An Israeli tank near a position at the border between Israel and Lebanon, October 1, 2024. (Credit: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP)
A Possible Sign of Openness? On Thursday, Israeli Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi stated that Israel could potentially achieve a decisive end to the conflict with Hezbollah. “In the north, there is a possibility of reaching an end. We have thoroughly disrupted Hezbollah's upper command chain,” Halevi said during an evaluation in northern Gaza on Wednesday, as shared in a video released by the Israeli army.
This cryptic statement has been interpreted by some as an indication that the war may soon come to an end, at least in the eyes of the Israeli military, while the government of Benjamin Netanyahu may have different calculations. On the Lebanese side, the Speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri, with whom the international community is negotiating, has also sent similar signals. “What is currently being discussed is an agreement for a definitive cease-fire,” he stated in an interview with Sky News Arabia. “The Lebanese army will take charge of implementing Resolution 1701 to maintain stability. We remain committed to the role of the U.N. Interim Force (UNIFIL) as a guarantor of the implementation of this resolution 1701.” He added, “We will begin working towards the election of a consensus president for Lebanon after the cease-fire. I agreed with the American envoy Amos Hochstein (who visited Lebanon on Tuesday) on implementing Resolution 1701 without any modifications.”
For its part, Hezbollah also released a video thanking its supporters for what they have endured since the beginning of the fighting, assuring that the “victory” of its fighters against Israel is near. “Endure a little longer, and God willing, we will soon meet in the squares,” could be heard in the video.
This comes as Israel plans to send a delegation to Doha on Sunday, which will include the head of Israeli external intelligence, David Barnea. The Mossad leader will visit Qatar “for a meeting with CIA Director Bill Burns and the Prime Minister of Qatar,” according to a statement from Netanyahu’s office. “The parties will discuss various options to resume negotiations for the release of hostages held by Hamas, following recent events,” the statement added. Netanyahu’s office also expressed satisfaction that Egypt is preparing to propose a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
Ongoing Violent Clashes
On the ground, clashes continue in Lebanon. Hezbollah claimed that its fighters “are engaged in violent combat” with Israeli soldiers in Aita al-Chaab, located in the Bint Jbeil district, specifying that these clashes are taking place “at close range.” Various types of weapons are being used, including machine guns and rockets. In a statement, the party said it had destroyed a Merkava tank that “was attempting to reinforce” the soldiers. The vehicle caught fire, and the strike caused casualties, according to Hezbollah, which asserts that the clashes “are ongoing.”
The village of Aita al-Chaab, overlooking the surroundings of Bint Jbeil, has already been the scene of several battles between Hezbollah and the Israeli army. On Oct. 17, Israeli media broadcast images of an Israeli flag raised on a tower in this locality. The Israeli army also announced the death of four of its soldiers in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah claimed to have targeted Israeli soldiers east of Aitaroun (Bint Jbeil) with rockets and artillery fire. This is a new front opened by the Israeli army on Wednesday. Hezbollah also stated that it attacked Israeli army units advancing between the localities of Adaiseh, Rab el-Thalathine, and Taybeh with “machine gun and rocket fire,” forcing the Israeli soldiers to “withdraw.”
Hezbollah fighters also targeted a Merkava tank, first northwest of the village of Adaiseh (Marjeyoun) and then south of the same village. They also claimed to have fired rockets at three major cities in northern Israel: Haifa, Safed, and Nahariya. Meanwhile, the Israeli army continued its strikes. A drone raid targeted a vehicle on the Kahaleh-Dahr el-Wahch road in Aley, while a strike targeted the heights of Jbeil, north of Beirut, in the area of the Shiite village of Aalmat. The missile fell in a wooded and uninhabited area, causing a fire.
An Israeli drone strike also targeted Bourj Qalaway in the Bint Jbeil district. This attack, which hit a motorcycle, resulted in the death of Hassan Mreyti, the village’s mukhtar, according to residents, who noted that the mukhtar was heading, accompanied by another person, to the site of a previous strike to assist local residents. Furthermore, one person was killed and another injured in a drone strike on a motorcycle near an archaeological site in Tyre, and a strike in Jouwaya resulted in two deaths.
A Difficult Night in Beirut
Throughout the day, numerous villages in southern Lebanon were under fire from Israeli artillery or airstrikes, including Kfar Kila, Khiam, Majdel Selm, Houla (Marjeyoun), Aitaroun, Tebnine, Marwahine, Kfar Dounine, Ramiyeh (Bint Jbeil), and Kfar Tibnit (Nabatiyeh district). Other localities such as Chehabiyeh, Deir Kanoun el-Nahr, Majdel Zoun, Jibbein, Tayr Harfa, Jouwaya, and Mansouri (Sour), as well as Kfarchouba (Hasbaya), were also affected. In the Saida district, the villages of Ansariyeh, Anqoun, and Bnaafoul suffered strikes, and a shopping center located on the main road in the center of Baysariyeh was destroyed.
Reports of white phosphorus shelling were noted on the outskirts of Taybeh. In the Bekaa Valley, an Israeli strike on Khodor, a town near Baalbeck, killed seven people, including three sisters, and injured 14 others. Five people were killed and two were injured in an airstrike on Hellaniyeh, east of Baalbeck.
Intense Israeli air bombardments struck the southern suburbs of Beirut from Wednesday night to Thursday, with seventeen strikes destroying several buildings, according to the Lebanese agency, and causing a massive explosion. According to the Lebanese state-run news agency NNA, these were the most significant bombings in the area since the escalation of the war between Israel and Hezbollah a month ago. The pro-Iranian channel Al-Mayadeen claimed that one of its offices in a neighborhood of southern Beirut was hit. A strike in Jnah also killed one person and injured five others, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health. After these strikes, the Israeli army stated it had targeted “production and storage sites” of Hezbollah's weapons.
The Hezbollah-affiliated channel al-Manar also reported the death of one of its cameramen, Ali el-Hadi Yassine, in an Israeli strike. According to available information, Ali Yassine was killed in one of the strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin stated that Washington had not seen information supporting Israeli claims that Hezbollah had installed a bunker complex beneath the Sahel Hospital in the southern suburbs, as reported by the American newspaper New York Times.
In the latest death toll from the war, published one month and one day after the start of the Israeli military escalation in Lebanon, the Ministry of Health announced on Thursday that the number of deaths now stands at 2,593 (19 more in 24 hours), with over 12,000 injured, including in places like Asbaya, Marjeyoun, and Tyre.
