Men play cards at a cafe in Beirut's Southern Suburbs while Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah delivers his Jan. 5 speech. (Credit: Mohammed Yassin/L'Orient Today)
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Catch up on our LIVE coverage of Day 91, Day 92 and Day 93 of the Israel-Hamas war.
Hezbollah on Saturday fired a 62-missile barrage at northern Israel a day after Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah vowed retaliation “in the battlefield” for the Israeli assassination of Hamas officials in Beirut.
Hezbollah announced an attack on Israel's Meron air surveillance base with 62 missiles as part of the initial response for Arouri’s killing, for which “other responses” are planned, party Executive Council Chairman Hashem Safieddine said yesterday.
Hezbollah’s chief claimed that the border clashes, though instigated to pressure Israel into stopping its war on Gaza, have opened room for Lebanon to “liberate the rest of its territory.” Israel last year annexed the northern part of Ghajar, part of Lebanese territory according to the UN-drawn Blue Line, while it continues to occupy the Shebaa farms and Kfar Shuba — part of 13 disputed points in the Lebanon-Israel land border.
Lebanon’s caretaker Foreign Affairs Minister Abdallah Bou Habib instructed the country’s UN representative to file a complaint to the Security Council over the strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs which killed seven people, including Hamas deputy political chief Saleh al-Arouri.
L’Orient Today’s correspondent in the south reported intensified Israeli shelling across border villages as Hezbollah continued its cross-border strikes after having already carried out 670 such attacks, according to party chief Hassan Nasrallah.
Nasrallah claimed that Hezbollah has conducted 670 attacks since Oct. 8, which, he contended, have resulted in greater damage than official Israeli statements admit. Hezbollah’s announcements of its strikes often mention direct hits, while Israeli military statements often claim Hezbollah’s attacks fall on open areas — or fail to cross the border from Lebanon.
Hezbollah announced the death of five of its fighters, raising the number of party members killed since Oct. 8 to 152. Israeli strikes, which often fall in residential areas and on houses, caused at least two civilian injuries: a woman was hospitalized after being struck by shrapnel and another person was injured after a fire erupted in their home following an Israeli attack. Israel reportedly fired white phosphorus on southern Lebanon on at least two separate occasions over the weekend.
On Friday, the UN's International Organization for Migration updated its estimate of the number of people displaced from southern Lebanon to more than 76,000.
“Priority must be given to ending the war in Gaza, which is a gateway to a return to calm in Lebanon,” the state-run National News Agency quoted European Union chief of diplomacy Josep Borell as saying after his Saturday visit to Beirut. Hezbollah has repeatedly stated it would not halt its cross-border attacks before the end of Israel’s war on Gaza. Israel is seeking a “fundamental change” to the situation on the Lebanese border enabling the return of displaced Israelis, either diplomatically or otherwise, Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu told US envoy Amos Hochstein on Friday. Israeli officials continued to repeat threats of escalating their military response to the border clashes with Hezbollah if a diplomatic solution is not reached.
More than 80 irregular migrants who departed from Lebanese shores on Dec. 11 remain missing while their makeshift boat’s captain is reportedly under arrest in Cyprus. In a Wednesday statement, Alarm Phone said it does not believe after extensive research that the 85 people missing were arrested or deported. “The Lebanese government must bear responsibility and help us...it is not possible that no one asks about 85 people,” Lawyer Mohammad Sablouh said, adding that the migrant boat’s captain reportedly contacted his family to announce his and other passengers’ arrest in Cyprus. Sablouh was skeptical because the other migrants had not contacted their families. Despite the perils associated, irregular sea crossing attempts continue to depart from Lebanese shores amid increasingly dire living circumstances.
At least 22,835 people have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, according to figures released yesterday by the enclave’s health ministry.
The International Federation of the Red Cross decried Israeli shelling on the Palestinian Red Crescent headquarters, which have led to the death of at least four members, and the al-Amal Hospital, which have killed several civilians including a five-day-old infant and displaced thousands who were sheltering in the facility.
Israel claimed to have dismantled Hamas’ military presence in northern Gaza. Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said “2024 will be a year of fighting” as Israel’s shelling and ground incursion continued unabated as the UN warned of the threat facing 1.1 million children in Gaza, which has been rendered “uninhabitable” by three months of attacks. “There must be another way of eradicating Hamas that would not cause so many deaths,” European Union head of diplomacy Josep Borell said Sunday.
Al-Jazeera accused Israel of targeting journalists after Israeli airstrikes killed Mustafa Thuria, a video stringer for the news agency, and another journalist, Hamza Wael Dahdouh. Hamza Wael Dahdouh was the son of Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau chief Wael al-Dahdouh, whose wife, two children — aged seven and 15 — and one-and-a-half-year-old grandson were previously killed by Israeli strikes.
In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from yesterday: “Back in Time: A look at Israel's past incursions across the border and into Lebanon”
Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz