Israeli army's chief of staff approves 'expansion' of ground offensive in southern Lebanon: Day 401 of the Gaza and Lebanon wars

Iran's foreign ministry called for an arms embargo on Israel and its expulsion from the U.N., following a deadly strike in Syria.

Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran "strongly condemned the aggressive attack carried out today by the Zionist regime against a residential building" in the Damascus area. The strike on an apartment killed nine people, including women and children. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed the building belonged to Hezbollah.

The Israeli army claims to have "eliminated" Mohammad Abu Sakhil, the "head of operations" for the Islamic Jihad in Gaza on Saturday, Avichay Adraee reported on X. He "worked in a command-and-control complex previously used as a school" in the north of the enclave, the spokesman alleged. Presented as an "important member" of the Palestinian movement, Mohammad Abou Sakhil was also active "in coordination with Hamas."

The Israeli army said that it had intercepted two drones that were on their way to Israel from the east, adding that they were intercepted near the Dead Sea before entering Israeli territory. 

⚡The Israeli army chief of staff Herzi Halevi approved the "expansion" of the ground offensive in southern Lebanon, reported Israeli public radio and television KAN in a post published on X.

⚡ "It was the blows dealt that defeated Hezbollah. And now it's up to us to reap the rewards of this victory by changing the security situation in Lebanon," said Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, quoted by Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom. "If the international community knows how to proceed and elects a president in Lebanon, the whole reality could change and perhaps Lebanon will join normalization," he added.

An Israeli attack targeted Qaser, a village in Lebanon's Hermel district bordering Syria, reported our correspondent.

The previously reported Israeli attack on Bednayel, in the Bekaa, killed four people, three of them women, and injured four others, reported our correspondent in the region.

⚡ Hezbollah claimed responsibility for an attack carried out at 4 p.m. with a squadron of exploding drones against the Haifa naval base, which "is linked to Israeli naval weapons and includes a fleet of combat launches and submarines." Also with exploding drones, the party claimed that it simultaneously attacked the Na'oura base, "headquarters of the 36th brigade command, which includes emergency tanks ... 50km from the border" with Lebanon near Lake Tiberias.

Both operations are part of the party's "Khaybar" series of operations, launched after the assassination of Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah by Israel on Sept. 27.

An Israeli airstrike targeted a home in Jmeijmeh, in the Bint Jbeil district, killing three people, according to our correspondent.

Hezbollah announced multiple attacks against Israel: 

- It carried out an attack at 5 p.m. against Israeli soldiers east of Maroun al-Ras, in the Bint Jbeil district, with a salvo of missiles.

- At 4:45 p.m. it launched a guided missile at a house where Israeli enemy soldiers were hiding in the town of Kfar Kila, resulting in the death and injury of the soldiers. Then at 6:10, it carried out another strike at the same location, where it claimed Israeli army soldiers were trying to regroup. 

The Israeli army's Arabic spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, said that the surveillance unit of the army's 91st division killed the commander of Hezbollah's artillery in the Blida area.

He added that the 91st Division's 869th information-gathering unit "continues to gather intelligence from the field and monitor terrorist sites and operatives."

"Thanks to these efforts, the Israeli army has so far destroyed dozens of terrorist infrastructures, underground terrorist structures, rocket launchers and military buildings, in addition to eliminating several saboteurs," he added.

Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer will visit the U.S. this week and is expected to meet with President-elect Donald Trump and senior advisors, according to Haaretz.

This will be the first meeting of a senior Israeli official with members of the new administration.

Dermer is expected to "discuss the wars in Gaza and Lebanon, tensions between Israel and Iran, and the expansion of the Abraham Accords to promote normalization between Israel and Arab countries." In addition, Israeli army radio reported that Dermer recently visited Moscow for discussions on the war, focusing on Israel's northern front on the border with Lebanon.

Israeli attacks in Lebanon killed 53 people on Saturday, bringing the total toll to 3,186 killed and 14,078 wounded, according to the latest statement issued by the Ministry of Health.

In a revised death toll, at least seven people were killed in the Israeli strike on an apartment "belonging to Hezbollah members south of Damascus," according to a new toll from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) quoted by AFP.

