Intense Israeli airstrikes kill nearly 600 in Lebanon

Israeli airstrikes have killed nearly 600 people and wounded almost 2,000 throughout Lebanon since 23 September, in a serious escalation of conflict between Israel and the Lebanese political party and paramilitary group Hezbollah that threatens to turn into all-out war.

The first day of strikes was the most intense – and one of the heaviest carried out in modern warfare, outstripping even Israel’s bombing of the Gaza Strip in the occupied Palestinian territories during the opening weeks of the war there last October, according to experts.

The bombing in Lebanon has displaced hundreds of thousands of people from the south of the country, where the majority of strikes have been concentrated. Areas in the eastern Bekaa Valley, Beirut’s southern suburbs, and further north on Lebanon’s coast have also been hit.

Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah’s leadership and rocket-launching capabilities. But Lebanon’s health ministry says civilians – including women and children – are among those killed and wounded.

Israel has not said whether it is planning a ground invasion of southern Lebanon. But Israeli generals and government ministers have spoken of creating a buffer zone in the south of Lebanon to push Hezbollah away from Israel’s northern border, and the head of Israel’s northern command said on 25 September that the Israeli military must prepare for a “ground operation” in Lebanon.

The Israeli military has shifted some units from Gaza in recent weeks and called up two reserve brigades to be deployed in the northern border region.

Responding to growing humanitarian needs from the bombardment, Lebanese citizens have taken to social media to mobilise mutual aid efforts to gather – and house – donations and supplies to support those who have been displaced and injured. Lebanon has, for years, been experiencing overlapping political and economic crises that have sapped the capacity of the state and official institutions to respond to further emergencies.

The escalation in Lebanon began when an Israeli sabotage attack on 17 and 18 September caused thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah to explode, killing dozens and injuring thousands. Hezbollah responded by launching hundreds of rockets into Israel. 

For more on how Lebanon’s Shia Muslims, who make up around 32% of the population, marked Ashura this year in the shadow of war, read this: