Israeli assaults throughout Lebanon have killed at the least 3,103 individuals and injured 13,856 others since October final yr, in response to Lebanon’s Ministry of Well being.
Because the genocide in Gaza started, Israel has additionally been at warfare with the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, which is an ally of the Palestinian group Hamas, and expresses solidarity with the individuals in Gaza.
In September this yr, Israel expanded its warfare from Gaza into southern Lebanon.
On Thursday, Lebanon’s Ministry of Well being additionally mentioned that Israeli strikes killed at the least 53 individuals and wounded 161 others over the previous 24 hours.
5 Malaysian peacekeepers from the United Nations Interim Drive in Lebanon (UNIFIL), three Lebanese troopers and three Lebanese civilians have been among the many wounded after an Israeli raid in south Lebanon’s most important metropolis of Sidon.
In an announcement, UNIFIL reminded “all actors to keep away from actions placing peacekeepers or civilians at risk”, including that “variations ought to be resolved on the negotiating desk, not by way of violence”.
UNIFIL, in addition to unarmed technical observers generally known as UNTSO, have lengthy been stationed in southern Lebanon to watch hostilities alongside the demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel, generally known as the Blue Line – drawn by the UN in Might 2000 to divide the 2 international locations.
Reporting from Beirut, Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan mentioned the Israeli assault on the UNIFIL location was essential.
“The Awali checkpoint is likely one of the locations the place Israel points a pressured evacuation order. It tells individuals to go north of the Awali River. That’s the place the checkpoint is,” Khan mentioned.
“So that they’re telling individuals to go north of that individual checkpoint, however they’re additionally hitting that checkpoint as nicely. That is very, very regarding for UNIFIL, which has been attacked almost 20 occasions since Israel introduced its floor invasion,” Khan added.
Israel additionally bombarded Beirut’s southern suburbs. “Loss of life has develop into a matter of luck. We are able to both die or survive”, Ramzi Zaiter, a resident of south Beirut, advised the AFP information company.
The Israeli strikes on Lebanon got here after Hezbollah mentioned it carried out a missile assault concentrating on a army base close to Israel’s Ben Gurion Worldwide Airport on Wednesday. The Lebanese armed group mentioned it had additionally focused the “strategic Stella Maris naval base for monitoring and surveillance” with missiles northwest of Haifa in Israel on Thursday.
In its warfare replace, the Israeli army mentioned round 40 projectiles crossed into northern Israel from Lebanon however have been intercepted. The army added that in current weeks, 5 Israeli troopers have been killed and 16 others wounded in fight in southern Lebanon.
‘Shield Lebanon’s historic websites’
Additionally on Thursday, greater than 100 Lebanese lawmakers issued an enchantment to the UN, demanding the preservation of UNESCO World Heritage Websites in areas being closely bombed by Israel.
Lebanon is house to 6 UNESCO World Heritage websites, together with Roman ruins in Baalbek and Tyre, the place Hezbollah holds sway.
In Baalbek, Israeli strikes on Wednesday destroyed a heritage home and broken a historic lodge close to town’s Roman temples, in response to native authorities.
In a letter addressed to the pinnacle of UNESCO, Lebanese MPs acknowledged, “In the course of the devastating warfare on Lebanon, Israel has brought about grave human rights violations and atrocities.” The letter demanded the safety of Lebanon’s historic websites in Baalbek, Tyre, Sidon, and different invaluable landmarks “at present in danger because of the escalation of the atrocities”.
On Monday, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati referred to as for a ceasefire “to guard our nation’s cultural heritage, together with the traditional archeological websites of Baalbek and Tyre”.
In the meantime, some in Lebanon are hopeful a new leadership in the USA, the place Republican Donald Trump has received the presidency, may convey them a reprieve.
“Many imagine that no important diplomatic efforts will happen till Trump, the US president-elect, assumes workplace in January,” mentioned Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Beirut.
