(Update: 2115ET): Massive escalation along the southern Lebanese border is very clear at this point, as Israeli jets have pounded Hezbollah positions through much of Saturday.
Al Jazeera correspondents have confirmed that “Israel’s military launched 400 attacks on Lebanon on Saturday and Hezbollah fired rockets at the Ramat David base near the city of Haifa, in their largest exchange of fire since the war on Gaza began.”
Another indicator of the escalation is that Israel is apparently beginning use much bigger bombs compared to much of the past nearly year of internecine fighting. The below widely circulating footage shows a large flash and skyscraper-size fireball, resulting in some viewers speculating it was likely a heavy bunker-buster bomb, or possibly even a tactical nuke of some sort. Whatever it was, there’s never been anything like it used on Lebanon (that we know about).
BREAKING: Lebanon hit with massive bomb, one of the largest Israel has ever sent.
Developing.
Shockwave felt many many miles away..pic.twitter.com/FIDAaURdvj
— Douglas Macgregor (@DougAMacgregor) September 21, 2024
IDF leadership on Saturday announced that new war goals in Lebanon include making it safe for tens of thousands of Israelis to return to their homes in the north again.
More unconfirmed footage:
Israel dropped this bomb on Lebanon—imagine the scale of the other explosives and their devastating impact on the children of Gaza. #Lebanon #Gaza pic.twitter.com/Viv00Y55xd
— Global Eyes Watch (@GlobalEyesWatch) September 21, 2024
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Since Thursday and the deadly chaos of the two-day pager explosion attack, southern Lebanon has seen the most intense exchange of fire between Hezbollah and Israel since the conflict began after Oct.7.
On Saturday the expanded pace of fire has continued, with Hezbollah having launched at least 90 rockets on northern Israel, and the IDF saying it has mounted at least 80 raids on weapons installations belonging to Hezbollah.
The Israeli army described that it “dismantled approximately 180 targets and thousands of launcher barrels” in southern Lebanon over several hours of Saturday.
But it also confirmed that “approximately 90 projectile launches were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory.” The IDF added: “The [Israeli military] will continue operating to dismantle and degrade Hezbollah’s capabilities and terror infrastructure.”
There are currently many warnings from both sides of the border that this marks a slide into all-out war, which both have avoided thus far, with the past year witnessing ‘limited’ and often short-lived attacks and rocket volleys.
The death toll from Friday’s Israeli airstrike which killed Hezbollah special forces commander Ibrahim Aqil has risen to 37, after a day-long rescue operation and workers picking through rubble of a residential building, according to the country’s Health Ministry. Reports say that a meeting of Hezbollah leaders was taking place in either a garage, or a tunnel underneath the building in south Beirut.
“According to source, the meeting was being held in a tunnel under a residential building, a location that was being used for the first time, which has raised Hezbollah’s concerns about the extent Israel has infiltrated its ranks,” Middle East Eye reports. Hezbollah has since confirmed that 16 of its members were killed in the attack.
Lebanon’s government says three children and seven women were among the victims. Over 60 others were injured. The White House has still called the Israeli strike “a good outcome”.
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan described Aqil as having “American blood on his hands and has a rewards for justice price on his head.”
He has long been sought by the US for his alleged role in the 1983 bombing of the US Embassy in Beirut, and well as kidnapping of Westerners in the the later 1980s. He had a $7 million bounty on his head issued by the Justice Department.
“He is somebody who the United States promised long ago we would do everything we could to see brought to justice,” Sullivan said. “You know, 1983 seems like a long time ago,” he added. “But for a lot of families and a lot of people, they’re still living with it every day.”
Some Middle East pundits and commentators expressed “shock” at the celebratory statements by the Biden administration, given the Israeli operation resulted in a high civilian death toll.
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BREAKING :Israeli drones are flying over the skies of Beirut.
— Omar Abu Layla (@OALD24) September 21, 2024
Israel has claimed that Hezbollah was using those in the residential building above as ‘human shields’.
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