Hezbollah militants, Israeli soldiers engage in deadly fighting inside Lebanon
Reuters | Posted: October 2, 2024 10:30 AM | Last Updated: October 3
Israel reports 8 of its soldiers were killed in combat in southern Lebanon
Israel bombed central Beirut in the early hours of Thursday, after its forces suffered their deadliest day on the Lebanese front in a year of clashes against Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah. Lebanon's Health Ministry said at least six people were killed.
Israel said it conducted a precise airstrike on Beirut. Reuters witnesses reported hearing a massive blast, and a security source said it targeted a building in central Beirut's Bachoura neighbourhood close to parliament, the nearest Israeli strikes have come to Lebanon's seat of government.
At least six people were killed and seven wounded, Lebanese health officials said. A photo being circulated on Lebanese WhatsApp groups, which Reuters could not immediately verify, showed a heavily damaged building with its first floor on fire.
WATCH | The fight between Israel and Hezbollah:
Three missiles also hit the southern suburb of Dahiyeh, where Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed last week, and loud explosions were heard, Lebanese security officials said. The southern suburbs came under more than a dozen Israeli strikes on Wednesday.
A day after Iran fired more than 180 missiles into Israel, Israel said on Wednesday eight soldiers were killed in ground combat in south Lebanon as its forces thrust into its northern neighbour.
The Israeli military said regular infantry and armoured units joined its ground operations in Lebanon on Wednesday as Iran's missile attack and Israel's promise of retaliation raised concerns that the oil-producing Middle East could be caught up in a wider conflict.
WATCH | CBC's inside look at damage caused by Iran's missile strike in Israel:
Iran said on Wednesday its missile attack on Israel, its biggest military assault on the country, was over, barring further provocation, while Israel and the United States promised to hit back.
U.S. President Joe Biden said he would not support any Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear sites in response to its ballistic missile attack and urged Israel to act "proportionally" against its regional arch-foe.
After the missile attack
In the Israeli town of Hod Hasharon, northeast of Tel Aviv, Shmulik Succary walked a CBC News crew through his home.
One of the Iranian missiles launched at Israel on Tuesday landed metres away from the 83-year-old's home, blowing the windows out and giving him and his family a scare.
Succary said he and his family rushed to the bomb shelter at the bottom of the stairs but, even there, they could hear the sound of the missile hitting the ground nearby.
"The house was trembling," he said. "The house was under a multitude of glass, pieces of glass … No doors … No windows."
On Wednesday, Succary was still cleaning up the mess from the missile strike. He said he was angry at many things regarding the Iranian strikes and the upcoming one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack.
"There's a certain tension of course. It's a very big mess," he said.
Speaking on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the new year in Judaism, Succary said that what is supposed to be a happy holiday is now filled with mixed emotions.
"You can start a war, you know its beginning, you never know how it ends," he said. "And that's the problem."
The United Nations said the violence has forced more than a million people in Lebanon out of their homes. Save The Children says that number includes around 350,000 children.
Fidel Saad, who works for Save the Children International in Beirut, says the organization has been supporting families with food security, mental health activities for children and other essential needs.
"The main message for the international community now is ceasefire … we need a ceasefire in both Lebanon and Gaza," Saad told CBC News Network.
WATCH | Israel could be more aggressive in response than after April attacks:
Hezbollah said it repelled Israeli forces near several border towns and also fired rockets at military posts inside Israel.
The group's media chief Mohammad Afif said those battles were only "the first round," and that the group had enough fighters, weapons and ammunition to push back Israel.
Israel's addition of infantry and armoured troops from the 36th Division, including the Golani Brigade, the 188th Armoured Brigade and 6th Infantry Brigade, suggested that the operation might expand beyond limited commando raids.
The military has said its incursion is largely aimed at destroying tunnels and other infrastructure on the border and there were no plans for a wider operation targeting the Lebanese capital Beirut to the north or major cities in the south.
Nevertheless, it issued new evacuation orders for around two dozen towns along the southern border, instructing inhabitants to head north of the Awali River, which flows east to west some 60 kilometres north of the Israeli frontier.
Diplomatic push for parties to de-escalate
On Wednesday, the UN Security Council held an emergency meeting to address the Middle East conflict, where Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the "deadly cycle of tit-for-tat violence must stop."
Guterres told the council he strongly condemned Iran's attack on Israel. Earlier on Wednesday, Israel's Foreign Minister Israel Katz said he was barring Guterres from entering the country because he had not done so.
WATCH | Canadian wife, mother describes trying to leave Lebanon:
Meanwhile, Italy hosted a call of G7 leaders.
The leaders reiterated their "firm condemnation" of Iran's attack on Israel.
"Obviously Israel has the right to defend itself against these attacks," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa after the call. "At the same time, we have to do everything we can to avoid a wider war and protect civilians and get humanitarian aid to affected regions."
Lebanon's caretaker prime minister pleaded for a ceasefire.
"We don't need more blood. We don't need more destruction," Nijab Mikati said in a briefing organized by the American Task Force for Lebanon, a U.S.-based lobby group.
WATCH | Fleeing conflict for a 2nd time:
Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire almost daily for almost a year, after the Palestinian militant group Hamas led a cross-border attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli government tallies. The exchanges have seen thousands who live near both sides of the border flee their homes.
Nearly 1,900 people have been killed and more than 9,000 wounded in Lebanon since, most in the past two weeks, according to Lebanese government statistics.
Fears of a wider conflict have seen several countries ramp contingency plans to evacuate citizens from Lebanon, though none has launched a large-scale military evacuation yet.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly again urged Canadians in Lebanon to seek commercial flights out of the country.
WATCH l PM Trudeau responds to latest developments in Middle East:
Global Affairs Canada officials say the department has three more flights out of Lebanon booked for Thursday and Friday, bringing the total number of seats made available for Canadians wanting to leave to about 1,000 after two previous flights departed Beirut.
Joly said Tuesday about 4,000 have filled out an intake form on how to obtain a GAC commercial airline booking, and that about 1,700 have been contacted thus far in response.