The Israeli army has announced that it has launched a ground operation in southern Lebanon tonight. It is about "limited, localized and targeted ground attacks based on accurate intelligence against Hezbollah terrorist targets and infrastructure,”, the Israeli armed forces said in a statement.
According to the army, the targets of the ground operation are villages near the border that pose a danger to Israeli communities in the north of the country. Israel's army called the operation "Northern Arrows” and announced that it will run parallel to the war in the Gaza Strip.
Air strikes continue
During that night, explosions continued in the Lebanese capital, Beirut. According to information of "France Press” six or seven Israeli strikes have reached the outskirts of Beirut. The bombings were preceded by a message from the Israeli army to the residents of these areas that they should evacuate. "You are in the vicinity of interests and facilities belonging to the terrorist group Hezbollah, and therefore the Israel Defense Forces will act against them with force,", Israeli army spokesman Avishai Adrae said in a video posted on social media.
The Israeli army also struck a building in a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon, Palestinian sources told Reuters and "France Press". According to reports, it is the crowded refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh near the Lebanese city of Saida. Palestinian security officials said the target of the strike was Munir Makda, head of the Lebanese branch of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a Palestinian group designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and others.
Died also in Syria, rocket attacks on Israel
At least three people have been killed and nine others wounded in Damascus following Israeli airstrikes, Syrian state media reported. "The Israeli enemy launched air aggression with warplanes and unmanned aerial vehicles from the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, targeting several points in Damascus," the Syrian state news agency said. A television presenter is reported to be among the dead. Israel did not immediately comment on the reports.
At the same time, the Israeli military said air strike warning sirens were activated in the Meron area of Israel's northern Upper Galilee region after about 10 rockets were detected crossing from Lebanon. She stated that some of them were intercepted and others fell "in open areas".
Over 1,000 dead in Lebanon in the last two weeks
The start of the ground operation comes after several weeks of Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon that killed a large number of Hezbollah leaders. Earlier on Monday, even before the statement by the Israeli armed forces, the army had begun to prepare the ground for the operation by carrying out small cross-border raids, writes the "Washington Post”.
Lebanese health ministry reports that Israeli airstrikes on Monday killed around 95 people and wounded 172. According to officials, more than 1,000 people have died in Lebanon in the past two weeks and up to a million may have been displaced.