Israel Defense Forces troops reached the deepest point in Lebanon since the army started its incursion over the border six weeks ago, Lebanese state media reported, before ostensibly pulling back early Saturday after fierce battles with Hezbollah.
The state-run National News Agency reported that Israeli troops temporarily captured a strategic hill in the southern Lebanese village of Chamaa, about five kilometers (3 miles) from the border early Saturday, before later being pushed back. The outlet claimed soldiers detonated several buildings including a shrine before they withdrew.
None of the claims could be immediately verified.
The military said in a statement that its troops “continue their limited, localized, and targeted operational activity in southern Lebanon.” The military did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the Lebanese media reports.
The push on the ground came as Israeli warplanes pounded Beirut’s southern suburbs as well as several other areas in southern Lebanon, including the port city of Tyre.
The Israel Defense Forces announced two waves of strikes Saturday targeting Hezbollah infrastructure, command rooms, and weapon depots. At least nine individual airstrikes were reported by Reuters.
בהכוונת אגף המודיעין, מטוסי קרב של חיל-האוויר השלימו לפני זמן קצר סדרת תקיפות נוספות במרחב הדאחייה שבביירות במסגרתה הותקפו מחסן אמצעי לחימה, מפקדה ותשתיות טרור שהיו בשימוש של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה.
כלל המטרות שהותקפו מוקמו על ידי חיזבאללה במכוון בלב האוכלוסייה האזרחית. זו דוגמה… pic.twitter.com/3nkjA9DfbG
— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) November 16, 2024
Before the strikes, the IDF issued evacuation warnings to civilians in the vicinity of the buildings used by Hezbollah. Additional evacuation orders were given again on Saturday afternoon for two more buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs ahead of planned airstrikes.
After one of the earlier strikes, a plume of smoke could be seen rising over the buildings in the area, in unverified footage posted to social media.
Lebanon’s NNA said “the enemy” carried out three air raids, including one near Haret Hreik.
آثار الغارة الإسرائيلية صباحاً على حارة حريك في الضاحية الجنوبية ل #بيروت pic.twitter.com/qjdp0aWkZ9
— Sawt Beirut International (@SawtBeirut) November 16, 2024
“The first strike near Haret Hreik destroyed buildings and caused damage in the area,” it said.
It later reported a separate raid by “enemy aircraft” in the neighborhood of Chiyah.
מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר, בהכוונת אגף המודיעין, השלימו לפני זמן קצר גל תקיפות נוסף על תשתיות טרור של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב הדאחייה שבביירות >> pic.twitter.com/K1iyKlinTo
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) November 16, 2024
In southern Lebanon, Israel carried out several strikes on Friday night and early Saturday, according to NNA. The outlet said a strike in Tyre “targeted the ‘ruins district,’ resulting in the destruction of two buildings and damage to other surrounding buildings.”
Airstrikes killed a medic in the town of Borj Rahal in the Tyre District, and strikes on an emergency response team in the southern town of Kfar Tebnit killed one medic and injured four others while two medics were missing, the Lebanese health ministry said.
Separately, two senior Islamic Jihad figures were killed in an Israeli strike on Syria on Thursday, according to a source from the Palestinian terror group, which has fought against Israel in Gaza alongside Hamas.
The source told AFP on Saturday that Abdel Aziz Minawi, a member of Islamic Jihad’s political bureau, and the terror group’s foreign relations chief Rasmi Abu Issa were killed in the strike on Qudsaya, in the Damascus area.
The IDF had said on Thursday it hit several buildings and command centers belonging to the PIJ.
A firetruck arrives at the scene of a reported Israeli strike in the Mazzeh district of Damascus on November 14, 2024. (Louai Beshara/AFP)
On Saturday morning sirens wailed several times in the northern city of Nahariya, due to hostile drone infiltrations. The IDF said four drones were intercepted throughout the day, with shrapnel from one hitting an apartment in the city.
