Lebanese soldiers withdraw from border, Israel may be preparing to attack

Israel carried out at least two airstrikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, a security source said, and a Reuters reporter reported witnessing an explosion about an hour after the Israeli military ordered locals to evacuate the area around a building in the suburb, which Israel claims houses Hezbollah infrastructure.

A US official, who asked to remain anonymous, said the current location of the Israeli military is a signal that the force may be preparing to invade Lebanon.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told the Council of Leaders of the Northern Region of Israel that the next phase of the border war between Israel and Lebanon will soon begin. This operation will be carried out to help Israelis who have been evacuated from Hezbollah rocket attacks over the past year to return home.

Lebanese soldiers have withdrawn from positions along Lebanon's southern border with Israel and to an area about 3km north of the border, a Lebanese security source said.

A Lebanese army spokesman has neither confirmed nor denied reports of the troop movement.

Historically, Lebanon's regular army has generally stayed out of major conflicts with Israel, and during the past year of conflict, there has not been a single instance of it firing at Israeli troops.

Amal Al-Hourani, mayor of Jdeidet Marjayoun, a predominantly Christian Lebanese village 10km from the border, said two locals there had received calls from the Israeli army asking them to evacuate the area as soon as possible.

The Israeli military has declared the area around the northern Israeli communities of Metula, Misgav Am and Kfar Giladi along the border with Lebanon a closed military zone and will ban civilians from entering or leaving the area.

As speculation grows that a ground operation is imminent, an Israeli military spokesman posted a statement on X, asking Israelis not to "irresponsibly spread rumors" about troop movements and activities.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Israel has informed the US that it is conducting a limited ground operation targeting Hezbollah infrastructure in the Lebanese border area.

Last week, Israel rejected a proposal put forward by the United States and France that called for a 21-day ceasefire to allow for a diplomatic compromise and allow displaced civilians on both sides of the border to return home.

US President Joe Biden has also called for a ceasefire.

Asked about his feelings about the possibility that Israel might be planning an attack, Mr. Biden said: "I'm more worried than people think, and I hope they don't attack. We need to work out an immediate ceasefire."

Hezbollah declares readiness to face attack

The assassination of Hassan Nasrallah – the most powerful leader in Tehran's "Axis of Resistance" – is the most painful blow to Hezbollah and Iran in decades.

In his first public speech since Mr Nasrallah's death, Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem asserted that "the resistance is ready to engage in ground combat".

Photo: REUTERS/Jim Urquhart.

Israeli air strikes have killed many Hezbollah commanders but have also killed about 1,000 civilians and forced a million people to flee, according to the Lebanese government.

The death toll from an Israeli airstrike on the southern Lebanese town of Ain Deleb has risen to 45, the Lebanese Health Ministry said on Monday.

One of the rescuers, Mazin al-Khatib, said they had to dig through the rubble of a flattened building. "We had to pull them out of the rubble, the ones who were alive, the ones who were killed and the ones who were martyred."

Nasrallah's assassination, along with other assassinations and a series of systematic attacks through Hezbollah's communications, have dealt a heavy blow to the movement since it was founded by Iran in 1982.

Mr Nasrallah has consolidated Hezbollah into Lebanon's most powerful military and political force, with influence spanning the entire Middle East.

Now the organization must replace a leader of this caliber, a man whom Western countries view as a terrorist mastermind, but to millions of supporters is a hero who dared to stand up to Israel.

The organization will "choose a new secretary-general at the earliest possible moment," Mr. Qassem said.

Hezbollah continued to launch missiles at targets as deep as 150km inside Israeli territory, he said.

"We know the war will be long. We will win as we won the liberation in 2006."

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Hezbollah's biggest backer, Iran, with the message "there will be nothing we will not do to protect our people and our nation".

In a three-minute English-language video addressed to the Iranian people, he accused the government of plunging the Middle East "deep into war" despite its citizens, whom it was "pushing to the brink of hell".

Assassination of Palestinian militia leader

Israel has also assassinated several leaders of the Iran-backed Hamas militia in Gaza, one of whom – politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh – was assassinated when he visited the Iranian capital last July.

Hours before Mr Qassem spoke, Hamas said an Israeli air strike had killed its Lebanese leader, Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin, along with his wife, son and daughter in the city of Tyre.

Abu el-Amin worked for the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, before being suspended in March 2024. UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said the agency was unaware of Abu el-Amin's role in Hamas.

Another faction, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said three of its leaders were killed in an airstrike on Beirut's Kola district, the first Israeli airstrike in the area close to the center of the Lebanese capital.

Israeli airstrikes against militia targets in Lebanon are part of a conflict that stretches from the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank to Iran-backed groups in Yemen and Iraq. Recent escalations have fueled fears that the United States and Iran could be drawn into war.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said Tehran would not forgive Israel's "criminal acts," referring to the killing of Nasrallah and a deputy commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the same airstrike.

Nguyen Quang Minh (according to Reuters)

Source: https://www.nguoiduatin.vn/binh-linh-lebanon-rut-khoi-bien-gioi-israel-co-the-dang-chuan-tan-cong-204241001081536834.htm