Israel attacks Lebanon, expanding ground operations beyond security zone

(Patria) - Israel carried out more than 120 airstrikes on Lebanon yesterday, one of the heaviest days of bombing in recent weeks, Lebanese security sources said, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his army was deepening its operations, Reuters reported.

The bombing further strained a ceasefire declared on April 16, which was meant to halt fighting between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, and came after Iran claimed the United States had violated the truce by attacking southern Iran.

Lebanese security sources told Reuters that Israeli strikes hit southern and eastern Lebanon.

Lebanon's Ministry of Health said 31 people were killed and 40 wounded in Israeli strikes in the past few hours, the state news agency NNA reported early this morning.

It was stated that fourteen people were killed in the town of Burj al-Shamali in southern Lebanon, including two children and three women.

Some strikes were near Beaufort Castle, a nearly 900-year-old fortress in southern Lebanon that UNESCO has described as one of the best-preserved examples of medieval castles in the region. At least three strikes also hit an area near Lebanon's largest water reservoir, the Qaraoun Dam in eastern Lebanon, the Lebanese National News Agency reported.

In a statement on Tuesday, Netanyahu said the Israeli army was “operating with great force on the ground and taking and controlling areas.”

“We are strengthening the security belt to protect the northern communities,” he said, referring to the self-declared security zone occupied by Israeli troops several kilometers inside southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah fires on Israeli tanks

Two sources said the Israeli army had expanded its ground operations in southern Lebanon beyond the security zone, but did not provide further details on the extent of the advance beyond the so-called “Yellow Line.”

That line, distinct from the United Nations’ “Blue Line” marking the border between Lebanon and Israel after Israel’s 2000 withdrawal, forms part of a proposed buffer zone extending five to ten kilometers into southern Lebanon.

The Israeli army has ordered residents not to return to dozens of villages in that zone, and its troops are destroying houses in the area.

An Israeli military official said the army was “operating purposefully beyond the Forward Defense Line to remove direct threats to the citizens of the State of Israel” and Israeli soldiers, “in accordance with the directives of the political echelon.”

Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel would intensify attacks on Hezbollah, while a US official said the Iran-backed group had ignored warnings to stop attacks that risked undermining negotiations to end the US-Israeli war against Iran.

Hezbollah said on Tuesday it had targeted advancing Israeli forces and tanks towards the southern Lebanese town of Zawtar al-Sharqiya with explosive drones, rockets and artillery.

Lebanon's Ministry of Health said the cumulative death toll from the Israeli offensive since March 2, when Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel in response to the start of the war in Iran, had reached 3,213 dead and 9,737 wounded as of May 26.

The Israeli army said ten of its soldiers had been killed since the April 16 ceasefire, six of whom were killed by Hezbollah explosive drones.

The World Health Organization said at least 608 people in Lebanon had been killed in Israeli attacks since the ceasefire.

Hezbollah has not released figures on its casualties.