West Jerusalem informed the US of a “limited incursion” in advance
Israeli soldiers work on tanks and armoured personnel carriers (APC) in northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. © AP Photo/Leo Correa
Ground troops of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) are preparing to cross the border into southern Lebanon, in what anonymous US officials described as “a limited ground incursion” aimed against Hezbollah.
The imminent invasion comes after more than a week of air and missile strikes that killed over 1,000 people in Lebanon. Among the dead were several senior Hezbollah officials, including the group’s long-time leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
Unconfirmed reports quoted by several news agencies have indicated that Lebanese troops retreated approximately 5km away from the Israeli border late on Monday, in anticipation of the attack.
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30 September 2024
21:45 GMT
Israeli airstrikes have killed 95 and injured 172 people over the past 24 hours, the Lebanese Health Ministry said on Tuesday evening. The report did not break down the death toll between civilians and combatants.
- 21:36 GMT
Al Jazeera has reported that Israeli jets have bombed a suburb of Beirut where the IDF has alleged a Hezbollah presence.
مشاهد تظهر غارة إسرائيلية على الضاحية الجنوبية لبيروت#حرب_غزة#الأخبارpic.twitter.com/knJSpi7xpR
— قناة الجزيرة (@AJArabic) September 30, 2024
- 21:16 GMT
The Israeli Security Cabinet approved the ground invasion of Lebanon at a meeting on Monday evening, but several members complained about the US leaking the plan to the media after Washington was given advance notice, the outlet Ynet has reported.
- 21:10 GMT
Israel’s planned invasion of Lebanon “grossly violates international law,” Belgium’s deputy prime minister, Petra De Sutter, posted on X. “This is not self-defense, but provoking all-out war,” she added, calling for the EU to respond with “maximum sanctions on Israel.”
- 20:47 GMT
Several towns along the Lebanon-Israel border have reported heavy IDF bombardment, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. Marjayoun and Wazzani have been targeted by artillery, while Kawkaba, Rachaya Al Foukhar, Kfarkela and Khiam have been struck from the air.
Smoke rises at the Marjayoun plain as the Israeli attacks continue in southern Lebanon on September 30, 2024. /Ramiz Dallah © Getty Images
- 20:34 GMT
Israel has already launched “small special forces operations” into southern Lebanon, ahead of a ground offensive, NBC News has reported, quoting an anonymous Israeli official. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has said the “next phase in the war against Hezbollah will begin soon.”
- 20:19 GMT
Meanwhile, the IDF has posted a warning for residents of the Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh to move at least 500m away from three buildings it described as “Hezbollah facilities,” warning that the Israeli military would soon “act forcefully” against them.
“For your safety and the safety of your family members, you must evacuate these buildings immediately,” tweeted Colonel Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman.
- 19:49 GMT
While neither the IDF nor Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said anything about the operation in Lebanon, Shas party leader Aryeh Deri posted a traditional Jewish war prayer on X.
מִי שֶׁבֵּרַךְ אֲבוֹתֵינוּ אַבְרָהָם יִצְחָק וְיַעֲקֹב הוּא יְבָרֵךְ אֶת חַיָּלֵי צְבָא הֲגַנָּה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, הָעוֹמְדִים עַל מִשְׁמַר אַרְצֵנוּ וְעָרֵי אֱלהֵינוּ מִגְּבוּל הַלְּבָנוֹן וְעַד מִדְבַּר מִצְרַיִם וּמִן הַיָּם הַגָּדוֹל עַד לְבוֹא הָעֲרָבָה בַּיַּבָּשָׁה בָּאֲוִיר…
— אריה מכלוף דרעי (@ariyederi) September 30, 2024
The traditional prayer pleads with God to safeguard the troops operating “from the border of Lebanon to the desert of Egypt” and to vanquish their enemies and grant them victory.
- 19:31 GMT
UN peacekeepers in Lebanon (UNIFIL) remain in position but have been unable to carry out their mission, Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told reporters.
“Given the intensity of the rockets going back and forth, they are not able to do patrolling,” Dujarric said, adding that “the intensity of fighting is preventing their movements.”
UNIFIL has been in Lebanon since 1978 and has approximately 10,000 ‘Blue Helmets’ in the country.
Israeli tanks and APC’s gather by the Israeli — Lebanese border on September 30, 2024. /Erik Marmor © Getty Images
- 19:27 GMT
EU foreign foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has called an emergency video conference of the bloc’s foreign ministers while visiting Mexico.
“The sovereignty of both Israel and Lebanon has to be guaranteed,” Borrell told reporters afterward. “Any further military intervention would dramatically aggravate the situation and has to be avoided.”
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