Illustrative Image
The Israeli military does not stop massive strikes throughout Lebanon. Devastating attacks are pounding the capital Beirut, Tyre and other areas. The number of civilian casualties is growing. Hezbollah is shelling northern Israel in response.
About a dozen waves of strikes were recorded in Beirut at night. The IDF claimed that the Israeli Air Force attacked the central base of the Hezbollah naval unit, a training center and a test site in Beirut. According to the Israeli military, the targeted military base stored speedboats that were intended to attack Israeli Navy ships, as well as naval and strategic targets in Israeli territorial waters.
“At night, under the command of the IDF intelligence agency and the Israeli Navy, the Israeli Air Force attacked Hezbollah weapons depots, command centers and other terrorist facilities in Beirut. Some targets were underground and included air and naval equipment used by Hezbollah to carry out terrorist attacks against the State of Israel,” the IDF said in a statement.
In September, the Chief of the General Staff of the Israeli army, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, announced the launch of a “pre-emptive offensive operation” called the “Arrows of the North” against Hezbollah, calling its target the military infrastructure of the Lebanese group. On the night of October 1, the IDF announced the start of ground operations in Lebanon. They include “limited, localized and targeted raids” against Hezbollah targets “in the border area of southern Lebanon”. On October 18, Hezbollah announced a “new phase of escalation of confrontation” with Israel.
Meanwhile, positional battles between the IDF and Hezbollah continue on the border. At the moment, Israel has not achieved its goals of stopping the shelling of northern Israel. Hopes that the assassination of several high-ranking Hezbollah leaders would solve Israel’s strategic problems have not been fulfilled. The killing of thousands of civilians and the destruction of civilian infrastructure also do not bring Israel any closer to achieving its goals.
