BEIRUT/JERUSALEM: Israel’s military told residents of more than 20 towns in south Lebanon to evacuate their homes immediately on Thursday as it pressed on with its cross-border incursion and struck Hezbollah targets in a suburb of Beirut.
The latest warnings took the number of southern towns subject to evacuation calls to 70 and included the provincial capital Nabatieh, suggesting another Israeli military operation was imminent against the Iran-backed armed group.
Hezbollah also carried out new strikes, targeting what it called Israel’s “Sakhnin base” for military industries in Haifa Bay on the Mediterranean coast of northern Israel with a salvo of rockets.
As it pushes into Lebanon, Israel is also weighing its options for retaliation against its arch-foe Iran which launched its largest ever assault on Israel on Tuesday.
Asked on Thursday if he would support Israel striking Iran’s oil facilities, US President Joe Biden told reporters: “We’re discussing that.”
The comments added to a surge in global oil prices, and rising Middle East tensions have raised traders’ worries about potential supply disruptions.
Biden said, “There is nothing going to happen today.” The president on Wednesday said he would not support any Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear sites.
At meetings in Doha this week, Gulf Arab states sought to reassure Iran of their neutrality in the conflict between Tehran and Israel amid concerns that a wider escalation in violence could threaten their oil facilities, two sources told Reuters.
Israel, which has been fighting Hamas in the Palestinian territory of Gaza for almost a year, sent troops into southern Lebanon on Tuesday after two weeks of intense airstrikes in a worsening conflict that has drawn in Iran and risks involving the United States.
Israel says its operations in Lebanon seek to allow tens of thousands of its citizens to return home after evacuating from northern Israel by Hezbollah bombardments during the Gaza war.
More than 1.2 million Lebanese have been displaced by Israeli attacks, and nearly 2,000 people have been killed since the start of the Israeli attacks on Lebanon over the last year, most of them in the past two weeks, Lebanese authorities said.
The World Health Organisation said 28 healthcare workers had been killed in Lebanon in the previous 24 hours. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also said flight restrictions meant the agency would not be able to deliver a large planned shipment of trauma and medical supplies to Lebanon on Friday.
Hezbollah says it has repelled several land operations by Israeli troops, including with ambushes and in direct clashes.
Lebanese security sources say Israeli troops have entered Lebanese territory and been pushed back several times in recent days, without setting up a permanent presence.
Hezbollah said it killed 17 Israeli military personnel in combat in southern Lebanon on Thursday, citing its field and security sources. Israeli forces did not comment on the claim.
Israel’s military on Thursday reported the death of one soldier. On Wednesday it announced its deadliest day in a year of clashes with Hezbollah with the deaths of eight soldiers.
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