"An Israeli strike killed seven people and wounded 14, including women and children, in the Sayyida Zeinab area," an area that is home to an important Shiite shrine SOHR director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. An earlier report put the death toll at three. The Britain-based monitor, which has a network of sources inside Syria, earlier said that "the Israeli attack targeted [Hezbollah] figures in the building where Lebanese families and members of the movement live."

Syria's official SANA news agency reported an "Israeli aggression targeting a residential building in the Sayyida Zeinab" area that killed and injured an unspecified number of people.

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said today that it is Hamas, not Israel, that is standing in the way of a cease-fire in Gaza, in remarks reported by Reuters.

He added that this week, the United States will assess the progress made by Israel in response to the letter from Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin concerning humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip, which had conditioned the dispatch of new weapons on an improvement in supplies to the Palestinian enclave.

Hezbollah announced that it fired a guided missile at an Israeli military bulldozer near the border wall in the village of Kfar Kila (Marjayoun district) at 4:40 pm.

According to the party, the bulldozer, which was demolishing houses in the village, was destroyed and its crew were killed and wounded. The group added that soldiers present near the bulldozer were injured.

Latest updates from South Lebanon and the Bekaa:

- One person was killed and another wounded in an Israeli airstrike that targeted the village of Marwanieh (Saida district), according to our correspondent in the South.

- An Israeli strike, reported earlier on Kharayeb (Saida), destroyed a house in the old neighborhood of the village. Rescue efforts are ongoing, and the number of casualties has yet to be determined. 

- Four people were killed and a person was injured in an Israeli airstrike that targeted Zeghrine (Hermel district) this afternoon, Lebanon's Health Ministry announced.

- The Health Ministry also said that four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted Shaat (Baalbek district).

A local source confirmed to L'Orient Today that Ahmad Amhaz, a Hezbollah member, died this afternoon from injuries sustained in an Israeli strike earlier today on the village of Aalmat in the Jbeil district, whose residents are predominantly Shiite.

This marks the third such strike since the start of Israel's escalation in Lebanon last September. "He was the target of the strike. He had most likely come to deliver money to displaced people sheltering in the house hit by Israel on Sunday morning," the source reported.

The source also clarified that Ahmad Amhaz was not related to Imad Amhaz, a young captain who was kidnapped in Batroun, northern Lebanon, in early November and is allegedly a member of Hezbollah, according to Tel Aviv. Hezbollah, however, denied that the latter is one of its members. 

Hezbollah announced that it targeted for the first time the Israeli site of Avital, a technical and electronic reconnaissance center, in the occupied Golan Heights at 4:40 pm.

🔴 For the first time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Israel was behind the coordinated explosions targeting Hezbollah communication devices on September 17 and 18, which reportedly left dozens dead across Lebanon.

The Israeli dailies Yedioth Ahronoth and the Times of Israel report that this is Israel's first official claim of responsibility for these attacks, which killed at least 40 people, including a child, and injured over 2,900. Lebanon has filed multiple complaints against Israel with the U.N. over the incidents.

Speaking at the opening of his government’s weekly meeting, the Israeli Prime Minister also reiterated Israel’s role in the assassination of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. 

To find out more, press here.👈

One person was wounded by anti-tank fire at the northern Israeli locality of Metula, according to Haaretz.

According to the head of Metula's local council, David Azoulai, a vehicle caught fire due to the impact.

The Israeli army added that 10 rockets were launched in the northern region of the occupied Golan Heights. Some of the rockets were intercepted, and the rest fell in "open areas."

Latest updates on Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon, reported by our correspondent in the region:

- The Israeli army blew up the Wazzani water pumping station located at the Wazzani spring and water collection tanks near a Lebanese Army checkpoint in the Wazzani plain (Marjayoun).

- Violent artillery shelling targeted the outskirts of Deir Mimas (Marjayoun).

- An airstrike targeted the village of Kharayeb (Saida), leaving one injured.

Hezbollah announced that it had conducted an attack last night against Israeli soldiers in Kherbet Manara, between the Israeli localities of Manara and Abad, using "quality missiles."

