Israel yesterday announced dozens of new airstrikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon, a day after 558 people, including 50 children, were killed in the deadliest bombardment since a devastating war in 2006.
Israel’s overnight strikes on southern Lebanon came after it said it had killed a “large number” of militants when it hit about 1,600 suspected Hezbollah targets nationwide.
Hezbollah yesterday said that it had launched volleys of missiles at Israeli military bases, hours after 180 of its projectiles and uncrewed aerial vehicles crossed into Israeli airspace, sending people in the city of Haifa running for shelter.
Photo: AFP
The Israeli military said more than 50 projectiles were fired into northern Israel in less than 10 minutes yesterday morning, most of which were intercepted.
It said it had carried out more strikes during the morning targeting Hezbollah infrastructure.
“The vast majority, if not all, of those killed in yesterday’s [Monday’s] attacks were unarmed people in their homes,” Lebanese Minister of Public Health Firass Abiad said.
The UN said that tens of thousands of Lebanese had fled their homes since Monday, in the face of the intensifying Israeli bombardment.
“Tens of thousands of people were forced from their homes yesterday and overnight, and the numbers continue to grow,” UN refugee agency spokesman Matthew Saltmarsh said, adding that “the toll on civilians is unacceptable.”
“It was a day of terror,” 41-year-old housewife Thuraya Harb said at a makeshift center for displaced families in Beirut after fleeing her home in south Lebanon.
“I didn’t want to leave my home, but the children were scared,” the mother of four said, adding that the family fled “with nothing but the clothes on our backs.”
Hezbollah and Israel have been locked in near-daily cross-border exchanges of fire for nearly a year, since Palestinian militant group Hamas staged an unprecedented attack on Israel on Oct. 7 last year.
Hezbollah, which has been fighting Israel for decades, and other Iran-backed militants in the region have been drawn into the violence.
Monday’s bombardment of Lebanon was by far the largest and deadliest, not just in the past year, but since the Israel-Hezbollah war in the summer of 2006.
That war killed 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 160 Israelis, most of them soldiers, and devastated large swathes of Hezbollah’s strongholds.
Hezbollah backer Iran, which arms, trains and funds the group, condemned the raids, with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian yesterday saying that its ally “cannot stand alone” against Israel.
“Hezbollah cannot stand alone against a country that is being defended and supported and supplied by Western countries, by European countries and the United States,” Pezeshkian said in an interview with CNN. “We must not allow Lebanon to become another Gaza at the hands of Israel.”
Other leaders have expressed alarm over the rapid escalation, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ spokesman saying he was “gravely alarmed” and High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell warning “we are almost in a full-fledged war.”
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
RULES BROKEN: The MAC warned Chinese not to say anything that would be harmful to the autonomous status of Taiwan or undermine its sovereignty A Chinese couple accused of disrupting a pro-democracy event in Taipei organized by Hong Kong residents has been deported, the National Immigration Agency said in a statement yesterday afternoon. A Chinese man, surnamed Yao (姚), and his wife were escorted by immigration officials to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, where they boarded a flight to China before noon yesterday, the agency said. The agency said that it had annulled the couple’s entry permits, citing alleged contraventions of the Regulations Governing the Approval of Entry of People of the Mainland Area into the Taiwan Area (大陸地區人民進入台灣地區許可辦法). The couple applied to visit a family member in
CELEBRATION: The PRC turned 75 on Oct. 1, but the Republic of China is older. The PRC could never be the homeland of the people of the ROC, Lai said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) could not be the “motherland” of the people of the Republic of China (ROC), President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Lai made the remarks in a speech at a Double Ten National Day gala in Taipei, which is part of National Day celebrations that are to culminate in a fireworks display in Yunlin County on Thursday night next week. Lai wished the country a happy birthday and called on attendees to enjoy the performances and activities while keeping in mind that the ROC is a sovereign and independent nation. He appealed for everyone to always love their
RSS