Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron say a diplomatic solution is still possible. The United Nations is set to hold an emergency meeting on Friday.
Israeli fighter jet taking off on September 19, 2024 Photo: Israel Defense Forces/via Reuters
Israel strikes about 100 Hezbollah targets.
After a massive explosion in Lebanon, Israel said it had carried out numerous strikes on weapons systems belonging to the Hezbollah militia in the neighboring country. The strikes, which began late Thursday, hit “approximately 100 rocket launchers” that were “ready to fire immediately on Israeli territory,” according to an Israeli military statement. Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron have said a diplomatic solution to the conflict is still possible.
“Nobody is interested in escalation,” Macron said in a video address to the Lebanese people that was made public online. France stands with Lebanon. He urged Beirut’s political leadership to prevent war. “Lebanon cannot live in fear of an imminent war,” he said. “We must reject this fate.”
According to the presidential office, Macron spoke by phone on Thursday with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Army Chief of Staff General Joseph Aoun. Macron also spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller urged Hezbollah to stop its “terrorist attacks” against Israel. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah could stop his attacks against Israel. “If he does, I can assure you that Israel will make clear the need for silence,” Miller said in Washington on Thursday.
But as long as Hezbollah continues its attacks, Israel will take military action to defend itself, Miller said. The United States has continued to advocate with all parties not to escalate the conflict and not to allow the cycle of violence to escalate uncontrollably. At the end of these efforts, a ceasefire must be achieved in Gaza. “A diplomatic solution is the best option,” the White House spokesman said. President Biden believes this is possible.
Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon have escalated significantly since hundreds of Hezbollah militia callers and radios were detonated simultaneously on Tuesday and Wednesday. The two separate explosions killed 37 people and wounded about 3,000. Hezbollah has blamed Israel and threatened retaliation. Nasrallah acknowledged Thursday that his militia had suffered a “serious blow.” Israel had “crossed all red lines” in the explosions, he said in a televised speech.
Iran, Hezbollah’s protector, also threatened Israel with a “destructive” response. In a letter to Nasrallah, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Commander Hossein Salami said, “These acts of terror, which are the result of the despair and repeated failures of the Zionist regime, will soon be met with a destructive response from the resistance front,” state media reported.
The ‘Resistance Front’ or ‘Axis of Resistance’ is a military coalition opposing Israel made up of Iran and regional allies including Hezbollah, the Islamic Palestinian group Hamas, and the Yemeni Houthi rebels.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military has reiterated its determination to “continue to destroy Hezbollah’s infrastructure in order to defend the State of Israel.” Israeli Defense Minister Joav Gallant has declared that the war is moving northward for Israel, toward Lebanon. The goal is to allow northern Israelis who fled Hezbollah attacks to return. Israel has not yet commented on the wave of blasts it has blamed.
According to the UN mission in Lebanon, Hezbollah’s communications equipment was rigged with explosives before entering Lebanon. “Initial investigations indicate that the affected device was expertly prepared with explosives before entering Lebanon and that an email was sent to detonate it,” a UN Security Council spokesman said in a statement released to AFP news agency. The Israeli attack was “unprecedentedly brutal” and jeopardized diplomatic efforts to end the conflict in Gaza and southern Lebanon.
At Algeria’s request, the UN Security Council convened an emergency meeting on Friday, which will also be attended by Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib, a diplomatic source told AFP.afp)
The origin of the exploded Hezbollah caller remains unclear.
Taiwan’s prosecutors are investigating the possible source of the Hezbollah militia caller that exploded in Lebanon. Two people, including Gold Apollo President Hsu Ching-kuang, have been interviewed as witnesses several times, Taiwanese investigators said Friday. Gold Apollo was in the spotlight after the New York Times reported that Israel had planted explosives in shipments of the company’s callers.
According to prosecutors, Shu and another woman from the company were fired last Thursday after being questioned several times. The investigative unit commissioned by prosecutors said investigators will “determine as quickly as possible” whether a Taiwanese company was involved in the explosion.
According to Taiwanese media, the woman interviewed, Wu Yu-jen, has ties to the BAC Consulting KFT company. Wu founded a company called Apollo Systems in Taipei. BAC later manufactured the pager that exploded in Lebanon, Gold Apollo said Wednesday, following the New York Times report. Gold Apollo has established a “long-term partnership” with Budapest-based BAC for the use of its trademarks, the company said.
The model mentioned in the press report is ‘manufactured and sold by BAC’. A Hungarian government spokesman said BAC has no branch in Hungary. A company representative also denied ever manufacturing the device, stating that he was merely acting as an intermediary.
Four buildings in Taipei, located in the area where Gold Apollo and Apollo Systems are located, were also searched, according to Taiwan’s National Bureau of Investigation.
An investigation into the bombings is also underway in Bulgaria, where the Secret Service said it was looking into the possibility that a local company was involved.
Hundreds of simultaneous explosions on pagers in Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon on Tuesday killed at least 12 people and wounded 2,800. Hezbollah blamed Israel for the attacks. Analysts said Israel prepared the devices before shipping them so they could explode at a specific time. Hezbollah uses the pagers for internal communications for security reasons. (afp)
US airline cancels direct flights from New York to Tel Aviv
Delta has decided to extend its suspension of direct flights between the US and Israel until the end of the year due to regional tensions. Delta flights between New York’s JFK Airport and Tel Aviv will be suspended until December 31 “due to the ongoing conflict in the region,” the airline said Thursday. That means there will be no more direct flights between the US and Israel, Delta confirmed to AFP.
Initially, the suspension was until the end of October. Lufthansa extended its suspension of flights to Tel Aviv and Tehran on Thursday in light of the escalating violence in the Middle East, but only until next Tuesday. Lufthansa flights to the Lebanese capital Beirut were also extended until October 26. Air France initially suspended flights to Beirut and Tel Aviv until Friday. (afp)
Israel lifts travel ban on northern areas
Israel has lifted restrictions on movement and assembly that were imposed the previous day in several northern towns and the occupied Golan Heights, the military said. The restrictions were imposed after Israeli forces launched a concentrated offensive against militant Islamist Hezbollah militia positions in southern Lebanon on Thursday afternoon.
This has raised concerns about a massive escalation in the mutual bombardment along the border that has been going on for months. Since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out in the Gaza Strip last October, Hezbollah, allied with the Palestinian militant Islamist group, has repeatedly shelled targets inside Israel. Israel has responded with counter-strikes. (rtr)
Britain calls for immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy has called for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. “We are all very united in wanting a negotiated political solution that will allow Israelis to return to their homeland in northern Israel, and Lebanese to return to their homeland,” Lammy said after talks with foreign ministers from France and the United States, as well as Italy and the United States in Paris.
In Washington, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had previously warned again that the situation was likely to escalate. Late Thursday evening, Israeli warplanes said they had bombed Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, destroying hundreds of rocket launchers.
According to Lebanese state news agency NNA, 52 bombings were recorded across southern Lebanon. According to information from Lebanese security services, the airstrikes were the most powerful since the civil war began in October. (rtr)
