Israel-Hamas war: Australia concerned by escalation as nearly 500 killed in Lebanon by Israeli strikes
Penny Wong has expressed deep concern over the deadly escalation in Lebanon as nearly 500 people are killed by Israeli strikes. Follow for updates.
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Israeli air strikes on Lebanon have killed nearly 500 people, including 35 children, the health ministry said, marking the deadliest day of cross-border violence since the Gaza war began.
Arab states strongly condemned Israel for the escalating hostilities with Hezbollah, which have intensified to levels unseen in nearly a year.
Just before the strikes began, mobile phone users throughout Lebanon received messages from Israeli authorities, who had hacked the system, warning them about the impending attack.
Israel claimed they killed a “large number” of Hezbollah militants when it hit about 1300 sites in southern and eastern Lebanon. However, many innocent civilians have been killed.
Hezbollah said Ali Karake, its third in command, was alive and had moved to safety after a source said the strike on the capital targeted him.
State media reported new raids in eastern Lebanon, while Hezbollah said it targeted five sites in Israel.
In the coastal Israeli city of Haifa, people were seen running for cover when air raid sirens sounded.
Lebanon’s health ministry said the strikes killed 492 people, including 35 children and 58 women, and wounded 1645 others. Health Minister Firass Abiad said “thousands of families” had been displaced.
Explosions near the ancient city of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon sent smoke billowing into the sky.
“We sleep and wake up to bombardment... that’s what our life has become,” said Wafaa Ismail, 60, a housewife from the southern village of Zawtar.
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CHINA SLAMS ‘INDISCRIMINATE ATTACKS’ ON LEBANON
China’s top diplomat Wang Yi expressed support for Lebanon and condemned what he termed “indiscriminate attacks against civilians”, Beijing’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
Meeting his Lebanese counterpart in New York, Wang said: “We pay close attention to developments in the region, especially the recent explosion of communications equipment in Lebanon, and firmly oppose indiscriminate attacks against civilians.”
Wang said China “strongly condemns any violation of the basic norms governing international relations”.
“No matter how the situation changes, we will always stand on the side of justice, on the side of our Arab brothers, including Lebanon,” Wang told Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib.
PENNY WONG ‘DEEPLY CONCERNED’ BY ESCALATION
Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said she was “deeply concerned by this escalation”, although she side-stepped questions about whether she blamed Israel for it.
“We’re alarmed by the escalation and the loss of civilian life, both in Lebanon and also the attacks into Israel,” she said.“We have consistently said we wish to see de-escalation. We believe a wider regional conflict is not in the interests of any of the peoples of the region.”
“We would urge all parties to de-escalate.”Senator Wong urged Australians in Lebanon to come home on commercial flights while they were still available.“Whilst we are doing what we can to make contingency arrangements, the numbers of Australians in Lebanon are beyond the capacity of the government to provide assistance to all,” she said.
Speaking on the sidelines of the United Nations in New York, Senator Wong renewed Australia’s calls for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the release of hostages, “an end to the humanitarian catastrophe we see in Gaza”, and ultimately a two-state solution.
FRANCE CALLS FOR EMERGENCY UN SECURITY COUNCIL MEETING
France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told the UN General Assembly that it has “requested that an emergency meeting of the Security Council be held on Lebanon this week”.
Mr Barrot said he was “thinking of the men and women in uniform in Lebanon and the French contingent there”, following a wave of deadly attacks by Israel that have killed at least 492 people.
“I’m thinking of the Lebanese people as Israeli strikes have just killed hundreds of civilians, including dozens of children. These strikes conducted on both sides of the blue line, and in the region more broadly, must immediately end,” he said, referring to the demarcation line dividing Lebanon from Israel and the occupied Golan Heights.
“France, once again, calls upon the parties and those that support them to deescalate and avoid a regional conflagration that would be devastating for everyone,” he said.
‘ALARMING LEVELS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS’
UNICEF chief Catherine Russell says she is “deeply alarmed by the ongoing surge of deadly attacks in Lebanon and Israel, saying the intensifying violence represents a “dangerous escalation” for civilians.
