August 25, 2024
Hezbollah’s
attack was anticipated, weeks in the making against Israel’s recent targeted
killings, mounting concern of regional escalation.
Smoke rises from the southern Lebanese town of Khiam amid cross-border
hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel [File: Karamallah
Daher/Reuters]Hezbollah and
Israeli forces have exchanged attacks across the Lebanon-Israel border in a
marked escalation of the tit-for-tat engagement they have been undertaking
since October 7.
What exactly
happened?
Israeli jets
attacked southern Lebanon in the early hours of Sunday morning, saying it was a
preemptive strike against Hezbollah rocket launchers that were preparing to
attack Israel. The
Israeli military said it detected that Hezbollah would launch hundreds of
missiles towards central Israel at 5am, Israel’s Army Radio said, so it
attacked half an hour beforehand with 100 Israeli jets.
Hezbollah
launched its attack on northern Israel with rockets and drones in retaliation
for the killing of commander Fuad Shukr last month, the Lebanese group said.
Was anybody
hurt?
Lebanon’s NNA
news agency reported one person was critically injured in a drone attack in
Qasimia in southern Lebanon, and a later Israeli air raid killed one person in
the Lebanese town of Khiam.
There are also
reports of some injuries in the Israeli city of Acre.
Who hit what?
Hezbollah says
its attack hit 11 Israeli military installations, including the Meron base and
four sites in the occupied Golan Heights.
Israel says it
hit thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers.
So what’s
happening right now?
The situation
seems to have calmed, at least momentarily.
Hezbollah has
denied Israel’s claims of hitting its launch sites, adding that it has
successfully completed the “first phase” of its retaliatory attack on Israel.
Israel has
issued security directives for its north, but otherwise, matters seem calmer
with Ben Gurion airport reopening after being closed for a few hours.
Why today?
The day of the
attacks coincides with Arbaeen, 40 days after the killing of Imam al-Hussein,
the third Shia imam. According to a Hezbollah statement, they chose this day
because it commemorates it as a day of martyrdom.
Does this mean
war between Hezbollah and Israel?
According to
Sami Nader, director of the Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs, this has
“the potential to draw the whole region into the full-blown war”, but Hezbollah
and Israel “are trying to avoid” that.
The Reuters news
agency, quoting Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said: “Israel does not
seek a full-scale war but will act according to development on the ground.”
What happens
next?
It is not clear.
Analyst Sami
Nader told Al Jazeera that these events signal a “major escalation in terms of
scope of operation and intensity”.
However,
according to Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, the language being used by Israel has
focused on “self-defence” and protecting Israelis from attacks, which seems to
indicate that Israel will not pursue escalation at this time.
Killed | Wounded | Missing |
40,405 | 93,468 | 10,000 |
- The Chief of Staff of the Israeli army, Herzi Halevi, ordered during the past two days to intensify military operations in Rafah, in southern Gaza.
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will begin on Sunday his ninth visit to Israel since the start of the war on Gaza.
- The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that a reconnaissance drone launched by the Lebanese group Hezbollah flew over the home of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Caesarea, and photographed the surrounding area.
- According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 40,099 Palestinians have been killed, and 92,609 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Sunday, August 18, 11:00 pm (GMT+2)
NETANYAHU’S OFFICE: The Prime
Minister insists on staying in the Philadelphi corridor to prevent Hamas from
rearming.
AL-JAZEERA: Two Israeli raids
targeted the towns of Houla and Beit Lif in southern Lebanon.
TEL AVIV POLICE: The person killed
in the truck bombing was carrying an explosive device, and the condition of his
body prevents his identification to determine the background of the operation.
MAARIV: The explosion in Tel Aviv
was the result of an explosive device.
Sunday, August 18, 10:00 pm (GMT+2)
ISRAELI MEDIA: The police and the
Shin Bet are investigating the background of the truck bombing in Tel Aviv.
GUARDIAN: A British Foreign Office
official resigned due to his country’s refusal to ban arms exports to Israel.
FAMILIES OF ISRAELI CAPTIVES: Most
of the detainees were released through a deal, and the government failed to
reach a new deal.
