Israel increases army levels near the border with Lebanon as Hezbollah reports fighting with Israeli forces

News Mania Desk /Piyal Chatterjee/2nd October 2024

Hezbollah reported ground combat on Wednesday for the first time since Israel started encroaching on its northern neighbor in an effort to weaken the armed group backed by Iran. The group announced that its members were fighting Israeli soldiers inside Lebanon.
The Israeli military said regular infantry and armoured forces were joining its ground operations in Lebanon, a day after Israel was struck by Iran in an assault that sparked worries the oil-producing Middle East may be engulfed in a wider confrontation.The Israeli military reported that one of its team commanders had died in Lebanon.
Iran declared on Wednesday that, barring more provocation, the attack—its largest against Israel—was over, but both Israel and the US pledged to retaliate.

Meanwhile, there was still violence along the Israeli-Lebanese border.

Hezbollah claimed to have pushed back Israeli forces close to another border town and was now engaged in combat with them in Maroun el-Ras. According to the organization, it has also fired rockets at Israeli military installations.According to Mohammad Afif, the group’s head of media, those fights were just “the first round” and the group had enough men, gear, and ammo to drive Israel back.
Israel refrained from commenting right away.
The 36th Division’s infantry and armored battalions, notably the Golani Brigade, the 188th Armoured Brigade, and the 6th Infantry Brigade, were added by Israel, indicating that the operation would go beyond small-scale commando raids.

According to the military, there are no preparations for a larger operation that would attack Beirut or other important cities in southern Lebanon. The incursion is primarily intended to destroy tunnels and other infrastructure on the border.
However, it sent out fresh orders for evacuation for about twenty towns near the southern border, telling the locals to move north of the Awali River, which flows north to south about 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of the Israeli border.The European Union, the US, and the UN have all called for a ceasefire, but Israel and Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon, have not stopped fighting.
Israel resumed its early-morning assault on the Iran-backed group’s stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Wednesday, using more than a dozen aircraft targeting what it said

In the midst of the intensifying crisis, airlines from all over the world have canceled flights to Israel and Lebanon; several have stated that, depending on the security situation, they won’t resume until at least mid-October.
According to Economy Minister Faisal al-Ibrahim, Saudi Arabia is seeking for de-escalation and discussion, while China has called on world powers to play a constructive role in preventing escalation.Egypt denied any attempts to impose a “new situation” on the ground that infringes on Lebanese sovereignty and denounced what it called a hazardous Israeli escalation in Lebanon.

Washington declared that it will cooperate with its longstanding partner Israel to guarantee that Iran would suffer “severe consequences” for the attack on Tuesday, which it claimed involved over 180 ballistic missiles.