Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu at the Air Force Operations Centre in Tel Aviv today.
Tel Aviv/Beirut/Tehran/Washington: At least 492 persons including 35 children and 58 women were killed in Israeli airstrikes against the Iranian-backed militant group, Hezbollah, in southern Lebanon early in the morning today. At least 1,645 others were injured in the Israeli attack, Lebanon’s Health Minister said.
Hezbollah too launched its missiles but most of them were intercepted by Israel’s antimissile defence system.
The United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to Israel’s right to defend itself following a series of rocket attacks by Lebanese Hezbollah, the Pentagon announced today.
The latest Israeli attack came after last week’s clandestine operations that exploded Hezbollah members’ pager and walkie-talkie explosions that killed 37 people and injured thousands, and a “targeted strike” on Hezbollah’s stronghold in Lebanon’s capital Beirut on September 20, 2024, that killed twelve people and wounded 59 others.
Starting today morning, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) issued a warning to the people of Lebanon “to get out of harm’s way”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a message to the people of Lebanon, while urged them to take the warning seriously, said Israel’s war was not with them but it’s with Hezbollah. He said once the IDF operation was finished, they could come back safely to their homes.
“For too long, Hezbollah has been using you as human shields. It placed rockets in your living rooms and missiles in your garage. Those rockets and missiles are aimed directly at our cities, directly at our citizens. To defend our people against Hezbollah strikes, we must take out these weapons,” he said.
Prime Minister Netanyahu, today, held a security assessment at the Air Force Operations Centre at the Kirya in Tel Aviv, together with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, IDF Chief-of-Staff Lietenant General Herzi Halevi, Air Force Commander Major General Tomer Bar and his Military Secretary, Major General Roman Gofman.
At the Air Force Operations Center today, Netanyahu said, “I promised that we would change the balance of forces in the north – this is exactly what we are doing”.
Netanyahu declared that Israel was not waiting for the threat, but pre-empting it everywhere, in every sector, constantly. “We are eliminating senior figures, terrorists and missiles – and our arm is still extended. Whoever tries to harm us, we will harm them all the more forcefully,” he said.
Israel, it may be mentioned, has so far failed to force Hezbollah to pull back from the Lebanon-Israel border. Hezbollah leaders have vowed to continue their attacks on Israel until a cease-fire in Gaza is agreed to between Israel and Hamas, a Hezbollah ally which too is backed by Iran.
Meanwhile, Iranian armed forces held nationwide military parades with forces from the Iranian Army, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Police, Border Guards, and Basij participating in the parades on September 21, 2024.
“Today, we strongly announce to the world that in addition to defending our country, with unity and cohesion among Islamic countries, we can maintain our region’s peace and security and show our honour and pride to the world,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian stressed while speaking at the ceremony of the Iranian Armed Forces military parade.
“With this unity, we can curb the usurper, bloodthirsty, and criminal Israel which has no mercy on women, men, and children. If we have unity and join hands, Israel will not be able to continue its crimes,” the Iranian president emphasized, adding that “no enemy dares to invade Iran’s soil”.
– global bihari bureau
