Lebanon calls for UN decision on ceasefire as Israeli strikes expand

BEIRUT: Lebanese Premier Najib Mikati said on Friday that the Israeli attacks on Lebanon are “completely unacceptable.”

After a Cabinet meeting, he said that the Foreign Ministry “will submit a request to the UN Security Council to take a decision for an immediate ceasefire and the implementation of Resolution 1701, which Lebanon adheres to and has reaffirmed in international forums.

“A diplomatic solution is on the table, and Hezbollah, as a partner in the government, agrees to implement Resolution 1701. Most importantly, an immediate ceasefire is necessary.”

The official Lebanese stance came after Israeli strikes expanded to include the capital, Beirut, and the UN peacekeeping mission UNIFIL in the south.

Lebanon’s military said two of its soldiers were killed and three others were wounded after an Israeli airstrike targeted a military post in Yatter, southern Lebanon.

By noon on Friday, the death toll rose to 2,198 since the beginning of confrontations, including women and children. The number of the injured reached 10,329.

Mikati said Lebanon has become “a victim of Israeli arrogance, which continues unchecked and violates our sovereignty before the eyes of the world, emboldened by the disturbing silence regarding its massacres.

“The Israeli attack on UNIFIL is a condemnable crime and a matter for the international community, whose sanctity is being violated.”

The observation tower in UNIFIL’s Naqoura headquarters was hit by a heavy airstrike on Friday, marking the second attack on the international forces within 24 hours. The new attack resulted in the injury of two Sri Lankan soldiers, one of them critically.

A UNIFIL source told Arab News: “The Israeli attacks covered military sites of UNIFIL units during their incursion attempts into Lebanese territory. They entered a Nepalese force’s site in the border town of Blida and smashed cameras and lighting equipment. They also broke into the site of the Irish (force) … in the town of Maroun Al-Ras and destroyed its assets and broke into the site of the Ghanaian force in the town of Yaroun and committed the same aggression.

“In the 2006 war, UNIFIL were not subjected to this type of aggression, as they retreated to their barracks and remained there. The number of those forces at that time did not exceed 3,500 peacekeepers, but today, the situation is different, as the UNIFIL include 10,500 soldiers, and their deployment is wider as they have more sites in the border area.”

UNIFIL recently received threats to retreat from their positions to a depth of 5 km. However, the source said that this retreat would still be subject to new threats and that the UNIFIL commander cannot make such a decision, which is entrusted to the UN Security Council.

According to the source, “at the moment, UNIFIL has stopped all their patrols in the south and remained in barracks and did not use their right to self-defense mentioned in Resolution 1701. Their centers in the areas of deployment are facing shortages of food supplies, with reserves expected to last between one and two weeks, depending on the location.”

In this context, Reuters quoted two sources familiar with Hezbollah operations as saying that “Hezbollah is preparing for a long war of attrition in south Lebanon. It still has a considerable stockpile of weapons, including its most powerful precision missiles, which it has yet to use. Hezbollah’s command was disrupted for the first few days after Nasrallah’s Sept. 27 assassination until it established a new ‘operations room’ 72 hours later.”

Hezbollah later denied the report, calling it “pure fiction.”

Israeli army spokesperson, Capt. Ella Waweya, published a video of Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi wandering around Lebanon’s southern border region.

In the video, Halevi said: “We will not stop until we ensure that we can safely return the residents. If anyone considers rebuilding new terrorist infrastructure, the Israeli army will destroy it again.”

A video was shared of Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari in the southern village of Blida, displaying military belongings and ammunition allegedly “inside the homes of the southerners, for the purpose of breaking into the border.”

Rescue teams continued to remove rubble in Noueiri and Basta in Beirut, as the Israeli raids on Thursday destroyed two residential buildings, killing 22 civilians and injuring 117.

Reports said the head of Hezbollah’s security apparatus Wafiq Safa, who was targeted by the raids on Beirut, was in a hospital in the capital.

There is conflicting information on whether Safa sustained a critical injury or was killed following the attack.

Following the difficult night that Beirut witnessed, reconnaissance planes hovered over Lebanon around the clock.

Israel raided about 30 villages in the south, destroying a building in Jebchit and killing four people.

Three people were also killed as a result of an Israeli raid on Arzoun, Tyre.

Moreover, an Israeli drone raided the Civil Defense center in Tayr Debba.

Israeli raids mainly targeted Bekaa, specifically Bodai in west Baalbek, Al-Keiyal in Baalbek, Khodor, Douris, the Nabi Chit valley, the Saraaine Al-Tahta valley, and the border village of Hawsh Al-Sayyid Ali between Hermel and Syria.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, carried out a series of military operations against the Israeli army.

According to its statements, the militant group targeted “a gathering of soldiers in the Yiftah settlement and its surroundings, technical equipment in the Al-Abbad site with a guided missile, and a gathering of soldiers in the Kfar Szold settlement.”

It also targeted “a gathering of soldiers in the Yaara settlement” and carried out “an aerial attack with a fleet of attack drones against the air force command base in Kiryat Eliezer in Haifa.”

Israeli media outlets reported that “a building in the industrial zone of Kiryat Bialik in the Haifa district was directly hit by missiles launched from Lebanon,” adding that “an anti-armor missile injured two people in Yir’on in the upper Galilee.”

They estimated that “about 30 missiles have been launched from southern Lebanon toward the Galilee since the morning.”

The Israeli army stated in the afternoon that “Hezbollah launched 65 rockets from Lebanon toward Israel,” adding that “sirens sounded in Shomera in the Galilee.”