The intensity of Israeli aggression on Lebanese territories has escalated since dawn on Friday, with at least 20 people martyred and dozens injured in a series of airstrikes targeting towns in the South, Bekaa, and the southern suburbs of Beirut. These deadly attacks come in the context of an expanded military campaign launched by the occupation army since the beginning of March, leaving widespread destruction in residential facilities and infrastructure.
In the city of Sidon, in the south of the country, occupation aircraft committed a massacre in the eastern suburbs of the city, where an airstrike targeted a populated residential building, resulting in the martyrdom of 8 citizens and the injury of 9 others with varying degrees of wounds. Search and rescue operations continued in the town of Qleileh in the Tyre district, where specialized teams were able to extract two people from under the rubble of a destroyed building, while the search for missing persons is still ongoing.
Nabatieh district witnessed concentrated targeting by drones, one of which targeted a motorcycle on the road connecting the towns of Kafr Tibnit and Arnoun, leading to the immediate martyrdom of its driver. The raids also hit the town of Yater in the Bint Jbeil district, and the towns of Shaqra and Kafr Dunin, as part of a policy of direct targeting of both civilian and military movements in the border areas.
In the central Bekaa region, eastern Lebanon, an Israeli raid targeted a residential apartment in the town of Bar Elias, leading to the martyrdom of the two sons of Youssef Dahouk, an official in the Islamic Group, and injuring him and two others seriously. Warplanes also launched simultaneous raids on various areas in the Hermel district, causing damage to many homes and public and private properties in the region.
The capital Beirut was not spared from targeting, as one person was martyred in a raid that targeted a civilian car in the Jnah area of the southern suburbs, amidst a state of panic among residents. In the border town of Shebaa, an Israeli drone targeted two citizens, Mahmoud Akrama Nassif and Hadi Mohammad Kanaan, on the outskirts of the town, leading to their immediate martyrdom at the attack site.
In the town of Nabatieh Fawqa, local activists mourned Sheikh Hassan Ghandour, who was martyred as a result of an airstrike that directly targeted his home, leading to its complete destruction. The town of Abba in the Nabatieh district also recorded the martyrdom of citizen Ataf Maalem Sabra and the serious injury of her husband, following an aerial bombardment that hit their home at dawn today, as part of a series of attacks targeting southern villages and towns.
On the ground, an Israeli drone also targeted a car on the Shaaitiyeh road in the Tyre district, resulting in one martyr and injuries among passersby, coinciding with intense artillery shelling that hit the outskirts of the towns of Qawzah and Ramiya. Field sources reported that warplanes carried out a raid between the towns of Siddiqin and Ramadieh, and another targeted the town of Tayr Felsay near the vital bridge, leading to the قطع of some secondary roads.
Official statistics issued by the Lebanese authorities indicate that the toll of the expanded Israeli aggression reached 687 martyrs and 1774 injured by Thursday evening, while the number of displaced persons exceeded 822,000. These figures reflect the scale of the humanitarian catastrophe that Lebanon is experiencing amidst the continued daily and regular aerial and artillery bombardment affecting most Lebanese governorates.
Diplomatically, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, during a press conference in Beirut, called on both Israel and Hezbollah for an immediate cessation of hostilities and to reach a comprehensive political agreement. Guterres affirmed, after meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, the necessity of respecting Lebanon's sovereignty and independence, stressing that the Lebanese people have been drawn into a war they do not want and that does not serve their national interests.
Guterres expressed his full solidarity with the Lebanese people in these difficult circumstances, hoping that his next visit would be at a time of peace and when the state is the sole authority and decision-maker. He noted that the United Nations is making strenuous efforts to secure humanitarian aid for the displaced and affected, emphasizing that a military solution will only lead to more destruction and suffering for both sides.
For his part, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun affirmed that the Lebanese state is looking for all possible ways to stop the war and protect civilians from the Israeli killing machine. Aoun stressed that negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations are the optimal path to reaching a sustainable solution, emphasizing the necessity of confining weapons to the hands of the Lebanese state to ensure its ability to make decisions of peace and war in a way that serves the supreme national interest.
In a notable development, occupation aircraft dropped leaflets over the capital Beirut, specifically in the areas of Verdun, Hamra, and Ain El Mreisseh, coinciding with intense low-altitude flights that caused a tremendous boom. These leaflets contained inciting messages calling on Lebanese to disarm Hezbollah, and also contained electronic scan symbols (QR Codes) belonging to Unit 504 of Israeli military intelligence for information gathering.
Local sources reported that the sound of the sonic boom was repeated four times in a short interval, causing a state of terror and panic among residents and students in schools around the capital. This Israeli move comes within the framework of psychological warfare practiced by the occupation in parallel with field military operations, in an attempt to pressure the popular base and stir up internal public opinion.
Amidst this escalation, civil defense and ambulance teams continue their work in extremely dangerous conditions, as some teams are directly targeted while performing their humanitarian duties in recovering victims. The field situation remains prone to further escalation in the absence of any signs of an imminent ceasefire agreement, and the continuation of Israeli threats to expand ground operations deep into Lebanese territory.
I call on Israel and Hezbollah to achieve a ceasefire, and for the war to stop and an agreement to be reached that enables Lebanon to be an independent and sovereign country.
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20 Dead in Intense Israeli Raids on Lebanon, Guterres Calls for End to War