The IDF has not itself said that the ground forces that have entered southern Lebanon can be described as an invasion. Spokesperson for the Israeli military, Daniel Hagari, calls the operation an “extended raid”. But Israeli soldiers are inside Lebanon, and still took part in battles against Hezbollah on the ground. How come Israel or Hezbollah say exactly what these are going to do. But the evacuation orders that came from Israel on Wednesday show where they think it will be too dangerous for Lebanese to stay. In 2006, the UN ordered Hezbollah to withdraw from the area south of the Litani River in Lebanon. The river is marked in red on the map. The river has again become a border. On 1 October, the Israeli military warned everyone in the area not to cross the border from north to south. Those who were already in the south were not asked to evacuate. Later in the day, the counter notification came. The IDF’s Arabic-speaking spokesman, Avichai Adraee, set the border along the Awali River further north. Residents of more than 20 southern villages were then told to evacuate north of this. Hezbollah confirms that they have fired artillery at Israeli forces in the border village of Metula, which lies within this area. Warns of many more hours of attacks According to the Israeli military, their “operations in Lebanon” will continue through the night. The spokesperson nevertheless says that the ground forces “have no plans to go to Beirut or cities in the south of Lebanon”. Up to one million people may be displaced as a result of Israeli attacks in Lebanon. In Beirut, many of them are from the southern suburbs, where Israel has issued evacuation orders. Photo: Hassan Ammar / AP There have nevertheless been new airstrikes against Beirut on Tuesday afternoon, according to Reuters. Many of the attacks have been against the suburb of Dahieh, which Hezbollah controls. At about the same time, the American embassy in Israel sent out an emergency warning to its employees, asking them to go home or get ready to enter a bomb shelter. This is the first message of its kind that has come since Iran’s airstrikes on Israel in April. The south side of Beirut has extensive destruction following Israeli attacks in recent weeks. Photo: Ali Alloush / Reuters Hectic diplomacy The situation we now see in Lebanon is extremely serious, says Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide on Tuesday. – It is exactly the escalation we have feared for a long time, that we are going from a very dramatic situation in Gaza and the West Bank to a more international conflict, he says. – Over a thousand civilian lives have been lost, and up to a million people are on the run. Barth Eide says the situation in Lebanon is “extremely serious” Photo: Terje Haugnes / news Eide says that hectic diplomacy has taken place between many countries to try to stop Israel’s ground invasion. In addition, they have called for ceasefire negotiations, he says. – Now it seems rather that the weapons will talk. Despite the warning from the US, Iran’s response to the attack has not yet come. Iran supports Hezbollah, and has announced revenge against Israel since the Hezbollah leader was killed. According to Barth Eide, the country does not want an escalation. – At the same time, we know that there can be a lot of pressure internally, now that many of Iran’s allies in the region are being directly attacked. Israel has sent a significant amount of ground forces up towards the border with Lebanon recently. Israeli soldiers are sitting here waiting for Tuesday 1 October. Photo: AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP Significantly more Israeli attacks For almost a year, Hezbollah has carried out airstrikes against targets in northern Israel, and Israel has done the same against their targets in southern Lebanon. The gray line is the border between southern Lebanon and northern Israel. These are the five places in Israel Hezbollah has attacked the most since October 7, 2023, according to Al Jazeera. This is how many attacks the newspaper has registered in each place. Israel has attacked these areas mostly in the same period. According to the newspaper, the IDF has therefore struck much harder. Now that the conflict has escalated again, many are wondering how long the Israeli forces will be there. Israel’s most important ally, the United States, believes that it is a matter of days and not weeks. This is what several US officials told NBC News on Tuesday. The US is sending reinforcements The US president is sending in “a couple of thousand more” forces to the Middle East to strengthen Israel’s defence, the US Department of Defense said late yesterday. There are already 40,000 American soldiers in the region, including at bazaars in Syria, which borders Lebanon, and Iraq. Several top leaders tell the New York Times that the support includes combat aircraft of the type F-15, F-16, F-22 and A-10. Published 01.10.2024, at 16.34
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This is what we know about Israel’s ground invasion of Lebanon – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
