BEIRUT, Lebanon: Israel’s attacks on Lebanon entered a fourth day on Thursday, after Israeli forces pushed into several border towns and carried out air strikes targeting the Iran-backed resistance group Hezbollah.
AFPTV footage showed smoke rising after a strike hit Hezbollah’s stronghold in south Beirut early Thursday.
Israel’s military had earlier warned residents to evacuate the suburb where the strike occurred, saying it was preparing to attack a site linked to Hezbollah.
In northern Israel near the border, repeated air raid alerts forced residents in several locations to seek shelter, although there were no immediate reports of impacts or casualties.
Lebanon was drawn into the broader Middle East conflict on Monday when Hezbollah launched attacks against Israel following the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during US-Israeli strikes over the weekend.
Hezbollah’s leader vowed on Wednesday to continue fighting Israel and intensify attacks, saying the group had targeted Israeli positions as far as Tel Aviv in at least 15 separate operations.
“We are facing aggression… our choice is to confront it until the ultimate sacrifice, and we will not surrender,” Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said in his first speech since the latest round of fighting began.
“For us this is an existential defence,” he added.
Lebanese authorities said at least 72 people had been killed, 437 wounded, and more than 83,000 displaced from their homes since Monday.
The Israeli military also warned residents living south of Lebanon’s Litani River — an area stretching roughly 30 kilometres (20 miles) north of the border — to evacuate, saying the army was “compelled to take military action” against Hezbollah there.
Direct clashes reported
Under a November 2024 truce agreement, only UN peacekeepers and the Lebanese army are allowed to bear arms south of the Litani River.
Israel was supposed to withdraw its forces completely, but has maintained troops in areas it considers strategic and has continued conducting air strikes, citing Hezbollah’s refusal to disarm.
On Tuesday, Israel’s military said it was establishing a buffer zone inside Lebanon aimed at protecting Israeli communities near the border.
Troops from three Israeli divisions, including infantry, armoured and engineering units, were operating in southern Lebanon, the Israeli army said late Wednesday.
AFP video footage showed what appeared to be two Israeli tanks positioned among residential buildings in Khiam, about six kilometres (3.7 miles) north of the border.
The United Nations peacekeeping mission UNIFIL reported Israeli “movements and military activities” on the Lebanese side of the border, saying they violated Lebanon’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
Hezbollah said its fighters had engaged Israeli troops in “direct” clashes in Khiam, while Israel reported that two of its soldiers had been “moderately injured” by anti-tank fire.
Meanwhile, an air strike struck a hotel in Hazmieh — the first reported Israeli attack on the predominantly Christian suburb of Beirut, located near the presidential palace and several foreign embassies.
Some rooms were destroyed in the strike, and injured people were treated in the hotel lobby, according to AFP images.
Residents fled through debris, carrying suitcases past the Comfort Hotel sign, which had fallen broken to the ground.
It was not immediately clear who or what was targeted in the attack.
The district overlooks Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah maintains strong influence.
Several residents told AFP they had received recorded phone messages warning them to evacuate.
Southern suburbs targeted
A series of Israeli strikes on Wednesday also hit Beirut’s southern suburbs after the military issued evacuation warnings.
One of the strikes hit a building located near a major hospital, according to an AFP photographer at the scene.
Footage showed thick plumes of smoke rising above buildings in the densely populated district, where many residents began fleeing when the violence erupted on Monday.
In the towns of Aramoun and Saadiyat, south of Beirut — areas outside Hezbollah’s traditional sphere of influence — Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli strikes killed at least six people.
AFP footage from Aramoun showed damaged vehicles and rescue workers carrying an injured person on a stretcher.
Air strikes also targeted a four-storey building in the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek, far from the border region where Hezbollah also maintains a strong presence.
