BEIRUT  — In a recent televised address, the leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, Naim Kassem, called on the Lebanese government to intensify efforts to stop Israeli airstrikes targeting the country. His remarks came just a day after an Israeli airstrike hit a suburb of Beirut.

Kassem emphasized that Hezbollah had fully complied with the ceasefire agreement that ended the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war in late November. Despite this, he said, Israel continues its near-daily airstrikes on Lebanon, violating the terms of the truce.

Kassem’s statements came as the Israeli military reported carrying out over 50 airstrikes in Lebanon this month, accusing Hezbollah of breaching the U.S.-brokered ceasefire. On Sunday, Israeli warplanes struck Beirut’s southern suburbs for the third time since the ceasefire took effect, targeting a precision-guided missile facility. This attack followed a warning issued by Israel about an hour before the strike.

“We fulfilled our part of the ceasefire agreement 100%,” Kassem said. “Now, it is the responsibility of the Lebanese government to ensure our protection.” He urged Lebanese officials to reach out to the international sponsors of the ceasefire, pressuring Israel to stop its ongoing attacks.

Kassem also turned his attention to the United States, urging Lebanese leaders to push Washington to recognize that Lebanon’s stability is in America’s interest. He stressed that Lebanon cannot recover or prosper as long as Israel’s aggression continues.

The Hezbollah leader reiterated that the immediate priorities should be securing an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, halting Israeli airstrikes, and securing the release of Lebanese detainees held in Israel since the conclusion of the war in November.

The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel erupted in full-scale war last September, following waves of Israeli airstrikes that targeted Hezbollah’s senior leaders, resulting in over 4,000 casualties. Hezbollah began launching rockets, drones, and missiles into Israel in retaliation for the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, which claimed around 1,200 Israeli lives and led to the abduction of 251 others.

Since the ceasefire was brokered, Lebanon has suffered significant casualties, with the Lebanese government reporting that 190 people have been killed and 485 injured by Israeli strikes.

Kassem’s message highlights growing frustrations in Lebanon over the continued Israeli airstrikes and the need for stronger action from the Lebanese government to protect its sovereignty and its citizens.

Source: AP News – Hezbollah leader calls on government to work harder to end Israel’s attacks on Lebanon

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BEIRUT (AP) — On Sunday, Hezbollah fired at least 185 rockets and other projectiles into Israel, marking its heaviest attack in days. The barrage wounded seven people and came in response to deadly Israeli airstrikes on Beirut, even as efforts to negotiate a cease-fire continued.

An Israeli airstrike also hit a Lebanese army center on the southwestern coastal road between Tyre and Naqoura, killing one soldier and wounding 18 others, according to Lebanon’s military. Israel expressed regret for the incident, stating the strike occurred in an area of combat with Hezbollah and was not intended to target Lebanese forces. The incident is under investigation.

Since the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah began, Israeli strikes have killed over 40 Lebanese soldiers, despite Lebanon’s military largely remaining on the sidelines of the fighting.

Lebanon’s Reaction

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the strike on the Lebanese army as a direct blow to U.S.-led cease-fire efforts. He described it as a “bloody message rejecting all ongoing attempts” to end the war.

Hezbollah’s Attacks and Israeli Retaliation

Hezbollah’s attacks, including rockets, missiles, and drones, began after the October 7, 2023, Hamas assault from Gaza. The group claims these actions are acts of solidarity with Palestinians and Hamas, both of which are supported by Iran.

Israel has launched numerous retaliatory strikes, including significant attacks in September that escalated the conflict into full-scale war. These strikes killed Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah and several senior commanders.

On Sunday, some of Hezbollah’s projectiles were intercepted by Israel’s defense systems, but others caused injuries and damage:

• A 60-year-old man in northern Israel was severely injured.
• A 23-year-old man in Petah Tikva suffered minor wounds.
• A 70-year-old woman in the same city suffered smoke inhalation when her car caught fire.
• A rocket strike in Haifa hit a residential building, leaving it at risk of collapse.

Israeli sirens sounded throughout central and northern regions as new attacks unfolded.

Impact of Israeli Airstrikes on Lebanon

Israeli airstrikes without prior warning on Saturday hit central Beirut, killing at least 29 people and wounding 67, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. On Sunday, smoke rose again over Beirut as new strikes targeted Hezbollah command centers in the southern Dahiyeh suburb.

The ongoing conflict has devastated Lebanon:

• Over 3,700 deaths and more than 1.2 million displaced, about a quarter of the population, according to the Health Ministry.
• On the Israeli side, approximately 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed since the conflict began. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from northern areas.

International Efforts to Broker Peace

U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein has spent months attempting to mediate a cease-fire, while the European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, urged both sides on Sunday to finalize an agreement.

