Illustrative image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and Lebanon’s Hezbollah continue to exchange blows as they both move slowly but surly towards an all-out war.
On September 26 morning, the IDF announced that it struck some 75 targets of Hezbollah across Lebanon overnight. The targets hit in the south of the country and the eastern Beqaa Valley included weapon depots, primed rocket launchers, buildings used by the group, fighters and other infrastructure, according to a statement by the military.
One of the overnight strikes hit the town of Younine in Beqaa, killing 23 civilians and wounding more than 50 others, according to Lebanese media, which reported that most of the casualties were Syrian workers.
The IDF reported additional strikes on weapon depots, buildings used by Hezbollah and fighters of the group later in the morning.
In the afternoon, Israeli fighter jets struck infrastructure on the Syria-Lebanon border which the IDF said was used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons.
The weapons smuggled into Lebanon from Syria are being used against Israel, the IDF said in a statement, without elaborating on the claims.
Lebanese media said that a bridge and a crossing in the town of Matraba, which is located right on the border between the Syrian governorate of Homs and the Lebanese governorate of Baalbek-Hermel, were hit. At least eight people were reportedly wounded.
From its side, Hezbollah fired in the morning two salvos of heavy rockets at the Kiryat Motzkin settlement and a military industrial complex of the Israeli defense giant Rafael in the Zevulun area north of the port city of Haifa deep in northern Israel.
The IDF said that some 45 rockets were launched from Lebanon, with many being intercepted by its air defenses. Hebrew media didn’t report any casualties.
The confrontation between Israel and Lebanon broke out after the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip last October, with Hezbollah and its allies launching near-daily attacks against the IDF in support of the Palestinian enclave.
The IDF escalated its strikes against Lebanon earlier this week to a level not seen since the war of 2006. So far, the aerial campaign has claimed the lives of more than 600 people, including dozens of women and children.
All in all, the confrontation has so far resulted in 26 civilian deaths in Israel and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights as well as the deaths of at least 22 soldiers and security officers. On the Lebanese side, more than 1,800 people have been killed, including more than 500 fighters of Hezbollah.
___________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence
NOW hosted at southfront.press
Previously, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.org.
The .org domain name had been blocked by the US (NATO) (https://southfront.press/southfront-org-blocked-by-u-s-controlled-global-internet-supervisor/) globally, outlawed and without any explanation
Back before that, from 2013 to 2015, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.com