Slight damage was caused, but there were no injuries.
Additionally, Hezbollah fired some 65 rockets at northern Israel throughout the morning. Targeting the Western Galilee and Haifa Bay areas.
כבאים סורקים בניין בשכונה צפונית של העיר נהריה לשלילת לכודים / נפגעים כתוצאה מפגיעת כלי טייס בלתי מאוייש בקומתו השנייה של הבניין.
במקביל פועלים לכיבוי שריפה בשטח פתוח במרחב אכזיב. pic.twitter.com/tPY4taxgn4— יואב איתיאל מדווח כי (@yoavetiel) November 16, 2024
Near the city of Tamra, one of the rockets struck a farm building, causing heavy damage and killing several animals inside, police said.
No people were injured in the attack.
Police outside a building in an agricultural field heavily damaged by a rocket, near the northern city of Tamra, November 16, 2024. (Israel Police)
On Friday, the UN observer force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, said a 155mm live artillery shell hit its headquarters in Chamaa.
“The shell did not detonate and Italian bomb disposal experts swiftly secured the area, removed the ordnance and conducted a controlled detonation,” UNIFIL said, adding that no one was injured and only minor damages were incurred to the base’s gym.
UNIFIL personnel were in shelters during the strike.
“We strongly remind all actors of their obligations to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and properties. Deliberate attacks on peacekeepers are a grave violation of international humanitarian laws and of the UN Security Council Resolution 1701,” UNIFIL added.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani spoke with his Israeli counterpart Gideon Sa’ar and protested the attacks against its personnel and UNIFIL infrastructure, an Italian statement said, while adding that Israel will investigate the incident.
A UNIFIL armored vehicle drives through Beirut as part of a UN peacekeeping convoy heading towards south Lebanon, on November 12, 2024. (Patrick Baz/AFP)
Ceasefire proposal
Amid optimism for a ceasefire deal to end the conflict in Lebanon, the Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat reported Saturday that a written proposal from the US received by Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri does not include freedom of movement for IDF troops in Lebanon.
Lebanon will reply to the US offer “very soon” with its reservations, according to the report from the London-based paper.
Berri, a Hezbollah ally who often serves as a conduit for diplomacy, was quoted as stressing, “There can be no undermining of our sovereignty.”
He reportedly met with US Ambassador Lisa Johnson last week to receive Washington’s first written proposal in at least several weeks.
The Axios news site reported Friday that Israel is demanding a side letter from the US that includes guarantees from Washington that Israel will be allowed to take military action in Lebanon against Hezbollah if the terror group tries to re-establish its military presence along the border.
According to Asharq, Berri also voiced opposition to the idea of forming a committee to implement UN Resolution 1701, which ended the last round of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, claiming that UNIFIL can do the job. The UN agency failed to enforce the resolution since 2006, allowing Hezbollah to build up a heavy armed presence along the border.
File: US Envoy Amos Hochstein (L) meets with Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in Beirut on October 21, 2024. (AFP)
Israel has portrayed its offensive in southern Lebanon as essentially stepping in and doing UNIFIL’s job for it.
Since October 8, 2023, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there.
Some 60,000 residents were evacuated from northern towns on the Lebanon border shortly after fellow terror group Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, amid fears Hezbollah would carry out a similar attack, and increasing rocket fire by the terror group.
The attacks on northern Israel have resulted in the deaths of 43 civilians. In addition, 69 IDF soldiers and reservists have died in cross-border skirmishes and in the ensuing ground operation launched in southern Lebanon in late September. Two soldiers have been killed in a drone attack from Iraq, and there have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
The IDF estimates that some 3,000 Hezbollah operatives have been killed in the conflict. Around 100 members of other terror groups, along with hundreds of civilians, have also been reported killed in Lebanon. Hezbollah has named 516 members who have been killed by Israel amid the fighting, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. These numbers have not been consistently updated since Israel began a new offensive against Hezbollah in September.