The party often uses the term "quality missiles" to refer to its guided missiles.

Hezbollah announced that it fired rockets at 2 p.m. on Israeli soldiers in the Kahil Heights, on the eastern outskirts of Maroun al-Ras, in southern Lebanon's Bint Jbeil district.

Here are the latest updates on Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon 

- Airstrikes bombed Burj Rahal, the outskirts of Abbasieh (Sour) and the ourskirts of Baissariyeh (Saida). 

- Last night's strike on Deir Qanoun Ras al-Ain killed 14 people, including seven rescue workers. 

Here are the latest updates on Israeli attacks in the Bekaa: 

- Four people were killed — a father, his wife and two children — in an airstrike on a farm in Zeghrine, Hermel. 

- The final death toll in Ras al-Hadath, Baalbeck district, stands at four dead and one wounded, all from the same family. The victims have been identified as Nidal Hajj Hassan, his wife Iktimal, and his two daughters, Israa and Batoul. The wounded man is their brother, Youssef, our correspondent in the region reported. 

- Three people were killed in a strike on a house in Bednayel. 

- The Lebanese Health Ministry reported that the morning strike on Saraine road killed one person and injured another. It also added that the strike on the Lakkis neighborhood of Baalbeck injured three people. 

"At least three people were killed in an Israeli strike on an apartment belonging to Hezbollah members south of Damascus," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported, quoted by AFP.

"An Israeli strike killed three people in Sayyidah Zaynab," an area that is home to an important Shiite shrine, SOHR director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

🔴 Explosions were heard on the outskirts of Damascus, reportedly from Israeli strikes targeting a residential building, Syria’s official news agency SANA said cited by Reuters.

An NGO cited by AFP reported that the strikes killed three people. State media confirmed the attack hit a residential area, causing significant damage.

In the Bekaa Valley:

The previously reported strike on Rasm al-Hadath killed a woman, while three people remain missing, according to our correspondent.

An air raid on the Bednayel plain has resulted in casualties.

The situation in southern Lebanon:

Hezbollah announced it had targeted Israeli soldiers for the third time with a salvo of missiles on the "Qabaa Heights," located on the southeastern outskirts of Markaba in the Marjayoun district.

Israeli strikes have reportedly hit Kfar Dajal in the Nabatieh district, as well as Taybeh, Blat (Marjayoun), and Srifa (Sour), according to information from our correspondent.

Artillery fire targeted Khiam (Marjayoun).

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for two consecutive attacks on Israeli soldiers stationed at the "al-Abad" position, opposite Houla in the Marjayoun district. The first operation was conducted with what the party described as "quality missiles," a term it uses to refer to precision-guided missiles, and the second attack involved explosive-laden drones.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he had spoken with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump three times in recent days, "to strengthen the alliance between Israel and the United States," Reuters reports.

“These conversations were good and very important,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “We agree on the Iranian threat in all its components and the danger it poses. We also see the great opportunities open to Israel, in the field of peace and its expansion, as well as in other areas," he added.

A meeting between current U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli President Isaac Herzog is scheduled for Tuesday at the White House in Washington, according to Axios.

The death toll from the Israeli strike on a house in Aalmat (Jbeil), still provisional, has risen to 23, including seven children, announced the Ministry of Health. Six people were injured. According to the Ministry, body parts have been recovered from the rubble and are currently being identified, which could further increase the death toll.

At the same time, the Israeli army conducted several strikes on towns in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa, according to information gathered by our correspondents:

Continuous artillery fire repeatedly targeted the village of Khiam (Marjayoun district).

An airstrike hit Yanouh (Sour).

Another airstrike caused multiple casualties in the village of Rasm al-Hadath, north of Baalbek. Several members of the Hajj Hassan family are reported killed, while rescue teams have been deployed to the scene and continue to search under the rubble.

Another Israeli airstrike targeted a building near a school in the nearby locality of Shaath.

 Meanwhile, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on positions in northern Israel:

At 10:30 a.m., Hezbollah reported it had carried out an aerial attack with a "squadron of attack drones on a gathering of enemy armed forces" in Avivim, opposite the Lebanese village of Maroun al-Ras (Bint Jbeil), "striking their targets precisely," according to the statement.

