Israeli strikes throughout Lebanon have killed not less than 3,103 individuals and injured 13,856 others since October final 12 months, based on Lebanon’s Well being Ministry.
For the reason that genocide started in Gaza, Israel has additionally been at struggle with the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, which is allied with the Palestinian group Hamas, and expresses solidarity with the individuals of Gaza.
In September of this 12 months, Israel expanded its struggle from Gaza into southern Lebanon.
On Thursday, Lebanon’s Well being Ministry additionally mentioned that Israeli strikes killed not less than 53 individuals and wounded 161 others up to now 24 hours.
5 Malaysian peacekeepers from the United Nations Interim Power in Lebanon (UNIFIL), three Lebanese troopers and three Lebanese civilians had been amongst these injured after an Israeli raid on the principle metropolis of Sidon in southern Lebanon.
In a press release, UNIFIL reminded “all actors to keep away from actions that endanger peacekeepers or civilians,” including that “variations should be resolved on the negotiating desk, not by way of violence.”
UNIFIL, in addition to unarmed technical observers referred to as UNTSO, have lengthy been stationed in southern Lebanon to watch hostilities alongside the demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel, referred to as the Blue Line, drawn by the UN in Could 2000 to divide the 2 international locations.
Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan, reporting from Beirut, mentioned the Israeli assault on the UNIFIL location was essential.
“The Awali checkpoint is likely one of the locations the place Israel points a compelled evacuation order. He tells individuals to go north of the Awali River. That’s the place the checkpoint is,” Khan mentioned.
“So that they inform individuals to go north of that exact checkpoint, however they’re additionally attacking that checkpoint. “That is very, very worrying for UNIFIL, which has been attacked virtually 20 occasions since Israel introduced its floor invasion,” Khan added.
Israel additionally bombed the southern suburbs of Beirut. “Demise has turn into a matter of luck. We will die or survive,” Ramzi Zaiter, a resident of southern Beirut, advised the AFP information company.
The Israeli strikes on Lebanon got here after Hezbollah mentioned it carried out a missile assault on a navy base close to Israel’s Ben Gurion Worldwide Airport on Wednesday. The Lebanese armed group mentioned it had additionally attacked the “Stella Maris strategic naval base for monitoring and surveillance” with missiles northwest of Haifa in Israel on Thursday.
In its struggle report, the Israeli navy mentioned that round 40 projectiles crossed into northern Israel from Lebanon however had been intercepted. The military added that 5 Israeli troopers have been killed and 16 others wounded in preventing in southern Lebanon in current weeks.
‘Shield Lebanon’s historic websites’
Additionally on Thursday, greater than 100 Lebanese lawmakers appealed to the UN, demanding the preservation of UNESCO World Heritage websites in areas which might be being closely bombed by Israel.
Lebanon is residence to 6 UNESCO World Heritage websites, together with the Roman ruins of Baalbek and Tyre, the place Hezbollah holds sway.
In Baalbek, Israeli strikes on Wednesday destroyed a heritage home and broken a historic lodge close to the town’s Roman temples, based on native authorities.
In a letter to the pinnacle of UNESCO, Lebanese parliamentarians said: “In the course of the devastating struggle in opposition to Lebanon, Israel has precipitated critical human rights violations and atrocities.” The letter known as for the safety of Lebanon’s historic websites in Baalbek, Tyre, Sidon and different priceless locations “at present in danger attributable to escalating atrocities.”
On Monday, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati known as for a ceasefire “to guard our nation’s cultural heritage, together with the traditional archaeological websites of Baalbek and Tyre.”
In the meantime, some in Lebanon are hopeful that new management in america, the place Republican Donald Trump received the presidency, can present respite.
“Many imagine that no significant diplomatic efforts will happen till Trump, the US president-elect, takes workplace in January,” mentioned Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Beirut.
