Israeli airstrikes have created real panic in Lebanon. Thousands of people are running, but they don't know where. The Israeli army wants to continue the offensive. The fear is growing that a major clash between Israel and Lebanon is inevitable.
Lebanon's deadliest day in decades - this is how September 23, 2024 will be remembered after, according to Lebanese authorities, nearly 500 people were killed and thousands were forced to flee their homes following massive Israeli strikes. The Israeli army announced that the air force had struck 1,600 Hezbollah targets and that the operation would continue.
Since Hamas carried out its terrorist attacks on October 7, 2023, the US has been warning Israel not to allow the conflict to expand into a regional clash with Iran. The regime in Tehran supports the Lebanese paramilitary organization Hezbollah, whose attacks on northern Israel are becoming more frequent. The events of recent days have increased the sense both in both countries and among the international community that a full-scale conflict between Israel and Lebanon is imminent. “We are on the brink of total war” in the Middle East, warned the High Representative of the European Union Josep Borrell.
Thousands of Lebanese flee in panic
Anxiety and fear are felt on both sides of the border. “They started hitting us, so we quickly got into the car and drove to Beirut,”, said the Lebanese Mohammad to the German public media ARD. Another man, who also fled north with his family, added: “Airstrikes, fighter jets, destruction. No one stayed, everyone ran away. We took our belongings and left. At the moment, nobody knows where to go“.
In text messages and phone calls, the Israeli military is urging civilians to leave buildings that Israel says are being used by Hezbollah for military purposes. According to a Lebanese telecommunications company, 80,000 Lebanese have received such warnings. However, many do not know where to go, and in Beirut and other cities, schools are being reorganized into shelters. At the same time, the authorities in Lebanon have turned to neighboring countries for help in treating the injured, which according to Beirut are more than 1,500. “It is the Israeli enemy who is constantly attacking. "His aggression is the cause of the deaths and injuries," stated Interior Minister Bassam Mawlavi, quoted by ARD.
Many Israelis support the army's actions
On the other side - in Northern Israel - they also complain about the aerial terror, which has already been going on for 11 months. "I think the Israeli army has been too patient so far," he told the Washington Post. Shelley Lees Barkan. The teacher lives in the border town of Shlomi, but refuses to evacuate. “I lost patience. Anyone who is a terrorist should just be killed. That's enough!“.
Barkan, and many like her, support launching a full-scale war against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the safe return of people to their homes in the northern parts of the country was a goal of the war, along with the destruction of Hamas in Gaza. And he stressed that he will do “everything necessary” for that to happen.
Hezbollah's leader has repeatedly stated that the paramilitary organization will only stop firing rockets at Israel if the fire in Gaza dies down. But talks appear to be deadlocked, with Hezbollah's second-in-command, Naim Qassem, saying airstrikes against Israel will continue in a “new phase” of the war. Israel has evacuated more than 67 thousand people from the northern parts of the country in the last year, writes “Washington Post”.
Limon Zinor, who has returned to her home in northern Israel despite the attacks, says she hopes there is no war with Lebanon so there can finally be “quiet”. Her son is a paratrooper and served in Gaza, now she expects to be sent north. Zinor regrets the civilian casualties of Lebanon given in recent days.
Tensions between Biden and Netanyahu are growing
Efforts by Joe Biden's administration to reach an agreement that would guarantee both the return of hostages held by Hamas and a ceasefire in Gaza appear fruitless. Sources from the US President's administration tell the New York Times that time is too short. The US election is less than two months away, and Biden will hand over the post to his successor in January. At the same time, the risk of an escalation of the war seems ever greater. Netanyahu knows that if former President Donald Trump is elected, his hands will be free to wage war against Hamas and Hezbollah as he sees fit, writes David Sanger in the “New York Times”.
Biden's team is now less and less hiding the tension in the relationship between him and the Israeli prime minister, the American publication also notes. The White House is increasingly being asked whether the Israeli prime minister is setting new conditions in the ceasefire talks in order to preserve his fragile coalition, stay in office and not face trial. Washington, which has long designated Hezbollah's military wing as a terrorist organization, supports Israel's right to attack the Iran-backed organization, but there have been no official talks between Biden and Netanyahu in recent days, which is telling.