Israel expands offensive against Hezbollah in south Lebanon

Israel expands offensive against Hezbollah in south Lebanon

The October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, and dozens of people are still held hostage by militants in Gaza

Israel ramped up its ground offensive against Hezbollah along Lebanon's southern coast on Tuesday, deploying more troops and urging civilians near the Mediterranean to evacuate.

The Iran-backed Hezbollah said it had fired rockets at the Israeli city of Haifa, after the Israeli military reported 85 projectiles crossing from Lebanon.

The latest escalation followed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's vow to fight a "sacred war" until Hezbollah and Hamas are defeated. 

Israel expanded operations in Lebanon nearly a year after Hezbollah opened a front in support of its Palestinian ally, Hamas, following the deadliest attack in its history on October 7, 2023.

While battling Hamas in Gaza, Israel has vowed to secure its northern border with Lebanon to allow tens of thousands of Israelis displaced by Hezbollah's cross-border fire to return home.

Both Hamas and Hezbollah have pledged no let-up against Israel, and on Tuesday Hezbollah's deputy chief Naim Qassem said the group would make it impossible for Israelis to return to the north.

Israel launched a wave of strikes against Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon on September 23, leaving at least 1,110 people dead since then and forcing more than a million people to flee.

Israeli attacks have mainly targeted Hezbollah stronghold areas in southern and eastern Lebanon, as well as south Beirut.

While the southern coast has not been spared, Israel's latest evacuation warning suggests it is widening its offensive northwards.

On its Telegram channel, the Israeli military said its 146th Division began "limited, localised, targeted operational activities" against Hezbollah targets and infrastructure in southwestern Lebanon.

- Hezbollah defiant -

A day earlier, the military had warned people to stay away from the southern shore, with a spokesman saying Israel would "soon operate in the maritime area against Hezbollah's terrorist activities" south of the Al-Awali river.

In Sidon, fishermen stayed ashore and the seafood market was unusually quiet.

"Fishing was the way we supported our children. If we don't go out to sea, we won't be able to feed ourselves," said fisherman Issam Haboush.

The Israeli military said it hit Hezbollah's south Beirut bastion, where a strike last month killed the militant group's leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Hezbollah's deputy Qassem said despite Israel's "painful" strikes, the group's leadership structure was in order and its military capabilities were "fine".

He also said he supported the Lebanese government's efforts to secure a ceasefire, while warning that Hezbollah would keep fighting.

"Netanyahu says he wants to bring back" the displaced to their homes in northern Israel, Qassem said.

But "we say that many more residents will be forced to flee" their homes, he warned.

The expansion in the fighting came a day after Israelis and people around the world marked a year since Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel.

For families of the bereaved, as well as relatives of 251 people taken hostage into Gaza, the pain was especially acute.

Of the total number, 97 hostages are still being held, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

- 'Sacred mission' -

Hamas's October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, which include hostages killed in captivity.

The attack sparked Gaza's deadliest-ever war, which according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory has killed 41,965 people, a majority of them civilians. The UN has said the figures are reliable.

The conflict has since spilled into Lebanon, with Israeli troops battling Hezbollah, while other Iran-backed groups, including Yemen's Huthis, have also stepped in.

As Iran awaits what Israel has said will be retaliation for an Iranian missile barrage last week, Tehran hailed the October 7 attack.

In a pre-recorded television address, Netanyahu vowed not to give up on the "sacred mission" of achieving the war's goals.

"As long as the enemy threatens our existence and the peace of our country, we will continue to fight. As long as our hostages are still in Gaza, we will continue to fight," he said.

Weakened but not crushed after a year of war, Hamas was defiant, with Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas's armed wing, saying the group would "keep up the fight in a long war of attrition, one that is painful and costly for the enemy".

He also said scores of people taken hostage into Gaza last year were enduring a "very difficult" situation.

A senior Hamas official has acknowledged "several thousand fighters from the movement and other resistance groups died in combat".

When the Gaza war began, Netanyahu vowed to "crush" Hamas, but troops have found themselves returning to areas to confront signs the movement was trying to rebuild.

- Gaza 'graveyard' -

Netanyahu has vowed to bring home the hostages, but critics in Israel have accused him of obstructing mediation for a truce and hostage-release deal.

Vigils at massacre sites and rallies called for the return of hostages a year after their abduction.

Late Monday in Tel Aviv, musicians performed as victims' images flashed on screens at a ceremony attended by families and relatives of those killed and abducted.

"We know in our minds, our hearts, in every cell in our bodies: there will be no rehabilitation without the return of the hostages. All of them," said Nitza Corngold, whose son Tal Shoham was kidnapped.

A year since the start of Israel's military offensive in Gaza, swathes of the territory have been reduced to rubble, and nearly all its 2.4 million residents have been displaced at least once.

On Tuesday, the territory's civil defence agency said an Israeli strike on a refugee camp in the centre of the Gaza Strip killed at least 17 people.

Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said the war had turned Gaza into a "graveyard".

Israel's military says 350 soldiers have been killed since the Gaza ground offensive began on October 27.

Many in Gaza just want the war to end.

"I have grown old while watching my children hungry, scared, having nightmares and screaming day and night from the sound of the bombing and shells," said Israa Abu Matar, a 26-year-old displaced woman.

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