By Axios | Created at 2024-09-23 12:56:05 | Updated at 2024-09-30 09:37:47
6 days ago
At least 182 people were killed and 727 wounded in a massive wave of Israeli air strikes in southern Lebanon on Monday, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
Why it matters: The barrage of strikes come with Israel and Hezbollah staring down the possibility of all-out war. They were the most wide-ranging and deadliest the Israel Defense Forces have launched inside Lebanon since the 2006 war between Israel and the militant group.
Driving the news: The IDF said the strikes were directed at Hezbollah rockets and cruise missiles hidden inside civilian homes in southern Lebanon.
- While it's unclear how many of those killed were Hezbollah militants, a mass casualty event in Shia villages in southern Lebanon — the militia's base of support — will likely lead to further escalation.
- U.S. officials have been warning the Israelis that causing mass civilian casualties on the Lebanese side would push Hezbollah to increase its attacks and continue the slide down the slippery slope towards war.
- The attacks come a day after Hezbollah fired medium-range rockets toward the Israeli city of Haifa, in response to a series of deadly Israeli attacks last week. Israel said at least 10 civilians were wounded but most of the rockets were intercepted.
How it happened: On Monday morning local time, the IDF called on Lebanese civilians in southern Lebanon to get away from houses where Hezbollah had positioned rockets and cruise missiles.
- The IDF said it then sent text messages and conducted phone calls to thousands of Lebanese civilians asking them to leave certain areas in their villages, which were close to Hezbollah weapons caches and rocket positions inside civilian homes.
- The IDF claimed it attacked 300 targets on Monday morning local time based on intelligence which showed Hezbollah was planning to use these rockets and cruise missiles for an imminent attack.
- The IDF also issued a public warning to Lebanese civilians in the Beqaa Valley, where Hezbollah has many of its key military facilities, and said it was going to attack Hezbollah weapons depots. The attacks began 30 minutes later.
State of play: Thousands of Lebanese civilians started fleeing southern Lebanon to the north on Monday.
- An Israeli defense official claimed to Axios that hundreds of cruise missiles were destroyed, and that Hezbollah would struggle to respond because many of its missiles had been knocked out.
- The Lebanese health ministry said those killed in the attacks included women, children, and paramedics.
