(Jason Ditz, Antiwar.com) The ink was barely dry on last night’s two week ceasefire with Iran when Israel began what was their largest scale attack on Lebanon since the war began, with IDF spokesman Avichay Adraee saying Israel carried out strikes on over 100 targets in just 10 minutes.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz presented it as a “surprise attack” on hundreds of Hezbollah members, though reports indicate that Israel targeted sites in and around Beirut, across southern Lebanon, as well as in the Bekaa Valley, and no evidence was provided by Israel that the targeting was exclusively Hezbollah targets.
The very preliminary reports are suggesting a lot of non-military targets were struck in the course of this operation, with reports an attack on a funeral in Chmistar killed at least 10, and three girls in the coastal town of Adloun reportedly slain in another strike.
Casualty figures are very early at this point, with Lebanon’s Health Ministry reporting hundreds killed and wounded in Beirut alone, overwhelming hospitals. Given the scale of these attacks, it could take some time to sort out exactly how many people the Israeli strikes have killed.
While this is a larger single strike than anyone expected, it also does not appear to be a one-off, with Israeli Army Chief Eyal Zamir vowing Israel will “continue to attack without pause” and the army further announcing the war has been rebranded “Operation Eternal Darkness.”
In the lead-up to these attacks, Israel also issued an evacuation order for the suburbs of the city of Tyre, ordering residents of those areas to head northward beyond the Litani and Zahrani Rivers. Given the Israeli military launched high-profile attacks to destroy the bridge spanning the Litani just weeks prior, complying with the order was effectively impossible.
Israel launched its latest war against Lebanon in early March, in the immediate aftermath of the joint US-Israel attack on Iran. Though it was clear in all early reports that Iran’s 10 point plan for the ceasefire included cessation of attacks on Lebanon as well, Israel insisted Lebanon wasn’t included at all, and today’s strikes indicate that not only did they never intend to stop attacking Lebanon, but are greatly escalating the conflict.
This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.