Borrell met with Lebanese leaders, including Prime Minister Mikati and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally. The EU has pledged €200 million ($208 million) to support Lebanon’s military, which could deploy additional forces to the south if a truce is reached.

An emerging agreement would align with a U.N. Security Council resolution from 2006, requiring Hezbollah and Israeli forces to withdraw from southern Lebanon below the Litani River. The Lebanese army, supported by U.N. peacekeepers, would patrol the area.

Despite its symbolic role as a unifying national institution, Lebanon’s military lacks the capacity to confront Hezbollah or deter Israeli military actions. As the conflict escalates, the international community continues to press for a resolution to prevent further devastation.

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On Friday, a bomb struck a multi-story apartment building in Beirut’s Tayouneh area, drawing hundreds of onlookers to the scene. Among them was Associated Press photographer Hassan Ammar, who captured the devastating moment.

The Targeted Building and Its History

The Israeli military, which had issued an evacuation warning and marked the building as a target, claimed it housed facilities belonging to Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group. For Ammar, however, the building had a more personal connection.

Growing up less than a kilometer away during Lebanon’s 15-year civil war, Ammar recalled the building as part of the “Green Line,” a front line dividing Muslim and Christian neighborhoods. Later in life, he visited the building frequently, either for errands at the notary public on the first floor or shopping at a neighboring sports supply store. The nearby cemetery also holds graves of Ammar’s family members.

“I know it very well,” Ammar said, recounting how he had once considered renting an apartment there for its stunning views of Horsh Beirut, a nearby park.

Capturing the Strike

When the bomb descended, Ammar had already positioned himself at a safe distance with his camera trained on the building. Using a long lens and a high shutter speed, he snapped a series of photos, documenting the bomb’s approach, its mid-air trajectory, and the ensuing massive explosion.

The impact left much of the building reduced to rubble, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

Analysis of the Weapon Used

Richard Weir, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, reviewed close-up photos of the bomb to identify the weapon. He determined that it was consistent with a Mk-84 series 2,000-pound general-purpose bomb equipped with a Boeing Joint Directed Attack Munition (JDAM) tail kit.

Weir warned about the risks such weapons pose to civilians, especially in densely populated areas. “The use of large, air-dropped bombs that produce wide-area effects carries significant risks to civilians and civilian objects,” he said.

A Broader Context of Conflict

This strike was not an isolated incident. Just weeks earlier, another AP photographer, Bilal Hussein, captured a similar bomb hitting a nearby building in Beirut. Over the past 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, more than 3,200 people have been killed in Lebanon, with women and children making up 27% of the casualties, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

The Israeli military maintains that it strives to minimize civilian casualties by issuing warnings before many of its strikes in Lebanon.

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Hezbollah has announced that Naim Qassem, the group’s deputy secretary general, will take over as its new leader. He replaces the long-time leader, Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut last month.

Qassem is one of the few senior members of Hezbollah still alive, as Israel has targeted and killed many of the group’s leaders in recent attacks. His appointment comes amid escalating conflict in Lebanon.

For over 30 years, Qassem served as Hezbollah’s deputy secretary general and has been a prominent figure in the group. He was elected by the Shura Council, following Hezbollah’s internal rules. While his current location is unclear, some reports indicate he may have fled to Iran, Hezbollah’s primary supporter.

In announcing Qassem’s new role, Hezbollah released a statement calling him “the bearer of the blessed banner in this march,” and it also paid tribute to the late Nasrallah and others who have died in the ongoing conflict.

Originally, it was expected that cleric Hashem Safieddine would take over the leadership, but it was revealed on October 22 that he had been killed in an Israeli airstrike nearly three weeks earlier.

In recent weeks, Israel has intensified its airstrikes across Lebanon, targeting what it claims are Hezbollah’s operatives, infrastructure, and weapons. On Monday night, the Israeli military conducted airstrikes in the eastern Bekaa Valley, an area with a strong Hezbollah presence. According to the Lebanese health ministry, at least 60 people were killed and over 50 injured in these attacks. The Israeli military has not yet commented on this specific incident.

Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah escalated after nearly a year of cross-border hostilities that began with the war in Gaza. The Israeli government stated that its goal is to ensure the safe return of residents displaced by Hezbollah’s rocket, missile, and drone attacks.

In the past year, over 2,700 people have been killed and nearly 12,500 injured in Lebanon, as reported by the country’s health ministry. In retaliation, Hezbollah has launched thousands of rockets and drones at Israel, resulting in at least 59 deaths in northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights.

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Data shows that more than 3,600 buildings in Lebanon appear to have been damaged or destroyed between 2 and 14 October 2024. This represents about 54% of the total estimated damage since cross-border hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah broke out just over a year ago.