HAMAS: After listening to the
mediators about what happened in the talks, we became certain that Netanyahu is
still putting obstacles in the way of reaching an agreement.
Sunday, August 18, 9:00 pm (GMT+2)
CHANNEL 13: The negotiating team is
urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday to show more flexibility on
points of disagreement in order to move toward an agreement.
NETANYAHU: There are those who were
repeatedly leaking information that was harming the ability to advance a deal.
ISRAELI MEDIA: Israeli media
reported the death of an Israeli security guard who was injured in an attack in
the Kedumim settlement in the West Bank.
UNIFIL: We are investigating the
details of the injury of 3 soldiers in an explosion.
HEZBOLLAH: Our fighters targeted the
espionage equipment at the Misgav Am site with appropriate weapons and
destroyed it.
Sunday, August 18, 7:00 pm (GMT+2)
HEZBOLLAH: Our fighters shelled the
Zabadani and Ruwaysat al-Qarn positions in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms
and achieved a direct hit.
ISRAELI MEDIA: US Secretary of State
Antony Blinken has arrived in Israel, where he will meet with Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on
Monday.
ISRAELI ARMY: A soldier from the
paratrooper unit was seriously injured during the fighting in the southern Gaza
Strip.
Sunday, August 18, 6:00 pm (GMT+2)
HEZBOLLAH: Our fighters shelled the
Israeli Jal al-Alam site with artillery.
AL-QASSAM BRIGADES: Dead and wounded
among the occupation forces north of Khan Yunis.
AL-JAZEERA: Air raid sirens are
sounding in the Nir Oz area in the Gaza Strip.
Sunday, August 18, 5:00 pm (GMT+2)
PALESTINIAN MEDIA: An Israeli
airstrike targeted Hamad residential city, northwest of Khan Yunis.
HEZBOLLAH: Our fighters targeted the
Israeli Al-Malikiyah site with artillery and achieved a direct hit.
CHANNEL 14: An Israeli was seriously
injured after being attacked by a Palestinian near the Kedumim settlement in
the northern West Bank.
NETANYAHU: Israel is engaged in very
complex negotiations.
AL-JAZEERA: Israeli Finance Minister
Bezalel Smotrich stormed the village of Al-Malha in the town of Za’tara, east
of Bethlehem.
Sunday, August 18, 4:00 pm (GMT+2)
HEZBOLLAH: About 20 rockets were
fired from Lebanon at the Upper Galilee in the recent bombing by the Lebanese
Hezbollah.
AL-QASSAM BRIGADES: We targeted an
Israeli infantry force of ten soldiers with a shell near the university college
in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood in southern Gaza.
AL-QUDS BRIGADES: We bombed the Mars
military site with a barrage of rockets. We bombed with a barrage of 60mm
mortar shells a gathering of enemy vehicles and soldiers north of Hamad City,
west of Khan Yunis.
AL-JAZEERA: Israeli interceptor
missiles exploded in the skies of border villages in the eastern sector of
southern Lebanon after missiles were fired towards the Galilee Finger.
PALESTINIAN RED CRESCENT: The
shortage of fuel supplies in the Gaza and North Gaza governorates threatens to
stop ambulance and health relief services.
Sunday, August 18, 3:00 pm (GMT+2)
AL-JAZEERA: Israeli shelling
targeted the Al-Shakoush area northwest of Rafah city, leaving two martyrs and
a number of wounded.
HERZOG: Tel Aviv will continue to
work with all its might and by all possible means to return the hostages to
their families.
ISRAELI MEDIA: American Airlines has
extended its suspension of flights to and from Tel Aviv until April 2025.
UNIFIL: Three of our soldiers were
injured in an explosion in southern Lebanon.
Sunday, August 18, 1:30 pm (GMT+2)
WALLA: The Israeli cabinet has
instructed the military to intensify fighting in Khan Younis and Rafah in the
Gaza Strip to improve Israel’s negotiating position in ceasefire talks.
PALESTINIAN MEDIA: Israeli forces
blow up residential buildings east of Deir al-Balah.
GAZA HEALTH MINISTRY: 40,099
Palestinians have been killed, and 92,609 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide
in Gaza starting on October 7.
