Since mid-September, there has been a dizzying escalation in the nearly yearlong conflict between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
The United Nations said more than 90,000 Lebanese people have been displaced in recent days.
Lebanon said Israeli strikes on Monday killed more than 560 Lebanese and injured almost 2,000 in the deadliest attack since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war. Several Hezbollah leaders have been targeted in the attacks, including the commander of its most elite unit who was killed in a strike in Beirut.
The United States, France and other allies jointly called for an immediate 21-day cease-fire in the conflict to provide space for diplomacy » as fears grow that the violence could become an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah, which would further destabilise a region already shaken by the war in Gaza. Both sides have said they don’t want that to happen, even as they have defiantly warned of heavier attacks.
Israel and Hezbollah have launched repeated strikes against each other since the Israel-Hamas war began, but both sides have pulled back when the spiral of reprisals appeared on the verge of getting out of control, under heavy pressure from the US and its allies.
In recent weeks, however, Israeli leaders have warned of a possible bigger military operation to stop attacks from Lebanon to allow hundreds of thousands of Israelis displaced by the fighting to return to homes near the border.
Israel said it intercepted a surface-to-surface missile that targeted Tel Aviv. Hezbollah said it fired a Qader 1 ballistic missile targeting the headquarters of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency.
The Israeli military said it was the first time a projectile fired from Lebanon has reached central Israel, although Hezbollah claims it also targeted an intelligence base near Tel Aviv in August.
