Israeli ground forces have reached their deepest point point in Lebanon since they invaded six weeks ago before withdrawing earlier today after fierce battles with fighters of the pro-Iranian armed movement "Hezbollah", Reuters reported, citing BTA, citing Lebanese state media.
Early today, Israeli troops captured a strategic hill in the southern Lebanese village of Shamaa, about 5 km from the Israeli border, the state-run Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) reported. According to her, the Israeli troops were later pushed back from the hill.
Israeli troops blew up the shrine of the prophet Shimon in Shamaa, as well as several houses, before withdrawing, the NNA reported. However, the claims could not be immediately verified by an independent source, Reuters noted.
In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its troops were "continuing their limited, localized and targeted operational activity in southern Lebanon". The military did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the Lebanese media report.
The ground offensive was carried out at a time when Israeli warplanes launched airstrikes against the southern suburbs of Beirut, as well as several other areas in southern Lebanon, including the port city of Tyre.< /p>
The morning strike in Beirut hit an area known as Dahiya, which the Israeli military has identified as a Hezbollah stronghold, saying its jets struck several sites used by the militant group. Israel warned the residents of the suburb in advance, despite today's Israeli strikes there were 7 victims.
The uptick in violence comes as Lebanese officials and representatives of "Hezbollah" are studying the draft proposal presented earlier this week by the US to end the war with Israel.
Since the end of September, Israel has sharply increased its bombing of Lebanon, vowing to destroy "Hezbollah" and to end the shelling of the armed movement against the territory of Israel. According to data from the Lebanese Ministry of Health, more than 3,400 people have died in Lebanon from Israeli fire - 80 percent of them in the eight weeks, AP notes.
Lebanon Prime Minister Najib Mikati called yesterday on Iran to try to convince "Hezbollah" to agree to a cease-fire agreement with Israel that would require the group to withdraw from the Israeli-Lebanese border. The proposal is based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the previous war between Israel and "Hezbollah" in the summer of 2006
There is also a drive to end the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which began after Palestinian militants invaded southern Israel on October 7, 2023, and carried out a series of attacks on towns and kibbutzim in which they killed about 1,200 people - mostly civilians - and took 250 people hostage.
The ten members of the UN Security Council - five permanent and five rotating - circulated a draft resolution on Thursday demanding an "immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire" in Gaza. The US, Israel's closest ally, holds the key to whether the UN Security Council will pass the resolution. The other four permanent members - Russia, China, Britain and France - are expected to support it or abstain from voting.
The "Hamas" controlled Gaza's health ministry said today that 35 more people had been killed in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll to 43,799. The ministry did not distinguish between civilians and fighters, but said more than half victims are women and children, notes AP.