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Israel Hits 400 Sites in Lebanon as Hezbollah Pummels Northern Israel
Smoke rises above south Lebanon following an Israeli strike amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Israel’s border with Lebanon in northern Israel, May 5, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ayal Margolin
JNS.org — Israeli Air Force fighter jets conducted massive airstrikes on Hezbollah targets across Lebanon on Monday morning to prevent the Iranian-backed terror army from firing rockets across the border.
As of Monday afternoon, the IAF had attacked more than 400 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. Alongside the update, the army published a video of Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi approving the attacks from the military’s underground command room at the Israel Defense Forces headquarters in Tel Aviv.
IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari warned that the IAF strikes would continue in the immediate time frame and criticized Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, accusing the terror leader of “dragging Lebanon and the entire region into escalation.”
Addressing the possibility of ground maneuvers in Lebanon, he said that “we will do whatever is necessary to return residents [of northern Israel] to their homes. We have detailed plans, which we have presented to the political leadership.”
Hagari on Monday morning warned Lebanese civilians living along the border that Hezbollah was using their homes to store weapons and that for their safety they should evacuate immediately.
He also revealed during the press briefing that terrorists had recently attempted to launch a cruise missile from a civilian residence, which was thwarted, providing documentation of the preventive strike.
The cruise missile was a DR-3 model with a flight range of 124 miles (200 km.) carrying a warhead of up to 661 pounds (300 kg.), according to the IDF.
“I have recorded a clear message for all residents of Southern Lebanon — in the past few hours, we identified an intention to attack Israel, and soon we will strike,” said Hagari.
IDF Spokesperson RAdm. Daniel Hagari exposing Hezbollah’s way of firing missiles from civilian homes, and how the IDF plans on dismantling it: pic.twitter.com/smkfjv6VDh
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) September 23, 2024
“For more than 20 years, Hezbollah has placed weapons inside homes and armed them, turning southern Lebanon into a combat zone. We are monitoring this activity, locating the weapons and destroying them in precise strikes. We urge you to move away from them immediately, for your safety. Hezbollah is endangering you,” said Hagari.
The IDF sent text messages to residents of southern Lebanon to stay away from Hezbollah buildings, and Hagari’s video message was subtitled in Arabic: “Anyone who is near or inside houses where Hezbollah is hiding weapons is requested to move away from them immediately.”
Jerusalem has ramped up its rhetoric and escalated attacks on Hezbollah since recently adding the return of residents to the north as an official war goal. More than 60,000 Israelis remain internally displaced after nearly a year of near-daily rocket, missile and drone attacks by Hezbollah in support of Hamas in Gaza.
Hezbollah-affiliated media in Lebanon reported on injuries from the widespread Israeli attacks, which reached deep into Lebanese territory in the Bekaa Valley.
Meanwhile, rocket alarms were heard in the Safed area of Israel’s Upper Galilee, with many explosions heard and dozens of interceptions reported. A major barrage was also reported deep into the Lower Galilee.
The Magen David Adom medical emergency response group said two Israelis sustained light wounds when a rocket hit in the area of the Golani intersection, located in the Lower Galilee between Tiberias and Nazareth. The men, 25 and 59, were evacuated to Poria Medical Center (Baruch Padeh Medical Center) near Tiberias for treatment.
In Giv’at Avni, located adjacent to the Sea of Galilee, a fire broke out after a Hezbollah rocket scored a direct hit on a house, local media reported. The residents had barricaded themselves in their bomb shelter and emerged unharmed following the attacks, according to the reports.
Israel’s opposition leader Yair Lapid welcomed the IAF strikes in Lebanon in a statement.
“Supporting the Air Force, the IDF, and the security forces in their operation in Lebanon. The time has come. Be strong and courageous, and act — do not fear or be dismayed until all the residents of the north return to their homes safely,” the Yesh Atid Party leader tweeted.
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IDF Denies Troops Fired on Civilians After Incidents of Settler Violence
Illustrative. Israeli troops during counterterrorism activity in Tulkarem, northwestern Samaria, September 2024. Photo: IDF.
i24 News – The IDF released a statement after an incident during which Israeli soldiers opened fire on Israeli civilians in the West Bank on Saturday night, denying that the trooped fired live ammunition.
This comes at the heels of arson incidents by settlers against Palestinian villages, with clashes breaking out. The IDF said that its soldiers had come under attack on Friday as they entered the area of Kafr Malik, the site of the disturbances, by Israeli civilians. “The undermining of the rule of law and the use of violence by a radical minority harm security and stability in the area.”
The IDF later said that “an initial investigation indicates that IDF forces did not fire live ammunition at Israeli civilians in the area. It should be clarified that the battalion commander’s force operating in the Baal Hatzor area of the Binyamin brigade did not fire live ammunition at all.” On the other hand, the civilians claimed this was false, posting a video that showed shell casings on the ground right next to where the troops were deployed.
