Israel invades Lebanon and begins the land phase of the war against the country

The Israeli army began this Tuesday (1) the land stage of the war in Lebanon that could lead to a catastrophe in the Middle East. According to the military, the operation consists of “limited, localized and targeted attacks” against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. In practice, the government of Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, begins the phase called conventional war, where there is an intense exchange of fire and movement of troops.

Moments earlier, the prime minister made new threats to Iran in a video published on social media and broadcast in Israeli press outlets. The far-right leader stated that the Iranian people will be free “sooner than anyone imagines”, leaving the possibility of direct actions against the leaders in Tehran in the air.

The Persian country is Israel’s great rival in the Middle East and the main financier of the so-called Axis of Resistance, armed Shiite and Sunni political groups, such as Hamas, in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah, in Lebanon, and the Houthis, in Yemen. , which have a long history of conflict with Israel.

A direct conflict between Iran and the Jewish state would be the worst nightmare for the region, since both countries have nuclear weapons and a large military arsenal.

In Lebanon, incursions by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tanks were supported by air and artillery attacks. The target is Hezbollah military positions “in villages close to the border” with Israel, which would represent “immediate danger to communities in northern Israel”, according to a statement released this Tuesday morning (1) by the military.

The raid comes days after the IDF killed the leader of the Lebanese armed group, Hassan Nasrallah.

Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee sent an order to residents of more than 20 cities in southern Lebanon to immediately leave their homes “for their own safety.”

The order is for civilians to move to the north bank of the Awali River, whose outlet to the sea is practically halfway between the border with Israel and Beirut.

The Lebanese Shiite group reacted to the Israeli land incursion by firing missiles aimed at, among other locations, Tel Aviv. According to Hezbollah, the projectiles were aimed at facilities belonging to the country’s secret service, the Mossad. The Houthi militia also claimed to have fired rockets towards Israeli territory.

Before starting this new phase, Israel launched thousands of missiles against several locations in its northern neighbor for two weeks. In addition to handing over the head of Nasrallah and several other leaders, the massive attacks served to disrupt Hezbollah’s communications and put the Islamic group in a defensive position while the ground assault was organized.

The death toll in Lebanon has reached an impressive 1,700 deaths since October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched the Al-Aqsa Storm operation, leaving 1,200 Israelis dead and another 200 hostages. During the period, however, the focus of Netanyahu and his orthodox and supremacist coalition was the dismantling of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. At least in rhetoric, because the reality is that military operations in the enclave left more than 41 thousand people dead and a trail of war crimes and genocide.

Now, by ignoring the calls of the international community and international intergovernmental bodies, such as the United Nations and the International Criminal Court (ICC), Netanyahu threatens to drag the entire Middle East into war.

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