BEIRUT: Israel escalated the war between the two bitter enemies on Wednesday by expanding its bombings into Lebanon and shooting down a ballistic missile that Hezbollah, the resistance movement in Lebanon, said it had fired at the Mossad espionage service headquarters close to Tel Aviv.
Lebanon’s health minister, Firass Abiad, stated at a press conference on Wednesday that 223 people were injured and 51 people had died as a result of Israeli bombings.
Hezbollah declared in a statement on Wednesday that it had used a Qader 1 ballistic missile to attack a Mossad headquarters located in the Tel Aviv suburbs.
“On Wednesday, September 25, 2024 at 6:30 a.m., the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the Mossad headquarters in the suburbs of Tel Aviv with a ‘Qader 1’ ballistic missile in support of our defiant Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and as part of backing its daring and honorable Resistance, as well as in defense of Lebanon and its people,” the statement read.
The statement read, “This headquarters is responsible for blowing up pagers as well as the wireless devices and assassinating Hezbollah leaders.” It accused the Israeli spy service of conducting an operation last week in which Hezbollah members’ radios and booby-trapped pagers exploded, killing 39 people and wounding almost 3,000 more.
Although Israeli media outlets declined to offer information on the level of damage and the number of victims, the missile attack set off sirens in Tel Aviv and many other towns in the central Israeli areas.
In the almost daily battle with Israel, Hezbollah launched its first long-range ballistic missile on Wednesday.
People escape Israeli attacks
Since Monday’s bombing intensified, hundreds of thousands of Lebanese have fled their homes, and hospitals are overflowing with injured, making it the deadliest day in Lebanon since the end of the civil war that lasted from 1975 to 1990.
The United States is extremely concerned by allegations of a ballistic missile attack on the Mossad headquarters in Tel Aviv, according to White House national security spokesperson John Kirby, but it still has faith that a diplomatic solution can be reached to reduce the violence.
Israel began attacking other sites in Lebanon on Tuesday night, expanding its strikes to include Jiyyeh, a beach tourist town located just south of Beirut, and Maaysrah.
The strikes also occurred at Maaysrah in the northern Keserwan area, the village of Joun in the Chouf district close to the southern city of Sidon, and Bint Jbeil, Tebnin, and Ain Qana in the south.
According to Israeli officials, Hezbollah launched intense artillery on the northern Israeli district of Galilee on Wednesday morning.
Roughly forty rockets were fired in a single volley. They claimed that while some were stopped in midair, others hit wide-open spaces or broke through air defenses into inhabited areas.
Following the outbreak of conflict between Israel and the Palestinian organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip on Israel’s southern border in October of last year, there have been almost daily gunfights in the Israel-Lebanon border area. Hezbollah declared that it was supporting Hamas, its ally.
The Israeli government declared that the goal of the war would be the safe return of the tens of thousands of Israelis who had been evacuated from their homes along the border, so establishing the conditions for a protracted struggle. Hezbollah has declared that until Israel ends its attack in Gaza, it will not yield.
9,000 displaced, according to UN
As Israel strikes what it believes to be Hezbollah targets across the nation and the Lebanese resistance organization attacks Israel, the United Nations reported on Wednesday that over 90,000 people had been displaced in Lebanon this week.
“90,530 newly displaced persons” have been registered by the UN’s International Organization for Migration since Monday, according to a statement.
Human Rights Watch called for an international probe into hostilities in Lebanon and northern Israel on Wednesday, stating that Israeli strikes on the country were placing people “at grave risk.”
FO notification
The Foreign Office (FO) has encouraged Pakistanis living in Lebanon to leave the country and recommended Pakistanis visiting Lebanon to avoid going there.
“In view of the recent attacks in Lebanon, Pakistani nationals are strongly advised not to travel to Lebanon until further notice,” the FO stated in a travel advisory.
Pakistanis in Lebanon were advised to “travel out through commercial flights which are still available” and to “exercise extreme caution and relocate to safe areas” if they were unable to leave the country.
The FO recommended Pakistanis who were staying in Lebanon to stay in touch with the Pakistani embassy in Beirut and included their contact information with the advise.