“Countless” of children are in danger, with many displaced from their homes, Ms Russell said in a statement.
“Alarming levels of psychological distress” have also been reported among children due to displacement and from barrage of shelling and air raids, she said, calling for an immediate de-escalation.
The United Arab Emirates also expressed “deep concern over Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon.”
In a statement, the Gulf country affirmed its stance of “rejecting violence, escalation, un-calculated actions and reactions that disregard laws governing state relations and sovereignty”, state media reported.
‘MOST DIFFICULT WEEK’ FOR HEZBOLLAH
Global powers urged Israel and Hezbollah to step back from the brink of all-out war, as the violence shifted from Israel’s southern border with Gaza to its northern frontier with Lebanon.
Egypt called on the United Nations Security Council to intervene, while Iraq requested an urgent meeting of Arab states on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Israeli army chief Herzi Halevi said the strikes hit combat infrastructure Hezbollah had been building for two decades.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was acting to change the “security balance” in the north.
Hezbollah, which has been trading near-daily fire with Israel and vice versa, said it was in a “new phase” of confrontation.
The group said it launched rockets at Israeli military sites near Haifa and two bases in retaliation for Israeli strikes on the south and the Bekaa.
The attack came after an Israeli strike on southern Beirut Friday killed its elite Radwan Force commander, Ibrahim Aqil, and coordinated communications device blasts that Hezbollah blamed on Israel killed 39 people and wounded almost 3000 on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Since the cross-border exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah began in October, tens of thousands of people on both sides have fled their homes.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati urged the United Nations and world powers to deter what he called Israel’s “plan that aims to destroy Lebanese villages and towns”.
US SENDING MORE TROOPS TO MIDDLE EAST
It comes as the US military announced it would be sending additional troops to the Middle East and urging Americans to leave Lebanon as Israel moves toward all-out war with Iranian proxy terror group Hezbollah.
Pentagon press secretary Major General Pat Ryder made the deployment announcement, but provided no additional information regarding the number of additional troops or their intended mission, citing “operational security”.
The unknown number of forces would join the 40,000 troops already in the region.
“In light of increased tension in the Middle East and out of an abundance of caution, we are sending a small number of additional US military personnel forward to augment our forces that are already in the region,” Maj. Gen. Ryder said.
There were indications that at least some of the additional forces would come from the Navy, as the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier and its strike group deployed east from Norfolk, Virginia on Monday local time – about a month before they were originally scheduled to depart.
Should the ship arrive in the Middle East, it will bring the US back to a two-carrier presence in the region, as the USS Abraham Lincoln remains in the Arabian Sea amid Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza and increasing attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Also on Monday, the State Department urged US citizens in Lebanon to seek out ways to leave the volatile country while transportation options remain.
“Due to the unpredictable nature of ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel and recent explosions throughout Lebanon, including Beirut, the US Embassy urges US citizens to depart Lebanon while commercial options still remain available,” the State Department said in an updated advisory.
“At this time, commercial flights are available, but at reduced capacity. If the security situation worsens, commercial options to depart may become unavailable,” the statement added.
Australians had already been urged to leave the area.
ISRAEL ISSUES WARNING OVER MORE STRIKES
The Israeli military has told people in Lebanon to move away from Hezbollah targets and vowed to carry out more “extensive and precise” strikes against the group.
“We advise civilians from Lebanese villages located in and next to buildings and areas used by Hezbollah for military purposes, such as those used to store weapons, to immediately move out of harm’s way for their own safety,” military spokesman Reard Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a media briefing on Monday.
“The IDF (military) will engage in (more) extensive and precise strikes.”
Al-Monitor, a US-based outlet, cited a source close to Hezbollah as also saying the meeting had been called to work on the longstanding plan for a major invasion of the northern Galilee region, following last week’s explosions of Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies.
AUSSIE AID TO GAZA TOPS $82.5M
Australia will give a fresh round of humanitarian aid to war-torn Gaza as the conflict between Israel and Hamas nears one year.
Health authorities in the densely populated Palestinian territory have said the death toll has risen above 40,000, with millions more displaced facing severe food shortages and no access to basic healthcare or sanitary products.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced on Monday that Australia would commit a further $10m in aid targeting women and girls.
“Australia’s support will help address the dire humanitarian situation with the delivery of nutrition and essential hygiene and health products,” Senator Wong said in a statement.
“Rapid, safe and unimpeded humanitarian relief must reach civilians, and aid workers must be protected to enable their lifesaving work.”
She added that the government was continuing “to press for a ceasefire, the protection of civilians and the release of hostages”.
The aid will be directed to UN agencies operating in Gaza and bring Australia’s total humanitarian funding to $82.5m since the start of the war.
‘WE ARE READY’: HEZBOLLAH’S GRIM MESSAGE TO ISRAEL
Hezbollah’s deputy chief said the Iran-backed group is “ready to face all military possibilities” in a grim message directed towards Israel which has made world leaders increasingly worried.
Naim Qassem said his group was in a “new phase” in its battle against Israel, which it has waged from across the Lebanese border since the Gaza war erupted.
“We have entered a new phase, namely an open reckoning” with Israel, Qassem said at the funeral of a senior Hezbollah commander killed in an Israeli strike on Friday.
“Threats will not stop us … We are ready to face all military possibilities,” he said.
The worrying words are the first official comments from the group since the Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs killed Ibrahim Aqil, the head of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force.
Qassem said that only a ceasefire in Gaza would put a stop to Hezbollah’s cross-border attacks, warning that “the Israeli military solution increases the dilemma for Israel and the residents of the north” of the country.
The worrying message triggered the European Union to call for an “urgent” ceasefire.
“The European Union is extremely concerned about an escalation in Lebanon after the attacks Friday in Beirut,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.
“Civilians on both sides are paying a high price. They will also be the ones suffering once against the most in a full-blown war that must be averted, including by renewed intense diplomatic mediation efforts.”
Egypt’s foreign minister who feared an all-out regional war in light of the intensified fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, said the escalation “negatively impacted” a Gaza truce deal.
“There is great concern about … the possibility of an escalation in the region leading to an all-out regional war,” Badr Abdelatty told AFP.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said it was “clear” neither side of the grinding war in Gaza was interested in a halt to fighting.
“It is for me clear that both sides are not interested in a ceasefire. And that is a tragedy, because this is a war that must stop,” he told CNN.
The death toll from Friday’s attack on a densely-populated Hezbollah stronghold in south Beirut has risen to 45, the health ministry said.
UN WARNING AS HEZBOLLAH RAINS ROCKETS ON ISRAEL
Hundreds of thousands of people sought shelter from Hezbollah rockets fired from Lebanon into northern Israel on Sunday local time, the military said, as a UN official warned of imminent regional “catastrophe” from the worsening violence.
Further exchanges of fire came after military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari late Saturday said dozens of Israeli warplanes were “widely” striking Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.
Analysts said Hezbollah – which says it is acting in support of ally Hamas – was dealt a serious blow this week.
Deadly attacks targeted its communications and decimated the leadership of its elite unit, although its ability to fight has not been crushed, the analysts said.
“With the region on the brink of an imminent catastrophe, it cannot be overstated enough: there is NO military solution that will make either side safer,” United Nations special co-ordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said on social media.
The Israeli army said more than 100 projectiles had been fired from Lebanon early on Sunday.
“Hundreds of thousands of people had to take refuge in bomb shelters” across northern Israel, said military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani.
The military said it launched strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon in response to the rocket fire and, Shoshani said, “to prevent a larger-scale attack”.
Israel’s rescue service said at least four people suffered “shrapnel injuries”, three near the city of Haifa.
Israel’s civil defence agency ordered all schools in the country’s north closed following the rocket fire.
Hezbollah said it had targeted Israeli military production facilities and an air base in the Haifa area in response to the communication device blasts on Tuesday and Wednesday that killed 39 and wounded almost 3000.
“In an initial response” to the explosions of the pagers and two-way radios, which it blamed on Israel, Hezbollah “bombed the Rafael military industry complexes” in northern Israel with “dozens” of rockets, the group said.
– with AFP
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