Beijing, 1 Oct (Xinhua) -- In the early morning of 1 October, the Israel military announced that the Israeli army had launched a "limited" ground offensive against Allah targets on the southern border of Lebanon. Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982, which was initially claimed to be "limited," a United States official told Israel media that it had evolved into an 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon.
Claims of "limited"
The Israel Defense Forces said the Israeli army had begun "limited, localized and targeted" ground strikes against Allah targets and military installations in southern Lebanon on the basis of "precise intelligence." The targets are located in multiple border villages and pose a "direct threat" to residential areas in northern Israel.
The statement said that after months of training and preparation, Israeli army units are carrying out operations in southern Lebanon in accordance with the "Northern Arrow" combat plan formulated by the Israeli General Staff and the Northern Command, and are receiving "precision" fire support from the Israel Air Force and artillery.
According to Lebanon media reports, more than 20 towns and villages on the southern border of Lebanon were hit by heavy Israeli air strikes and shelling on September 30, killing at least 95 people and wounding 172.
Some media reported that Lebanon government forces had withdrawn 5 kilometers from various positions in southern Lebanon on the evening of 30 September. The Lebanese military clarified on 1 October that Government forces were redeploying a number of forward observation posts in the mission area and continued to cooperate and coordinate with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.
In an effort to dispel U.S. concerns about Israeli invasion of Lebanon, two Israel officials told United States' Akseos news website that the ground operation would be "limited" in time and scope and was not intended to occupy southern Lebanon.
A United States official, who did not want to be named, told the Israel Times on the evening of September 30 that the United States government understands and accepts Israel's rhetoric on ground operations, but is still worried that the Israeli army will fall into a quagmire in Lebanon or have to expand its operations in the future. Another United States official shared similar concerns, referring to Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon, which it also claimed to be "limited," but later turned into an occupation of southern Lebanon and did not complete its withdrawal until 2000.
Israeli side target
An unnamed Israel official said the Israel military had informed the United States military that the "limited" ground operation was aimed at uprooting Allah forces along Israel's northern border and creating conditions for a diplomatic agreement for Allah forces to withdraw north of the Litani River in compliance with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701.
Resolution 1701 was adopted by the Security Council on 11 August 2006 to end the Lebanese-Israeli conflict that erupted on 12 July 2006 by stipulating that no armed forces other than the Lebanese Government Army and the United Nations peacekeeping force should exist between the Litani River and the Blue Line. The Blue Line is a temporary boundary drawn by the United Nations between the Golan Heights occupied by Lebanon and Israel, and the Litani River is approximately 30 kilometres from the Blue Line.
Resolution 1701 also calls on both Lebanon and Israel to fully respect the Blue Line. Any crossing of the Blue Line from the ground or by air without the permission of the United Nations is a violation of the resolution. The resolution also authorizes the peacekeeping force to take all necessary actions within its capabilities to ensure that its area of operations, that is, between the Litani River and the Blue Line, is not used for hostilities of any kind.
According to Reuters, long before the current round of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict broke out in October last year, peacekeepers regularly reported to the Security Council violations of resolutions by Allah and Israel. A November 2022 report said Allah continued to deploy weapons south of the Litani River that are not under the control of the Lebanese government, and Israel military aircraft and drones continued to violate Lebanese airspace.
After the outbreak of the current round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Allah Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), which was supposed to fight the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, carried out air strikes on the northern border of the Israel, and the Israeli army also used air strikes and artillery strikes. The two sides exchanged fire on a daily basis across the Blue Line. This situation has recently escalated abruptly, with large-scale air strikes by the Israeli army and successive "targeted killings" of the Allah leadership, and the accumulation of a large number of armored troops.
Multi-line punches
According to Reuters, the ground invasion of Lebanon marks another escalation of the conflict in the "arc of resistance" of the anti-Israeli alliance led by Israel and Iran. The Arc of Resistance includes Hamas, Allah, the Houthis in Yemen, and some militias supported by Iran in Iraq and Syria.
Two Palestinian security officials said Israel airstrikes in the Ain · al-Haleva refugee camp near the southern Lebanon city of Sidon in the early hours of October 1. This is the first Israeli airstrike on Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp since the current round of the conflict, targeting Munir · Magda, commander of the Lebanese branch of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah). As a result of the airstrikes, several civilians were killed and wounded, and Magda was not present at the time of the incident.
Fatah is the mainstream faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization, led by Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud · Abbas. The Pakistani National Authority basically controls the west bank of the Jordan River and cooperates with the Israel military and police in terms of public security. However, after the outbreak of the current round of conflict, some Fatah officials still died at the hands of Israeli forces.
The day before, Israeli forces carried out air strikes in the center of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, killing three leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, another major faction of the PLO.
In the early hours of October 1, Israel warplanes and drones launched three rounds of air strikes from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights toward several locations in the Syrian capital, Damascus, and Syrian air defenses shot down most of the incoming missiles, the Syria military said. Three civilians were killed and nine injured as a result of the airstrikes. According to Syria state television, the media's female anchor Shafa · Ahmed was killed by shrapnel in her home. Israel's military declined to respond to media reports.
Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes against Syria for more than a decade. Turkey's Liberty newspaper reported on September 30 that Syria could be the next target for Israel after Lebanon. Turkey's foreign minister, Hakan · Fidan, said earlier that the Turkey government had speculated about which countries would be Israel's next target, but would not disclose them to the public.
Turkey President Recep · Tayyip · Erdogan had warned that if Israel was not stopped in the Gaza Strip, the war would spread throughout the region, the report said. "The war has spread from Gaza to Lebanon, will it still engulf Syria in a few months? The war is already knocking on the door, and President (Bashar ·) Assad must be vigilant about this. (Hu Ruoyu)