The damage data was gathered by Corey Scher of City University of New York and Jamon Van Den Hoek of Oregon State University. They compared radar satellite images to reveal sudden changes in the height or structure of buildings which indicate damage.

Wim Zwijnenburg, an environmental expert from the Pax for Peace organisation, reviewed the satellite-based radar data and warned of the impact of Israel’s bombing.

“The Israeli military campaign seems to be creating a ‘dead zone’ in the south of Lebanon to drive out the population, and making it difficult for Hezbollah to re-establish positions, at the cost of the civilian population,” he said.

Cross-border hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah broke out after the armed Lebanese group started firing rockets in and around northern Israel in support of Palestinians on 8 October 2023, the day after its ally Hamas’s deadly attack on southern Israel.

Israel invaded southern Lebanon in a dramatic escalation on 30 September to destroy, it said, Hezbollah weapons and infrastructure in “limited, localised, targeted raids”.

Satellite photos, radar imagery, and military records show recent Israeli bombardment in Lebanon has focused on the southern border region. It has also expanded to central and northern areas, including the Bekaa Valley and Beirut’s southern suburbs.

The Israeli army said it hit thousands of Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, including the capital, Beirut.

Most of the strikes on Beirut have targeted Dahieh, a southern suburb that is home to thousands of civilians. The Israeli military claims the area is home to Hezbollah’s command headquarters.

A series of Israeli strikes on buildings in the area killed Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah on 27 September.

Separate data from the US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (Acled), which has been analysed by the BBC, indicates at least 2,700 attacks by the Israeli military on Lebanese areas from 1 September until 11 October 2024. While these attacks primarily focus on southern border areas, they have also extended to northern and central regions. Each Israeli attack can also include several bombings.

Hezbollah has carried out around 540 attacks against Israel in the same timeframe, according to Acled. Each Hezbollah attack can include a barrage of rockets, missiles and drones.

The Israeli military says air strikes in Lebanon are targeting Hezbollah infrastructure.

It regularly adds it wants to ensure the safe return of tens of thousands of residents of Israeli border areas displaced by attacks from the Iran-backed group.

About 60,000 people have been evacuated from northern Israel because of near-daily attacks by Hezbollah. But some rockets have reached further south and damaged homes in and around the coastal city of Haifa.

Hezbollah reiterated it would continue sending rockets into Israel unless a ceasefire is reached. The group’s deputy secretary general claimed rockets would focus on military targets, but warned Hezbollah had the right to attack anywhere in Israel in response to strikes across Lebanon.

On the Lebanese side, many Israeli air strikes targeted the city of Tyre, the Bekaa Valley, and Beirut, according to the BBC’s analysis of the latest monthly data collected by Acled.

The Israeli military says air strikes in Lebanon are targeting Hezbollah infrastructure.

It regularly adds it wants to ensure the safe return of tens of thousands of residents of Israeli border areas displaced by attacks from the Iran-backed group.

About 60,000 people have been evacuated from northern Israel because of near-daily attacks by Hezbollah. But some rockets have reached further south and damaged homes in and around the coastal city of Haifa.

Hezbollah reiterated it would continue sending rockets into Israel unless a ceasefire is reached. The group’s deputy secretary general claimed rockets would focus on military targets, but warned Hezbollah had the right to attack anywhere in Israel in response to strikes across Lebanon.

On the Lebanese side, many Israeli air strikes targeted the city of Tyre, the Bekaa Valley, and Beirut, according to the BBC’s analysis of the latest monthly data collected by Acled.

“This is a humanitarian catastrophe,” Gabriel Karlsson, Middle East Manager at the British Red Cross in Beirut, told the BBC.

He said there are insufficient shelters to accommodate so many evacuees.

“I saw children sleeping in the streets,” Karlsson added, urging humanitarian organisations to coordinate their efforts to address the escalating crisis.

Lebanese officials say at least 2,350 have been killed and over 10,000 injured in Israeli attacks. The Lebanon health minister said many casualties were civilians.

On the Israeli side, 60 people have been killed and more than 570 wounded by Hezbollah attacks, Israeli authorities say.

“Collateral damage is inevitable in war”, Amos Yadlin, the former head of Israeli military intelligence, told the BBC.

The retired major-general blamed Hezbollah for the war and claimed Israel’s ground offensive would force the group out from the border areas.

Zwijnenburg, from the Pax for Peace organisation, however, has warned of the impact of Israel’s military campaign on civilians and the populated areas.

“The heavy blast radius kills and maims civilians nearby”, he said, in reference to Israeli air strikes.

“Open-source data combined with satellite imagery also showed that civilian infrastructure such as irrigation channels, gas stations and electricity grids were damaged, which is worsening the humanitarian situation,” he added.

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