ISRAELI MINISTER COHEN: We will not
leave Gaza until the last of the kidnapped is released.
AL-JAZEERA: Israeli raid targets the
town of Dahra while a UNIFIL patrol is passing.
ISRAELI FIRE AUTHORITY: A violent
explosion was heard in the Western Galilee, without activating the sirens.
Sunday, August 18, 11:00 am (GMT+2)
GAZA CIVIL DEFENSE: The occupation
forces do not allow our crews to respond to distress calls. 82 of our cadres
were killed by Israeli occupation fire.
AL-JAZEERA: An Israeli air strike
targeted a house in the town of Aita al-Shaab in southern Lebanon.
CHANNEL 13: Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu is holding discussions before the Israeli delegation leaves
for Cairo to participate in the next round of negotiations.
PALESTINIAN MEDIA: Israeli
helicopters were firing near the tents of the displaced people in the vicinity
of Hamad residential city, north of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.
HEZBOLLAH: We bombed the Israeli
military site in Al-Marj with rockets.
ISRAELI ARMY: Our forces continue
fighting in Rafah, Khan Yunis and Deir al-Balah.
AL-JAZEERA: An Israeli drone
launched a raid on the vicinity of the town of Shebaa in southern Lebanon.
MEDICAL SOURCES: 21 Palestinians
were killed and dozens injured in Israeli raids on various areas in the Gaza
Strip since dawn on Sunday.
ISRAELI ARMY SPOKESMAN: The
suspicion that a reconnaissance drone belonging to the Lebanese Hezbollah was
flying near the residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Caesarea is
most likely a false alarm.
ISRAEL HAYOM: A reconnaissance drone
launched by the Lebanese Hezbollah flew over the home of Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu in Caesarea, and photographed the surrounding area.
US MEDIA: More than 250
organizations have announced their intention to participate in demonstrations
and rallies in the American city of Chicago, coinciding with the Democratic
National Convention, which will be held between August 18 and 22, to demand an
end to the genocide in the Gaza Strip and an end to support for the Israeli
aggression.
Sunday, August 18, 10:00 am (GMT+2)
WALLA: The Chief of Staff of the
occupation army, Herzi Halevi, directed during the past two days to intensify
military operations in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.
PALESITNIAN MEDIA: Israeli
occupation forces are carrying out fire belts around the Taiba Mosque in the
Tel Sultan neighborhood, west of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.
Sunday, August 18, 09:00 am (GMT+2)
CHANNEL 12: Three rockets were fired
from southern Lebanon toward the Margaliot settlement in Upper Galilee, without
any injuries.
AL-JAZEERA: Air raid sirens are
sounding in the Israeli town of Margaliot in the Galilee Finger on the border
with Lebanon.
KAN: US Secretary of State Anthony
Blinken will begin his ninth visit to Israel today, Sunday, since the start of
the war on Gaza.
PIC: Israeli occupation forces
carried out bombing operations against residential buildings in Rafah and Khan
Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.
Sunday, August 18, 08:00 am (GMT+2)
AL-JAZEERA: Seven people, including
6 children, were killed when the occupation bombed a house on Al Mazraa Street
in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip.
KAN: The differences over the
Philadelphi route can be resolved, and there is support for the American
proposal.
PALESTINIAN MEDIA: Israeli artillery
shelling targeted the southwestern areas of Gaza City.
Sunday, August 18, 06:00 am (GMT+2)
AL-JAZEERA: A Palestinian woman was
killed and a number of people were wounded in an Israeli bombardment of a house
in the Sabra neighborhood, south of Gaza City.
Sunday, August 18, 02:00 am (GMT+2) (GMT+2)
AL-JAZEERA: Four people were killed
and 6 others were injured in an Israeli bombardment that targeted a house in
the town of Abasan al-Kabira, east of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.
Sunday, August 18, 01:00 am (GMT+2)
PALESTINIAN MEDIA: Israeli aircraft
bombed a residential apartment on Al-Houja Street in Jabaliya camp, north of
the Gaza Strip.
Sunday, August 18, 12:00 am (GMT+2)
LAPID: Another opportunity to reach
a deal on the detainees could not be missed.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
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