photo credit: Lieber institute
It seems Gaza and the West Bank are having a respite as Israel is concentrating on a double-prong attack on Lebanon and Yemen.
The Guardian reports that Israel’s military has struck more targets in Yemen and Lebanon, including a strike on central Beirut for the first time since 2006.
Lebanon’s health ministry said more than one hundred people have been killed by Israeli strikes on Sunday. The ministry said over 1,000 Lebanese have been killed and 6,000 wounded in the past two weeks. The government said a million people have fled their homes.
Israel struck central Beirut in the early hours of Monday. The strike hit the upper floor of an apartment building. A security source said at least two people were killed. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said that three of its leaders were killed in the strike.
Israel said it bombed Houthi targets in Yemen on Sunday. The airstrikes on the port of Hodeidah were a response to Houthi missile attacks on Israel in recent days, Israel said. The Houthi-run health ministry said at least four people were killed and twenty-nine wounded. The Israeli military said dozens of its aircraft had attacked power plants and Ras Issa and Hodeidah ports, accusing the Houthis of operating under Iran’s direction and in cooperation with Iraqi militias.
Hezbollah confirmed that the deputy head of its central council, Nabil Kaouk, was killed on Saturday. He is the seventh senior Hezbollah leader killed in Israeli airstrikes in a little over a week.
Hezbollah denied claims that the commander of the group’s Bader Unit in south Lebanon, Abu Ali Rida, had been killed. He is the last remaining senior military commander of the group.
John Kirby, the national security spokesman in the White House, said Israel had demolished Hezbollah’s command structure. However, he warned that the group would work quickly to rebuild it. President Joe Biden said on Sunday he would speak soon with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu so that an all-out war would be prevented in the Middle East.
But Israel on Sunday vowed to keep up its assault on Lebanon. The country’s military chief of staff, Herzi Halevi, said, “We need to keep hitting Hezbollah hard.”
The Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, has spoken on Israel’s assassination of Hassan Nasrallah. He was quoted as saying, “We are certain that the Lebanese national resistance will continue on the path of struggle and justice in the face of the occupation and will continue to support the Palestinian people in their struggle for their just cause.”
Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran’s president, said Israel should not be allowed to attack countries in the Iran-aligned “Axis of Resistance” one after the other. He said Lebanon should be supported.
Saudi Arabia has emphasized the “need to preserve Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
