Israeli forces have launched a series of attacks in southern and eastern Lebanon, as Israel targets the Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah amid the joint Israeli-US war against Iran.
The Israeli military warned of imminent attacks on Tire and Sidon in southern Lebanon on Tuesday after the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) reported that Israeli warplanes launched attacks overnight on the towns of Almajadel, Chaqra, Srifa and the Bekaa Valley.
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“Urgent warning to residents of Tire and Sidon. The IDF will soon attack military infrastructure belonging to the terrorist organization Hezbollah,” Arabic-language military spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has intensified since the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during last week’s US-Israeli attacks. Since then, opposition forces have clashed in eastern Lebanon, while Israel has carried out attacks throughout Lebanon, including the capital, Beirut.
“There is a battle for control of southern Lebanon, with the Israeli army increasing its presence along the border and inside Lebanese territory,” said Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Zahrani in Lebanon.
Israeli media report that “Israel wants to expand its presence in southern Lebanon, expand that buffer zone,” he said, but “Hezbollah says it has so far rejected advances on several axes.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the NNA reported intense Israeli attacks near the town of Ansariya, as well as on the outskirts of Bint Jbeil and Ainatha. Four people were killed in Bint Jbeil district, he added.
Al Jazeera Arabic reported other Israeli attacks in the southern Lebanese towns of Majdal in the Tire district and Kafr Sasir in the Nabatieh district.
This came as Lebanese media reported that a Maronite Catholic priest, Father Pierre al-Rahi, was killed by Israeli tank fire in the village of Qlayaa in southern Lebanon.
Lebanese newspaper L’Orient-Le Jour reported that al-Rahi died after an Israeli tank fired on a local couple’s home for the second time after several people rushed there to try to help.
“We narrowly escaped a massacre, because there were so many of us there,” said Hanna Daher, head of the Qlayaa village council, according to L’Orient-Le Jour. “Despite this, several people were injured, including priest Pierre el-Rahi, who succumbed to his injuries.”
A day before he was killed, al-Rahi had spoken to the France24 television channel from the steps of his church in Qlayaa, telling them that he would stay to defend the village peacefully.
“We are forced to stay despite the danger, when we defend our land, and we do it peacefully,” al-Rahi told France24. “None of us carry weapons. We all carry peace, kindness and love,” he added.
Let’s prevent Lebanon from “sliding into chaos”
On the other hand, the Israeli army announced that last week it had attacked 30 sites belonging to the Al-Qard al-Hasan association in Lebanon, “affiliated with Hezbollah.”
The NNA reported that the nonprofit was also bombed by Israeli forces in October 2024. At the time, Amnesty International said the attacks should be investigated as a war crime, as branches of financial institutions are civilian objects unless used for military purposes.
As Israeli attacks continue, Hezbollah has also increased its counterattacks.
At least 16 people were injured in a Hezbollah missile attack in central Israel, according to Magen David Adom, Israel’s national emergency medical service.
Hezbollah also said it launched a missile attack on the Givaa drone control base, east of the Israeli city of Safad, and fired rockets at the Yiftah barracks near the border.
Hezbollah fighters launched several attacks against Israeli troops in southern Lebanon. He said his fighters ambushed Israeli soldiers outside the town of Khiam and attacked three Merkava tanks. All three vehicles were seen on fire, he said.
On Monday, European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas urged both Hezbollah and Israel to stop their actions and called for a return to the November 2024 ceasefire to prevent the country from “sliding into chaos.”
In a statement after crisis talks with Middle East leaders, including Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Kallas called on Hezbollah to “cease all actions against Israel,” affirming the country’s “right to self-defense.”
He also criticized Israel for taking “heavy-handed” retaliations that were “causing mass displacement” and “further destabilizing a fragile situation.”
“Israel should cease its operations in Lebanon,” he said, warning that it “risks dragging Lebanon and its people into a war that is not theirs, with serious humanitarian consequences.”
Aoun on Monday accused Hezbollah of working toward the “collapse” of the state, expressing Beirut’s willingness to conduct “direct negotiations” with Israel.
At least 486 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since Monday last week, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
