The Israeli army struck Sunday as part of a series of raids against Hezbollah, a bridge used by the pro-Iranian movement, raising fears of a “land invasion”, according to the Lebanese president. Images show smoke rising after the attack on the Qasmiyeh bridge, located on the main coastal road linking the region of Tyre to the rest of the country.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun also “condemned the targeting and destruction by Israel of vital infrastructure and facilities.” “These attacks represent a dangerous escalation and a blatant violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty, and are seen as a prelude to a land invasion,” he said in a statement.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz had earlier ordered the army to “immediately destroy all bridges over the Litani River used for terrorist activities, in order to prevent the passage of Hezbollah and weapons to the south.” This tense situation has been ongoing for nearly three weeks.
The Israeli army will “intensify its targeted ground operations” and strikes in Lebanon, warned Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir on Sunday evening. “The operation against the Hezbollah terrorist organization is just beginning (…) It is a long-term operation and we are prepared,” said Eyal Zamir in a statement.
Intensifying Targeted Ground Operations
“We are now preparing to intensify targeted ground operations and strikes, in accordance with a structured plan. We will not stop until the threat is pushed back from the border and long-term security is ensured for the residents of northern Israel,” he added.
The Israeli army had already announced on Wednesday the destruction of two bridges over the river, which crosses Lebanon about thirty kilometers from the border with Israel, as part of its offensive against Hezbollah. This strategy raises questions in southern Lebanon, an area that was occupied by the Israeli army until 2000.
The war situation between the two countries has been ongoing for over three weeks now. Earlier on Sunday, Israeli rescuers reported the death of a person killed by a rocket fired from Lebanon in the northern part of the country, where the Shiite group Hezbollah claimed to have targeted soldiers. This is the first civilian casualty on the northern border of the country since the beginning of the war between the Lebanese movement and Israel in early March.
Extensive Israeli Campaign against Hezbollah
Hezbollah claimed in a statement to have targeted on Sunday “an assembly of enemy Israeli soldiers” in Misgav Am with “a salvo of rockets”, in a series of attacks against troops in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. The Shiite movement entered the war in the Middle East on March 2 to avenge the death of supreme Iranian leader Ali Khamenei, killed on the first day of Israeli-American strikes on Tehran.
Since then, Israel has carried out massive reprisals through an extensive campaign of airstrikes on Lebanon and ground advancements in a buffer zone along the border, which has resulted in a thousand deaths and over a million displaced people. According to Israel Katz, the army will also “accelerate the destruction of Lebanese houses in the contact villages on the border, in order to counter threats facing Israeli communities.”
On Sunday, the official Lebanese news agency Ani reported several Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, including in the strategic town of Khiam, the coastal city of Naqoura, and the Bekaa Valley. Ground combat took place on Saturday between Hezbollah fighters and Israeli soldiers in Naqoura and Khiam, according to the Islamist movement. The Israeli army claimed to have killed the “commander of the special forces of the Radwan Force of Hezbollah,” the elite unit of the group.