Hezbollah claimed four simultaneous attacks launched at 11:40 a.m. "in line with warnings issued to northern settlements" in Israel, according to another statement. It said it launched multiple "missile barrages" against the Israeli border towns of Even Menachem, Shtula, Zarit, and Shomera.

Latest update on ongoing clashes between Hezbollah and the Israeli army in southern Lebanon:

Hezbollah reported it had "killed and wounded" Israeli soldiers who "infiltrated near Aitaroun" in the Bint Jbeil district overnight, "after detecting movements of an Israeli armed force attempting to infiltrate toward the village of Ainata," according to the statement.

At 1:30 p.m., Hezbollah announced it had twice targeted an Israeli army "troop gathering" on the high plateau of Al-Qaba, near the village of Markaba (Marjayoun), using "missile barrages."

The Israeli army said that it intercepted a drone from the east before it crossed into Israel.

The army added that some drone shrapnel fell in an open area in the Golan Heights, following sirens.

Three rescue workers were killed in an Israeli raid on Adloun (Saida district) on Sunday. The strike targeted a Civil Defense vehicle of the Islamic Health Authority, according to the Ministry of Health.

The names of the three paramedics killed are Mohammad Abboud, Hussein Abboud and Hassan Dabous, according to information gathered by our correspondent.

In a statement, the Ministry of Health condemned this latest Israeli attack on Lebanese paramedics as a “war crime,” adding to the “violence and inhumanity” of the ongoing war.

Two people were moderately wounded and another was lightly wounded in the latest rocket barrage into the Nahariya area, in the Upper Galilee, according to Haaretz. The three are being treated at the Galilee Medical Center in the city.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for two new strikes on northern Israel: it said it had launched rockets at 9:15 a.m. on Kiryat Shmona (opposite Houla, in the Marjayoun district), and at 11:08 a.m. on the Shraga barracks, north of Acre.

The funerals for the victims of yesterday's strike on Hanaway were held this morning in Sour. Organized by the Amal Movement, the services honored the five killed members: Fouad Madi, Nasser Bzoun, Hassan Kafal, Ahmad Kafal, and Farhat Kafal, who were then buried in Hanaway.

The situation in southern Lebanon:

Hezbollah announced that it had targeted Israeli soldiers in Lebanese territory between Houla and Markaba in the Marjayoun district with a salvo of rockets.

Fighter jets targeted an area between Adloun and Ansarieh, south of Saida, as well as Jdeidet Marjayoun in the Marjayoun district.

An Israeli drone strike targeted the road linking Arnoun to Kfar Tebnit in the Nabatieh district.

Saudi Arabia’s Chief of General Staff, Fayyad al-Ruwaili, will travel to Tehran this Sunday to meet with his Iranian counterpart and discuss defense ties between the two states, reported Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency, cited by Reuters.

According to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health, at least 20 people were killed, including three children, and six were injured in the strike on Aalmat (Jbeil).

The victims were reportedly from Hawsh al-Rafiqa in the Baalbeck region. Among them was Lebanese soldier Youssef Arsifeh and his family, our correspondent in the Bekaa reported.

According to a source in the Jbeil region contacted by L'Orient Today, the victims of the strike in Aalmat (Jbeil) are displaced members of the Arsifeh family, originally from Baalbeck. On Saturday, they had held the funeral of a young member of the family, a Hezbollah fighter killed in an Israeli strike.

More information on the Israeli strike on Aalmat, in the Jbeil heights:

A local source contacted by L'Orient Today said the bombing targeted a house belonging to the Haidar Ahmad family. Its owners are abroad, but displaced persons had moved in. At least 25 people were in the building at the time of the strike.

Aalmat is 50 km north of Beirut and over 120 km from Lebanon's southern border.

In southern Lebanon, several houses in Wazzani were booby-trapped and blown up by the Israeli army this morning, according to the village's mayor, Ahmad al-Mohammad, contacted by our correspondent. Detonations were heard in the area.

