‘Will continue to mercilessly strike Hezbollah…’: Israel launches air strikes on Lebanon

Israel's military launched strikes on eastern Lebanon, according to official Lebanese media, as Hezbollah engaged Israeli soldiers in conflict.

As reported by AFP, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had promised no mercy for the militant group, following a drone attack by Hezbollah that killed four Israeli soldiers and injured around 60 others. This attack occurred just a day before Netanyahu's statement, intensifying tensions in the region.

“We will continue to mercilessly strike Hezbollah in all parts of Lebanon -- including Beirut,” Netanyahu said on a visit to the base near Binyamina, south of Haifa.

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Hezbollah said its “fighters clashed with” Israeli troops Tuesday who were trying to infiltrate on the outskirts of Rab Tlatin village.

Hezbollah reported that it launched missiles at Israeli soldiers and a barrage of rockets into northern Israel, prompting sirens to sound near the border. In response, Israel's military stated that its troops had "eliminated dozens of terrorists in close-quarters combat" and conducted airstrikes over the past day.

Since Israel intensified its bombing campaign in Lebanon and deployed ground troops across the border last month, the conflict has resulted in at least 1,315 deaths, according to an AFP tally based on figures from the Lebanese health ministry.

However, the actual toll is believed to be higher, AFP reported.

Israel launched multiple air strikes early Tuesday in the eastern Bekaa Valley, putting a hospital in Baalbek city out of service, Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) reported.

The International Committee of the Red Cross's regional director, Nicolas Von Arx, appealed Monday for the protection of ambulances and other health facilities and personnel, calling attacks on them “deeply worrying”.

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Israeli strikes have targeted Hezbollah strongholds as well as other parts of Lebanon, including a northern Christian-majority village where at least 21 people were killed Monday, according to the health ministry.

Hezbollah said it had launched the "squadron of attack drones" in response to Israeli attacks, including one last week that Lebanon's health ministry said killed at least 22 people in central Beirut.

The group says its strikes are also in support of Palestinian militants Hamas, who attacked Israel on October 7 last year, triggering the ongoing war with Israel in the Gaza Strip.

The war in Lebanon has displaced at least 690,000 people, according to verified figures last week from the International Organization for Migration.

Israel faced new criticism over injuries and damage sustained by the UN peacekeeping force, which has been deployed in Lebanon since 1978, after a previous Israeli invasion.

The UN Security Council, for the first time on Monday, expressed "strong concerns" over peacekeepers being wounded.

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UNIFIL has refused Netanyahu's request for peacekeepers to "get out of harm's way", with UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix saying the blue helmets will stay in their positions.

While deploying troops into Lebanon, Israel has kept up its bombardment of Gaza where it has been at war since the Hamas attack on southern Israel.

Israel's retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed 42,289 people, the majority civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. The UN has described the figures as reliable.

Iran diplomatic tour

With the war there and in Lebanon showing no sign of abating, fears of even wider regional conflict have seen Iran, which backs Hezbollah and Hamas, engage in diplomatic efforts with allies and other powers. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met a senior official from Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi movement in Oman, his latest stop on a regional diplomatic tour, AFP reported.

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During a meeting with Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Monday, Jordan's King Abdullah II cautioned against “a regional war that will be costly for everyone.”

Israel is currently deliberating its response to an October 1 missile attack by Iran, which was a retaliation for Israel's killings of Iran-aligned militant leaders and a general in the Revolutionary Guards. Reports from U.S. media, citing U.S. officials, indicate that any counterattack by Israel would specifically target Iranian military sites, avoiding nuclear or oil facilities.

(With inputs from AFP)