Israel’s Crimes in Lebanon
Featured image: Destruction after Israeli bombardment on Beirut; Source: AP
We continue our reportage on the Israeli war of aggression against Lebanon:
The Israeli ground invasion against Lebanon continues. The 98th Division is operating in southeastern Lebanon. Several engagements between Hezbollah and Israeli soldiers between Mays al Jabal and Mhaibib have been reported. The 36th Division as well operates in southeastern Lebanon. The so-called Golani Brigade operated in southern and southeastern Lebanon. The 91st Division operates in southern Lebanon accompanied by three Reserve Brigades. The IDF’s 146th Division just began operating in southwest Lebanon on October 8.
The IDF continued also its bombardments against Lebanon. They supposedly targeted Wafiq Safa, who reportedly survived the assassination attempt is a member of the Hezbollah Jihad Council, the military General Staff of the Hezbollah. The Yankees called him once “the head of Hizballah’s security apparatus”, but he has also done a mission to the United Arab Emirates to secure the release of detainees.
Israeli strikes hit central Beirut on Thursday night. Officials said 22 Lebanese citizens were murdered, and 117 others were injured, as a result. Thus, making it the deadliest attack on the city since October 8, 2023. The Israeli Air Force carried out its aggression on Beirut through two raids, the first of which targeted the Al-Nuwairi area, while the second targeted the Al-Basta neighborhood.
Israel conducted many air strikes targeting several areas all across south Lebanon, Bekaa and Beirut’s southern suburb, Dahiyeh. Syrian media reported that the IDF struck a bridge crossing the Lebanon-Syria border in northeast Lebanon. In Bekaa, at least 7 strikes on the border area near Hermel were reported. The Israeli warplanes also carried out an air strike on Boudai, west of Baalbeck, murdering at least four Lebanese citizens and injuring many others. In Western Bekaa, Israeli strikes on Suhmor and Maidoun murdered two Lebanese citizens and wounded several others.
UNIFIL yesterday issued a statement in which they said, that the Israeli aggression caused “widespread destruction of towns and villages in south Lebanon … UNIFIL’s Naqoura headquarters and nearby positions have been repeatedly hit. … two peacekeepers were injured after an IDF Merkava tank fired its weapon toward an observation tower at UNIFIL’s headquarters in Naqoura, directly hitting it and causing them to fall. … IDF soldiers also fired on UN position (UNP) 1-31 in Labbouneh, hitting the entrance to the bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, and damaging vehicles and a communications system. An IDF drone was observed flying inside the UN position up to the bunker entrance. Yesterday, IDF soldiers deliberately fired at and disabled the position’s perimeter-monitoring cameras. They also deliberately fired on UNP 1-32A in Ras Naqoura, where regular Tripartite meetings were held before the conflict began, damaging lighting and a relay station. … Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law and of Security Council resolution 1701.”
UNIFIL acts based according to the Security Council’s resolutions 425 and 426 of 19 March 1978, and resolution 1701 of 11 August 2006. Its mandate orders:
“… the Council also authorized UNIFIL to take all necessary action in areas of deployment of its forces and as it deems within its capabilities, to ensure that its area of operations is not utilized for hostile activities of any kind; to resist attempts by forceful means to prevent it from discharging its duties under the mandate of the Security Council; and to protect United Nations personnel, facilities, installations and equipment, ensure the security and freedom of movement of United Nations personnel, humanitarian workers and … to protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence.” (our highlights) Useless cowards one could consider, but this would not take into account today’s character of the UN as a tool of the imperialist, mainly Yankee.
UN Secretary General, Guterres, said that targeting UNIFIL is a violation of international law. The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, voiced at a UN Security Council session on Lebanon on Thursday the “serious risk” UN-soldiers confront in Lebanon amid Israel’s war on the country (not “on Hezbollah”, as imperialist media monopolies usually try to propagate). According to Lacroix, much of southern Lebanon is now increasingly uninhabitable due to Israel’s intense bombardment.
IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari posted footage of himself walking through a home in a Lebanese border village. “Every house is a terror base,” Hagari said, once more showing the genocidal intentions of the Israeli war of aggression.
Evacuation warnings issued by the Israeli military to residents of southern Beirut and south Lebanon were inadequate and misleading, according to so-called human rights organizations. These warnings do not absolve Israel of its obligations under international law to avoid targeting civilians and take all possible measures to minimize harm. These organizations also stated that the warnings to residents of the densely populated Dahieh suburb of Beirut were insufficient. The warnings, issued via social media less than 30 minutes before strikes, included misleading maps and failed to provide clear timelines or safe evacuation routes.
Similarly, the blanket warnings for entire towns and villages in southern Lebanon raised concerns that they were intended to trigger mass displacement rather than protect civilians. These same organizations emphasized that people who choose to stay or are unable to leave must still be protected under international humanitarian law. They also stressed that effective warnings must provide timely, clear instructions to allow civilians to safely move away from targeted military objectives. Broad orders to evacuate entire areas do not meet this standard under international law. It also noted that “the heavy loss of life in Lebanon in recent days raises concerns that Israeli occupation forces are violating their obligation to take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians wherever they may be, including by issuing effective warnings.”
Today morning several Israeli air raids against Lebanon were reported. The bombardments hit the outskirts of the towns of Naqoura, Qana and Alma al-Shaab in southern Lebanon.
More Israeli bombings in southern Lebanon were reported during the day. These raids targeted the towns of Blat, Debbin, Khiyam, Kfar Shouba and Shamaa.
Still the resistance is fierce and the aggression suffers relative high casualties, as we have reported before. Today the main streets in northern Israel were closed due to the fear of an infiltration into a number of towns in the Upper Galilee. Also an Israeli was eliminated and another seriously injured as a result of an anti-tank missile fired towards the Yar’on area in northern Israel.
Hezbollah Military Media released a video which shows a nocturnal border battle between the Islamic Resistance combatants and Israeli soldiers. The footage shows how Hezbollah fighters planted explosives on the possible infiltration paths used by the enemy before detecting the movement of Israeli soldiers and detonating the IEDs. The video also displays Hezbollah air defenses confronting Israeli helicopters evacuating the casualties from the battlefield.