Hezbollah, Israeli troops clash in Lebanon

Hezbollah said its fighters were engaging Israeli forces inside Lebanon on Wednesday, reporting ground clashes for the first time since Israel crossed into its northern neighbour in a campaign to hammer the Iran-backed armed group.

The Israeli military said regular infantry and armoured units were joining its ground operations in Lebanon, a day after Iran launched a wave of missile strikes that raised fears the oil-producing Middle East could be engulfed in a wider conflict.

An Israeli team commander was killed in Lebanon, the Israeli military said. A Lebanese soldier was injured in an Israeli drone strike on southern Lebanon, the Lebanese army said in a statement.

Iran said on Wednesday the attack — its biggest assault on Israel — was intended to prevent further provocation, but Israel and the US promised to hit back hard.

Israel activated air defences against Iran’s strike on Tuesday and most missiles were intercepted “by Israel and a defensive coalition led by the US,” Israeli rear-admiral Daniel Hagari said in a video on X.

The violence, meanwhile, continued on the Israeli-Lebanese border. Hezbollah said it was clashing with Israeli troops in the town of Maroun el-Ras after it had pushed back forces near another border town. The group said it had also fired rockets at military posts inside Israel.

Mohammad Afif, the group’s media chief said the battles were “the first round” and that the group had enough fighters, weapons and ammunition to push back Israel.

There was no immediate comment from Israel.

The military has said its incursion is largely aimed at destroying tunnels and other infrastructure on the border and there were no plans for a wider operation targeting Beirut or major cities in southern Lebanon.

Nevertheless, it issued new evacuation orders for about two dozen towns along the southern border, instructing inhabitants to head north of the Awali River, which flows east to west about 60km north of the Israeli border.

Border clashes

Despite calls for a ceasefire from the UN, the US and the EU, fighting between Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah has continued.

Early on Wednesday Israel renewed its bombardment of Beirut’s southern suburbs, a stronghold of the Iran-backed group, with more than a dozen air strikes.

Almost 1,900 people have been killed and more than 9,000 wounded in Lebanon in almost a year of cross-border fighting, with most of the deaths occurring in the past two weeks, according to Lebanese government statistics. More than a million people have been forced to flee their homes.

Malika Joumaa, from Sudan, was forced to take shelter in Saint Joseph’s church in Beirut after being forced from her house near Sidon with her husband and two children.

“It’s good the church offered its help. We were going to stay in the streets, where would we have gone? We were [sheltering] under the bridge, it is not safe, if we go back home, it is not safe, they are striking everywhere.”

Iran described Tuesday’s assault as a response to Israeli killings of militant leaders, including Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, and attacks in Lebanon against the group and in Gaza.

Like a similar attack in April, the latest strikes caused minimal damage. One Palestinian was killed.

The general staff of Iran’s armed forces said any Israeli response would be met with “vast destruction”.

On social media, Iranians were apprehensive about Israeli retaliation and said past wars, such as the eight-year conflict with Iraq in the 1980s that killed about 1-million people, would only bring more suffering.

Fears of further violence

“The destruction of generations, young people being cannon fodder, the enrichment of generals and elites, and the empowerment of extremists? Leaders will not pay for dragging Iran into war,” said Nima Mokhtarian, who works at an NGO.

Iran’s missile strikes and Israel’s operations in Lebanon have caused alarm around the world, as Tehran’s Middle East proxies — Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis and armed groups in Iraq — show no let up in attacks in support of Hamas.

“It’s time for the entire axis to enter the battle, from Iran to Iraq to Yemen to Syria to Lebanon to Gaza, it’s time. Because it’s clear that nothing can stop Israel, not international laws,” said Lebanese resident Amal.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will host a call of G7 leaders later on Wednesday to discuss the crisis in the Middle East, her office said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was meeting security chiefs at the Defence Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv.

China called on global powers to play a constructive role to avoid escalation, while Saudi Arabia is hoping for de-escalation and dialogue, economy minister Faisal al-Ibrahim said.

Egypt condemned what it called a dangerous Israeli escalation in Lebanon and rejected any attempts to impose a “new situation” on the ground that violates Lebanese sovereignty.

Reuters