The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) launched a new large-scale aggression on different parts of Lebanon, including Beirut’s southern suburb, Dahiyeh, southern Lebanon, and the Bekaa Valley in the early hours of Monday, March 2.
At least 31 people were killed in the offensive and 149 others were wounded, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
Although the Israeli attacks on Lebanon have not stopped since Tel Aviv signed the ceasefire deal with Hezbollah in November 2024, Monday’s offensive is considered one of the deadliest Israeli attacks in the past 14 months.
Read more: Israel escalates airstrikes in Lebanon amid threats of US aggression on Iran
The fierce escalation came after Hezbollah launched rocket and drone strikes against an Israeli military base near the city of Haifa in the northern occupied territories late Sunday, March 1, in retaliation for the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Read more: Hezbollah vows to respond if Iran is attacked
It is worth noting that Hezbollah’s attack is the first since the fragile truce agreement was reached with Israel, despite over 15,400 ceasefire violations committed by the IOF, as per a report published by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the Lebanese government last month.
The report indicated that those violations had already resulted in the killing of 370 people. With the death toll announced by the Lebanese authorities on Monday, the number of fatalities has risen to over 400.
Israel is seemingly preparing for extensive ground invasion of Lebanon
It seems that Israel’s response to Hezbollah’s attack will not be limited to aerial attacks. The IOF announced on Monday that it has mobilized about 100,000 reservists, deployed them to the northern border of occupied Palestine, and “prepared for all possibilities”.
“All options are on the table,” the IOF’s spokesperson, Brigadier General Effie Defrin, stated.
For many, the options referred to by Defrin and the reinforcements deployed in the north hint at an extensive prospective ground invasion of Lebanon.
Media reports surfaced simultaneously with Defrin’s statements, citing an unnamed Israeli security official as saying that the IOF’s offensive against Lebanon “will be broad and comprehensive and may include a [ground] invasion.”
The same source further warned that there will be “no immunity for any politician or military figure in Hezbollah, and even for its supporters.”
Lebanese-American journalist Rania Khalek wrote, “It’s not right to call what Israel is doing just an invasion because that would suggest an eventual departure. The Israelis plan a permanent occupation of the villages they enter in south Lebanon. That’s what the Israeli military’s English-language spokesperson means by ‘a tactical step to create an additional layer of security for the residents of northern Israel.'”
She added, “The displacement notices they’re issuing are meant to empty south Lebanon of Lebanese for what the Israelis hope will be forever. They’re stealing land for Greater Israel.”
Katz threatens to eliminate Sheikh Naim Qassem
Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, responded to the attacks waged by the Lebanese resistance group with a statement he wrote on X:
“The Hezbollah terror organization will pay a heavy price for the firing toward Israel.”
“Naim Qassem, Hezbollah’s secretary general, who decided on the firing under pressure from Iran, from now on, he is a marked target for elimination,” he threatened.
“Whoever follows in the path of Khamenei will soon find himself with him in the depths of hell along with all the thwarted elements of the axis of evil,” Katz asserted, referring to those affiliated with the Axis of Resistance in the West Asia region.
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