According to Hezbollah statements announcing strikes against Israeli troops on the outskirts of villages in southern Lebanon, the Israeli army had been present around Wazzani since Oct. 28.

In the Bekaa, a strike this morning targeted the road linking Hellanieh to Sarain, killing at least one person, according to our correspondent. Another bombardment hit a building that had previously been called for evacuation by the Israeli army, behind the Al-Salam gas station.

An Israeli airstrike hit a house in Aalmat, in the hills of the Jbeil district, according to reports from our correspondent and the National News Agency (NNA, official). Sources from our correspondent indicated casualties, though the number and condition of those affected were not immediately known.

On Oct. 24, a strike had already targeted the outskirts of this Shiite-majority village in the Jbeil area without causing casualties. A month earlier, on the first day of the expanded Israeli offensive on Lebanon, Sept. 23, a missile also struck the mountainous area nearby.

According to information from our correspondent, a Saudi national was killed in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon.

Omran Karim, a dentist from Qatif in Saudi Arabia, is the first Saudi national to be killed in Lebanon since clashes between Hezbollah and the Israeli army began on Oct. 8, 2023. No information was immediately available on the strike in which he was killed.

In Yemen, the United States carried out multiple airstrikes overnight targeting Houthi rebel weapon storage facilities, according to the Pentagon. The strikes targeted weapons used "to attack civilian and military vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden," a senior U.S. official told AFP.

The Houthis’ channel, Al-Masirah, reported three strikes in various neighborhoods of Sanaa, the Yemeni capital.

The Amal Movement also announced the killing of two of its members in yesterday's strike on Hanaway: Fouad Mohammad Madi from Qana and Nasser Ali Bzoun.

Al-Rissala Scouts Association, affiliated with the Amal Movement, announced that six of its members were killed in yesterday's strike on Deir Qanoun Ras al-Ain: Hussein Ali Ismail, born in 2002; Mohammad Hassan Saklawi, born in 1998; Moustapha Rahim Madani, born in 2000; his father, Rahim Mahmoud Madani, born in 1970; Omran Hussein Ghanem, born in 1990; and Youssef Ali Saklawi, born in 2001. An Amal fighter, Mohammad Kayed Zamat, born in 1978, was also killed in this Israeli airstrike. All these victims were from the village targeted in the strike.

Since this morning, Israeli bombings have also targeted locations in southern Lebanon, according to our correspondent.

The strikes hit Baflieh, Srifa and Qlayleh (Sour), Zawtar Gharbieh (Nabatieh), and Ain Baal (Sour). Artillery fire targeted Alma al-Shaab, Dhaira, Tayr Harfa, Hanieh, Qlayleh, and Siddiqine in the district of Sour, as well as Khiam (Marjayoun).

Overnight in southern Lebanon, Israeli airstrikes targeted Deir Qanoun al-Nahr (in the district of Sour), Khiam (Marjayoun), where artillery fire was also reported, and Kfar Shuba (Hasbaya).

Hezbollah, in turn, announced that it had fired rockets at Israeli soldiers near Shebaa, also in the district of Hasbaya. The party also claimed a rocket strike on Israeli soldiers at HaGoshrim in Upper Galilee.

In Lebanon, several nighttime strikes hit West Bekaa, according to our correspondent. The airstrikes targeted Sohmor four times, where at least one person was killed and two were injured, as well as Mashghara, where two missiles struck, killing at least three people.

One of the victims in Mashghara was the principal of the village's al-Mahdi school, Ali Bjayji.

In Gaza, the Palestinian Civil Defense reported 30 people killed, including 13 children, in two separate Israeli airstrikes on homes in the Gaza Strip.

The first strike killed “at least” 25 people, “including 13 children,” in a family home in Jabalia, northern Gaza, and “more than 30 were injured” early in the morning, according to Civil Defense. Palestinian rescue teams also reported another Israeli strike on a house in Gaza City's al-Sabra neighborhood, which killed five people and left others missing. “A number of civilians are still trapped under the rubble,” they added.

Good morning!

Thank you for joining us for our coverage of the ongoing wars in Gaza and Lebanon and their regional and global impacts.