 "Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes on villages in the Nabatiyeh district, seen from the southern town of Marjayoun, Lebanon, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024.- AP")
Amid rising fears of a full-scale war in Lebanon, Israel has announced the name of its ongoing military operation against Hezbollah: Northern Arrows.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Monday carried out around 1,600 strikes against Hezbollah , the Iran-backed terrorist group based, in Lebanon. The IDF said the strikes were pre-emptive in nature and targeted sites that were ready to launch missiles, rockets, and drones into Israel.
Following the attacks on Hezbollah’s handheld communication devices , widely attributed to Israel, the fighting between the two has escalated as they have increasingly exchanged fire, leading to fears of a full-scale war. The Monday’s attacks were the sixth round of Israeli attacks on Hezbollah in recent days.
The Lebanese health ministry said 492 people were killed and 1,645 were injured in the strikes, but did not distinguish between civilians or Hezbollah terrorists.
Northern Arrows: Largest operation since Israel-Hezbollah War
The ongoing Israeli operation against Hezbollah, Northern Arrows, is the largest since the Israel-Hezbollah War of 2006, according to The Jerusalem post.
Previously, the newspaper had reported that the Monday’s strike were the farthest in geographical scope in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict over the past year.
Hezbollah has been clashing with Israel on a near-daily basis since the October 7 attack. Several thousands of Israeli civilians have been displaced from the northern part of the country along the border with Lebanon because of the fighting. In recent days, the fighting has escalated and there are fears that an all-out war may break out between Israel and Hezbollah.
In a statement, the IDF said it struck around 1,600 targets on Monday, which long-range cruise missiles, heavy-weight rockets, and drones that were “going to be used to cause major damage in all areas of Israel”.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThe six round of airstrikes in recent days have destroyed tens of thousands of Hezbollah’s rockets, according to Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
Calling Monday’s strikes “a significant peak” in the operation, Gallant said it was the “most difficult week for Hezbollah” ever.
“Entire units were taken out of battle as a result of the activities conducted at the beginning of the week in which numerous terrorists were injured,” said Gallant, adding that the terrorist group’s elite Radwan force suffered a “fatal blow”.
It was a reference to Radwan chief Ibrahim Aqil, who was killed in an Israeli strike last week.
Even as Israel battered Hezbollah, the terrorist group fired more than 200 rockets into Israel throughout Monday, according to The Post.
Hezbollah hiding amid civilians in Lebanon, says Israel
Ahead of the second wave of strikes against Hezbollah sites on Monday, the IDF said that the terrorist group used civilian settlements to station its weapons for use against Israel.
In a statement on Monday, IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari told Lebanese civilians to “move out of harm’s way for their own safety” and vacate Hezbollah’s strongholds in southern Lebanon.
“There are dozens of Lebanese villages situated along approximately 80 kilometers of the border with Israel. For over 20 years, Hezbollah has deployed its arms inside homes and militarised civilian infrastructure. As a result, the Hezbollah terrorist organisation has turned southern Lebanon into a battlefield,” said Hagari.