Thousands more people have been ordered to leave their homes in southern Lebanon by the Israeli military as it conducts what it called a “limited” operation across the Lebanese border.
The Israeli military ordered more than 20 villages south of the Litani River in southern Lebanon to evacuate on Tuesday, foreshadowing further strikes on homes Israel said were being used by Hezbollah fighters.
A statement from Hezbollah said no Israeli troops had entered Lebanon, directly contradicting earlier comments by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that a limited number of soldiers had crossed the border.
The Hezbollah spokesperson warned that the group’s strikes on Tel Aviv hours earlier were “only the beginning”.
The Lebanese militant group said on Tuesday it had used new Fadi 4 missiles to attack the Tel Aviv headquarters of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency and the Glilot military base, where the army’s 8200 intelligence unit is headquartered on the outskirts of the Israeli city.
Air raid sirens blasted across Israel and videos on social media showed smoke in the aftermath of a rocket barrage from Hezbollah into Israel.
The Israeli military extended safety restrictions across much of the country later on Tuesday, limiting gatherings and telling people to remain near bomb shelters.
The UN’s peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon — established in 1978 following the first Israeli invasion of the country — said it had been notified in advance of the Israeli operations.
“Despite this dangerous development, peacekeepers remain in position,” a statement from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said.
“Any crossing into Lebanon is in violation of Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity, and a violation of resolution 1701.
“We urge all actors to step back from such escalatory acts, which will only lead to more violence and more bloodshed.”
UN warns against ground invasion
The United Nations warned Israel on Tuesday against a “large-scale ground invasion” of Lebanon.
“With armed violence between Israel and Hezbollah boiling over, the consequences for civilians have already been terrible,” Liz Throssell, spokeswoman for the UN rights office, told reporters in Geneva.
“We fear a large-scale ground invasion by Israel into Lebanon would only result in greater suffering,” she warned.
Nearly a million people are estimated to be displaced by Israeli air strikes across Lebanon. (AP: Hassan Ammar)
Her comment came as Israeli troops were reported to be inside Lebanon after launching a ground offensive early on Tuesday, after a week of deadly air strikes.
Before the ground assault, Israel’s escalating strikes on Lebanon reportedly killed more than 1,000 people in just two weeks, Ms Throssell pointed out.
The violence has also forced up to a million people to flee their homes, according to Lebanese officials.
The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said it was “deeply concerned” about the Israeli ground offensive.
Israeli strikes on Syria kill six
A Syria war monitor said six people including three civilians were killed in Israeli strikes early Tuesday targeting Damascus and its vicinity, amid fears of broader Israeli raids on the country.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strikes targeted two vehicles in Damascus’s upscale Mazzeh district, as well as “air defence batteries at the [city’s] airport, and the vicinity of the Kisweh area”, south of the capital.
“Three civilians including a media worker” were killed, as well as three pro-Iran fighters, said the Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria.
Syrian state media had earlier reported that three civilians were killed in Israeli air strikes and nine others wounded, citing a military source.
“The Israeli enemy launched an air aggression with warplanes and drones from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting several points in Damascus,” the official news agency SANA said.
“Three civilians were killed and nine others injured,” it added.
Since Syria’s civil war erupted in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in the country, mainly targeting army positions and Iran-backed fighters, including Hezbollah.
Israeli authorities rarely comment on individual strikes in Syria, but have repeatedly said they will not allow arch-enemy Iran to expand its presence there.
The strikes have increased in recent days, including on areas near the border with Lebanon.
Tens of thousands of people have crossed into Syria over the past week, fleeing heavy Israeli air strikes on Lebanon.
Reuters/AFP