
A young woman holds up a picture of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah during his Nov. 3 speech. (Credit: Joao Souza/L'Orient Today)
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Catch up on the weekend’s coverage of Day 28, Day 29 and Day 30 of the Israel-Hamas war.
Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon killed four civilians, including three children, and injured paramedics Sunday. The strike targeted a civilian vehicle in Ghodmata, between Aitaroun and Ainata, killing a woman and her three grandchildren, a first responder from the Amal Movement-affiliated Rissala Association told L’Orient Today. Hezbollah said it fired non-precision rockets at the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Shmona in response to the attack. The party said that Israel retaliated by firing at Ras Naqoura, close to a Lebanese Army position. Referring to the Israeli strike, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the “heinous crime” and said Lebanon will “urgently file a complaint against the Israeli enemy with the Security Council.” The Israeli military has claimed to have launched retaliatory strikes against sites from which Hezbollah had launched cross-border attacks. During the same period, several sites in southern Lebanon — including Aita al-Shaab, Alma al-Shaab, Blat Jabal Bassil, Houla, Jibbayn, Kawzah, Labouneh, Naqoura, Ramieh, Tayr Harfa and Yattar — came under Israeli fire. For its part, Hezbollah claimed to have inflicted damage on military targets in northern Israel. Four people were hospitalized with slight injuries yesterday after an Israeli strike targeted an ambulance belonging to Amal Movement-affiliated scouts. The South Lebanon Water Establishment (SLWE) said Friday that its facilities in Tayr Harfa and Wadi Slouki were targeted by Israeli gunfire following the bombing of the village of Yarine’s water tank, in Sour. SLWE added that damage to electricity infrastructure in southern Lebanon may impact its water supply network and the use of wells in certain towns. Mikati on Saturday asked US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and the international community to “pressure Israel to stop its daily violations of [Lebanese] land.” Fires sparked in southern Lebanon by Israeli attacks using incendiary weapons charred 4.6 million square meters of land, destroyed 20,000 olive trees and caused an estimated $20 million in direct economic losses, according to figures shared on Facebook by George Mitri, Director of the University of Balamand’s Land and Natural Resources Program.
Whether clashes between Hezbollah and Israel at Lebanon’s southern border will escalate depends on “the evolution of the situation in Gaza and the behavior of [Israel] towards Lebanon,” party Secretary General Hassan said Friday in his first address since Oct. 7. Nasrallah’s address did not signal an imminent escalation, while noting that the party may resort to unspecified “options … at any time.” The statement characterized Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack as a purely Palestinian decision. The party considers itself to have been engaging in a war with Israel since Oct. 8, both as a “support front” and to deter attacks on Lebanon, Nasrallah said, mourning Hezbollah fighters killed in clashes with Israel at Lebanon’s southern border. As of yesterday, at least 62 Hezbollah fighters have been killed in border clashes. Nasrallah is scheduled to speak again Saturday for the annual commemoration of the party’s martyrs.
Relatives of the Aug. 4, 2020 Beirut port blast victims held their monthly vigil on Saturday, commemorating the tragedy that killed over 220 people, left over 6,500 injured and destroyed swathes of the capital, the state-run National News Agency reported. Several people raised Palestinian and Lebanese flags during the vigil led by Ibrahim Hoteit, who is opposed to Judge Tarek Bitar’s handling of the blast probe. Hoteit’s statement expressed solidarity with Gaza’s residents and expressed his “personal conviction” that an “Israeli terrorist act, if not an airstrike” was behind the port blast. Another group of relatives, who back Bitar, issued a statement also expressing solidarity with Palestinians and stressing that they have “not forgotten” the acts of several officials they name or to whom they allude for impeding the investigation. The port blast has been stalled since January when Bitar attempted to relaunch it after a year of paralysis but was blocked by the country’s top prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat.
Lebanon’s caretaker cabinet said Friday it will form a ministerial committee to facilitate foreign nationals’ evacuation from Lebanon in the event of war. The committee will be charged with handling foreign nationals’ evacuation requests as well as demands from foreign military aircraft to use Lebanese airspace and to land “at [Beirut] international airport (BIA) carrying dangerous materials to support efforts to prepare for this evacuation.” According to Al Akhbar daily, the German Embassy requested the Lebanese cabinet permission to deploy elements of the German army on Lebanese territory "to prevent harm to German citizens and rescue them [in the event] of distress.” The newspaper also claimed that other countries had requested the right to land at BIA and introduce hazardous materials. L'Orient Today tried contacting BIA, the German Embassy, and the Lebanese Army for further comment on the matter, but none responded immediately. When reached, the Canadian Embassy said it was not immediately available for comment.
Since the start of relentless Israeli shelling on Oct. 7, nearly 9,800 Palestinians, including 3,900 children, have been killed in Gaza, the enclave’s Health Ministry said Saturday. Israel intensified the shelling of Gaza Sunday, once again severing phone and internet connections. Israeli strikes continued to draw international condemnation particularly the shelling of an ambulance outside al-Shifa hospital that killed at least 15 people and the strike on the UN-run Al-Fakhoura school that killed at least 15 people sheltering inside. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down on his refusal to consider a ceasefire before Hamas releases its hostages. Thousands protested in Tel Aviv to demand ramped-up efforts to have the hostages released, while hundreds called on Netanyahu to resign during a protest outside his Jerusalem residence. Despite receiving appeals for an immediate ceasefire during his meeting with Arab leaders, Blinken backed Netanyahu’s refusal, saying it “would simply leave Hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did on Oct. 7.” Turkey recalled its ambassador to Israel on Saturday, “in view of the unfolding humanitarian tragedy in Gaza caused by the continuing attacks by Israel against civilians, and Israel's refusal [to accept] a cease-fire.”
In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from over the weekend: “To flee or not to flee, do Lebanon's domestic workers have a choice?”
Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz