The Lebanese Health Ministry has reported that as many as 500 people were killed and more than 1,600 others were injured in numerous Israeli airstrikes, which targeted different parts of southern Lebanon on Monday, September 23. According to media reports tens of thousands of people fled their homes in the targeted areas in the southern part of the country seeking refuge in other areas of Lebanon. The airstrikes were launched in three waves described as “fire belts” and carpet bombing of dozens of villages and towns in the areas of Tyre, Bint Jbeil, Nabatiyeh, Iqlim Al-Tuffah, Jezzine, and Western Beqaa.
The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) also launched an airstrike on the Southern Suburb (Al-Dahiyah Al-Janoubiyah) in the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Monday, claiming that the airstrike targeted Hezbollah’s southern front commander Ali Karaki. A few hours later, Hezbollah announced that Ali Karaki is alive, in good health and has moved to a safe place.
During a cabinet meeting on Monday, Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the intense attack on Lebanon on Monday, describing it as a genocide. “The expanding Israeli aggression on Lebanon is a genocide in every sense of the word, the goal of which is to destroy Lebanese villages,” Mekati stated calling calling on the United Nations, the Security Council, and influential states to “stand on the side of justice” and stop the genocide.
The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his concern on the escalation between Israel and Lebanon, highlighting the urgent need for de-escalation and resorting to diplomatic solutions instead. Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson of Guterres said during a news conference: “The Secretary General is indeed alarmed by the escalating situation along the Blue Line. He’s very concerned about the large number of civilian casualties being reported by the Lebanese authorities, as well as the thousands of displaced persons amidst the most intense exchange of fire across the Blue Line since October of last year”. Dujarric also stated that the UN Secretary-General “reiterates the urgent need for de-escalation and that all efforts should be devoted to a diplomatic solution.”
Regarding the ongoing escalation, the United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL) which patrols the Blue Line, which separates Lebanon and Israel, also expressed its “grave concern for the safety of civilians”, in a statement issued on Monday. “It is essential to fully recommit to the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which is now more critical than ever to address the underlying causes of the conflict and ensure lasting stability,” the statement added.
In retaliation, Hezbollah launched airstrikes on Israeli sites in northern areas, including IOF’s reserve headquarters of the Northern Corps, the reserve base of the Galilee Division, and its logistical depots at the Ami’ad Base, in addition to Rafael military industries complexes in the Zevulun area north of Haifa.
The main warehouses of the Israeli northern command at Nimra Base (west of Tiberias), the headquarters of rocketry and artillery battalion at Yoav Barracks, the headquarters of the Northern Corps Command at Ein Zeitim Base, and Ramat David airbase were also targeted by Hezbollah on Monday.
Hezbollah said in a statement on Monday, that the strikes were launched “in support of the steadfast Palestinian people and honorable Resistance in the Gaza Strip, and in response to the Israeli enemy’s attacks on the southern and Beqaa regions.”
Some media outlets reported that Hezbollah long-range rockets made impact on illegal Israeli settlements within the occupied West Bank near the Israeli city of Tel Aviv on Monday, including Bruchin in Nablus, and Karnei Shomron and Maale Shomron east of Qalqilya.
In response to the attacks on Lebanon, groups of the Axis of Resistance have expressed their solidarity with the Lebanese people.
Hamas said in a statement, “This widespread barbaric aggression is a war crime that reveals the Nazi-like nature of the Israeli occupation and Netanyahu’s desperation due to his failed policies and refusal to end the genocide in Gaza.”
Faleh al-Fayyadh, the head of the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq, today announced full readiness and mobilization to “provide all possible types of assistance on the relief, medical and humanitarian levels to our brothers in Lebanon in response to the call of the supreme religious authority and based on the humanitarian, fraternal and religious duty.”
Yemen’s Ansar Allah which continues to enforce a blockade in the Red Sea of all Israel-bound vessels, whilst withstanding attacks from Israel, the US, and the UK also expressed solidarity with Lebanon and highlighted that “Israeli criminal acts would not have happened without Washington’s ongoing supply of weapons.”
