Parts of south Lebanon are at risk of being cut off from the rest of the country after Israeli forces began striking bridges across the Litani river on Wednesday.
The announcement of the strikes came less than 14 hours after the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning for the southern city of Tyre, ordering residents to move about 18km north, prompting confusion and panic.
An Israeli military account on X posted – without evidence – that the bridges were “being used by Hezbollah operatives and commanders” and were used “to transport thousands of weapons, including rockets and launchers”. Another bridge was targeted last Friday.
Israel launched its offensive against Hizbullah after it opened fire on March 2nd to avenge the killing of Iran’s supreme leader at the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
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More than one million people are registered as displaced across Lebanon, which has a population of roughly 5.8 million. At least 14 per cent of the country’s territory is under evacuation orders – blanket warnings that lawyers say are likely illegal under international law, which prohibits the forced displacement of a civilian population except under certain conditions or temporarily.
Aid workers estimated that about 150,000 people remained south of the Litani river before the evacuation warning for Tyre and the attacks on the bridges. Some had chosen to stay due to a belief that nowhere in the country is safe: a feeling exacerbated by the latest wave of air strikes on central Beirut.
Four came on Wednesday morning – three without warnings, while one warning was issued at about 4am.
The Israeli military levelled a high-rise building in the neighbourhood of Bachoura, which is close to Beirut’s tech hub and the Lebanese parliament.
Two more strikes hit the Zuqaq al-Blat area. Hundreds of panicked people gathered after the second strike, with first responders rushing to put out a fire and escort older people out of nearby buildings.
At least 10 people were killed and 27 injured in those strikes, the Lebanese health ministry said.
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Among those killed were Mohammad Sherri, the director of political programmes at Hizbullah-linked Al-Manar TV, and his wife. In a statement Hizbullah – which is a political party and social movement, as well as a militant group – said it “calls on international organizations concerned with media freedom and human rights to ... take urgent action to expose this crime”.
The killing of journalists is illegal under international humanitarian law regardless of affiliation, except if they are actively participating in military activities.
The air strikes came after Hizbullah said it launched attacks into Israeli territory on Tuesday using drones, rockets and artillery shells.
The Lebanese ministry of health says the death toll has reached 968, including 116 children and 77 women. At least 2,432 people have been wounded, including 356 children. At least 40 medics and first responders have been killed, the ministry said.
The UN children’s agency, Unicef, says the equivalent of a classroom of children are being killed or injured every day. “They’ve paid a terrible price. And the first thing we’re calling for is a de-escalation, a political way forward to this war,” Unicef deputy executive director Ted Chaiban told Reuters on Tuesday.
Israel also killed Iran’s intelligence minister Esmail Khatib on Wednesday, a day after killing security chief Ali Larijani.
The huge Pars gasfield was hit in the first reported strikes on Iran’s Gulf energy infrastructure, an attack widely reported in Israeli media to have been carried out by Israel with US consent. Neither country has acknowledged responsibility. The attack prompted Tehran to announce it would respond with attacks on oil and gas targets throughout the Gulf.
Oil prices rose sharply in the aftermath: a major escalation in a war that has already halted shipping from the world’s most important energy-producing region and could now bring lasting damage to its infrastructure. – Additional reporting: Reuters
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