Meanwhile, the police requested the remand of six individuals, two of whom are minors, to be extended in connection with the incident.
The IDF later said that, “in another area within the sector, stones were thrown at a military vehicle near the site of the clash by masked individuals from an ambush. The force responded with a warning shot of three bullets.” A possible connection “between this incident and the claim that an Israeli civilian was injured by live fire” is being investigated.
After the incidents late last week, the IDF issued an unusual directive for soldiers to exercise special vigilance and also prepare for scenarios involving nationalist incidents perpetrated by Israeli citizens. The directive was issued after a military vehicle was set on fire inside a Jewish settlement, the tires of an armored David vehicle were punctured, and a community policing caravan near the community of Beit El was also set on fire.
“The security establishment system is highly alert,” a security official told i24NEWS. “We are seeing an escalation on the ground – and if you cannot leave a military vehicle in a Jewish community without it being burned in the sector, it is a sign that the situation is dangerous.”
The post IDF Denies Troops Fired on Civilians After Incidents of Settler Violence first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Orders Evacuations in Northern Gaza as Trump Calls for War to End
US President Donald Trump speaks during a swearing-in ceremony of Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, US, May 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kent Nishimura
The Israeli military ordered Palestinians to evacuate areas in northern Gaza on Sunday before intensified fighting against Hamas, as US President Donald Trump called for an end to the war amid renewed efforts to broker a ceasefire.
“Make the deal in Gaza, get the hostages back,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform early on Sunday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to hold talks later in the day on the progress of Israel’s offensive. A senior security official said the military will tell him the campaign is close to reaching its objectives, and warn that expanding fighting to new areas in Gaza may endanger the remaining Israeli hostages.
But in a statement posted on X and text messages sent to many residents, the military urged people in northern parts of the enclave to head south towards the Al-Mawasi area in Khan Younis, which Israel designated as a humanitarian area. Palestinian and U.N. officials say nowhere in Gaza is safe.
“The (Israeli) Defense Forces is operating with extreme force in these areas, and these military operations will escalate, intensify, and extend westward to the city center to destroy the capabilities of terrorist organizations,” the military said.
The evacuation order covered the Jabalia area and most Gaza City districts. Medics and residents said the Israeli army’s bombardments escalated in the early hours in Jabalia, destroying several houses and killing at least six people.
At Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, relatives arrived to pay their respects to white-shrouded bodies before they are buried.
“A month ago, they (Israel) told us to go to Al-Mawasi (in Khan Younis) and we stayed there for a month, it is a safe zone,” said Zeyad Abu Marouf. He said three of his children were killed and a fourth was wounded in the Israeli airstrike.
“We ask God and the Arabs to move and end this occupation and the injustice taking place against us,” Abu Marouf told Reuters.
NEW CEASEFIRE PUSH
The military escalation comes as Arab mediators, Egypt and Qatar, backed by the United States, begin a new ceasefire effort to halt the 20-month-old conflict and secure the release of Israeli and foreign hostages still being held by Hamas.
Interest in resolving the Gaza conflict has heightened following US and Israeli bombings of Iran’s nuclear facilities.
There has also been rising concern over how aid is being distributed to Gazans in the ruined enclave. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed over the past month in the vicinity of areas where food was being handed out, local hospitals and officials have said.
A Hamas official told Reuters the group had informed the mediators it was ready to resume ceasefire talks, but reaffirmed the group’s outstanding demands that any deal must end the war and secure an Israeli withdrawal from the coastal territory.
Hamas has said it is willing to free remaining hostages in Gaza, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive, only in a deal that will end the war. Israel says it can only end the war if Hamas is disarmed and dismantled. Hamas refuses to lay down its arms.
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Russia Launches Largest Drone Attack Yet Against Ukraine, Kills F-16 Pilot
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a joint press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 10, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
i24 News – Ukraine’s Air Force said that Russia launched 537 drones and missiles against targets throughout Ukraine overnight between Saturday and Sunday, in what what described as the largest attack of the war.
Poland activated aerial defenses and scrambled jets as the six-hour onslaught continued. One Ukrainian F-16 pilot was killed as Kyiv attempted to intercept the missiles and drones, with 475 shot down.
“Tragically, while repelling the attack, our F-16 pilot, Maksym Ustymenko, died. Today, he destroyed seven aerial targets,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
“Ustymenko did everything possible, but his jet was damaged and started losing altitude,” the air force said, as quoted in Politico. “He died like a hero!”
The cities of Cherkasy, Lviv, Poltava, Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv, and Kyiv were targeted.
The Russia attack came after Ukraine attacked the Kirovske airfield in the Crimean Peninsula, targeting air defenses, drones, and even destroying several helicopters and an air defense system.
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