The leader of the Tehran-backed Hezbollah militant group vowed on Wednesday to continue his fight against Israel, whose forces advanced on several border towns and carried out airstrikes around Lebanon for a third day.
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war on Monday, when Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during attacks between the United States and Israel over the weekend.
The group intensified its attacks on Wednesday, saying it had attacked Israeli positions as far away as Tel Aviv in at least 15 attacks.
“We are facing aggression… our choice is to face it until the final sacrifice, and we will not surrender,” declared Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem in his first speech since the latest round of fighting broke out.
“For us this is an existential defense,” he added.
Lebanese authorities announced at least 72 people dead, 437 injured and 83,000 displaced from their homes since Monday.
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The Israeli military told people living south of the Litani River in Lebanon – a large area stretching about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the border – to evacuate, warning that the army was “forced to take military action” against Hezbollah in the area.
On Tuesday, Israel’s military said it was creating a buffer zone inside Lebanon to protect Israeli residents.
Troops from three divisions, including infantry, armor and engineering units, were operating in southern Lebanon, Israel’s military said late Wednesday.
An AFP video recorded on Wednesday showed what appeared to be two Israeli tanks in the middle of residential buildings in Khiam, about six kilometers north of the border.
“Peacekeepers today observed several IDF movements and military activities, including near… Khiam, Beit Lif, Yaroun, Houla, Kfar Kila, Kherbeh and Kfar Shouba,” the U.N. peacekeeping mission, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, said in a statement.
He added that the Israeli moves violate Lebanon’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Israel said on Wednesday that two of its soldiers had been “moderately wounded” by anti-tank fire in the south.
Hezbollah said its fighters had engaged Israeli troops in “direct” clashes in Khiam, “causing confirmed casualties.”
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hotel strike
Meanwhile, Israel expanded its air campaign and attacked a hotel in Hazmieh – the first reported Israeli attack in the predominantly Christian area of Beirut’s suburbs, near the presidential palace and several foreign embassies.
Some rooms were destroyed during the strike and the injured received treatment in the lobby, AFP images show.
People fled through the rubble with suitcases, passing by the Comfort Hotel sign, which had fallen to the ground. It was not possible to determine who was the target of the attack.
The exclusive district overlooks the capital’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah dominates and which Hazmieh resident Lena had initially thought was the target of the attacks.
“I was wrong,” the 59-year-old woman told AFP. “Just a stone’s throw from my house, a hotel was attacked.”
Several people told AFP they had received recorded phone messages urging them to evacuate.
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Southern suburbs aim for
A series of attacks on Beirut’s southern suburbs continued on Wednesday following an evacuation warning from the Israeli army.
One of the attacks targeted a building near a major hospital, according to an AFP photographer.
AFP images showed thick plumes of smoke rising over buildings in this densely populated suburb, from which some residents fled when violence broke out on Monday.
In Aramoun and Saadiyat, south of Beirut – two cities outside Hezbollah’s traditional sphere of influence – the Health Ministry said Israeli strikes killed six people and wounded eight others. He warned that it was a “preliminary toll.”
AFP images from Aramoun showed damaged cars and rescuers carrying an injured man on a stretcher.
The attacks also targeted a four-story building in the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek, far from the border where Hezbollah also has a strong presence.
AFP correspondents saw rescuers searching for survivors in the rubble.
Israel continued to attack other areas on Wednesday, including Tyre, Nabatieh and other places in the Baalbek district.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
