Hezbollah and Israel exchange hundreds of missiles in worst conflict since 2006 war

U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon urged immediate de-escalation as hostilities rumbled on at the Lebanese-Israeli border on Sept. 20, following Israel’s most intense airstrikes in nearly a year of conflict with the Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Israel’s military said on Sept, 19 it had struck hundreds of Hezbollah rocket launchers that had been set to fire towards Israel, in what security sources in Lebanon said was the heaviest such attack since hostilities began last October. 

On Sept. 20 Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander in an airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs, sharply escalating the year-long conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed group.

The target was Hezbollah’s operations commander Ibrahim Aqil, who serves on the group’s top military body, two security sources in Lebanon and Israeli Army Radio said. Mr. Aqil was killed alongside members of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Unit as they were holding a meeting, one of the security sources said.

The strike killed eight people and wounded 59 others, Lebanon’s health ministry said, in a preliminary toll.

Ignited by the Gaza war, the conflict has intensified significantly this week, with Hezbollah suffering an unprecedented attack in which pagers and walkie-talkies used by its members exploded, killing 37 people and wounding thousands.

The batteries of the walkie-talkies were laced with a highly explosive compound known as PETN, a Lebanese source familiar with the device’s components told Reuters.

The way the explosive material was integrated into the battery pack made it extremely difficult to detect, the source said.

The UNIFIL peacekeeping force in south Lebanon said on the morning of Sept. 20 that the previous 12 hours had seen “a heavy intensification of the hostilities” across the Lebanese-Israeli border and in its area of operations.

“We are concerned at the increased escalation across the Blue Line and urge all actors to immediately de-escalate,” UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti told Reuters, referring to the line that delineates the border between Lebanon and Israel.

Strike on Beirut suburb

The strike that killed Mr. Aquil in Dahiyeh, just kilometers from downtown Beirut, hit during rush hour, as people were leaving work and students headed home from school, as reported by the Associated Press.

The strike came after Hezbollah pounded Israel with 140 rockets, which the Israeli military said came in three waves targeting sites along the ravaged border with Lebanon, as reported by AP.

Following the attacks, the Israeli military said that it had struck areas across southern Lebanon targeting Hezbollah infrastructure, but didn’t provide details of damage. Hezbollah said that its attacks had targeted several sites along the border with Katyusha rockets, including multiple air defense bases as well as the headquarters of an Israeli armored brigade they said they’d struck for the first time, as reported by AP.

The Israeli military said that 120 missiles were launched at areas of the Golan Heights, Safed, and the Upper Galilee, some of which were intercepted, as reported by AP. Fire crews were working to extinguish blazes caused by pieces of debris that fell to the ground in several areas, the military said. The military didn’t say whether any missiles had hit targets or caused any casualties.

Hezbollah said that the rockets were in retaliation for Israeli strikes on villages and homes in southern Lebanon, not two days of attacks widely blamed on Israel that set off explosives in thousands of Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies, AP reported.

Conflict worst since 2006

The year-long conflict between Israel and Hezbollah is the worst since they fought a war in 2006. Tens of thousands have had to leave homes on both sides of the border. 

While the conflict has largely played out in areas at or near the frontier, this week’s escalation has heightened concerns that it could widen and further intensify.

The United States on Sept. 19 warned all parties in the Middle East against escalation, saying Washington’s priority is to find a diplomatic solution.

“We will continue to stand by Israel’s right to defend itself, but we don’t want to see any party escalate this conflict, period,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told a news briefing.

More than 460 Hezbollah fighters have been killed since the most recent hostilities with Israel broke out almost a year ago, in addition to some 170 civilians, according to sources in Lebanon.

In Israel, at least 52 people have been killed during the past year of conflict with Hezbollah– half of them civilians and half of them soldiers – according to the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies.

Security council to meet

The 15-member United Nations Security Council is due to meet on Sept. 20 over the blasts.

In a TV address on Sept. 19, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the device explosions on Sept. 17 and 18 “crossed all red lines” and vowed to punish Israel.

Israel has not directly commented on the pager and radio detonations, which security sources say were probably carried out by its Mossad spy agency.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said late on Sept. 19  that Israel will keep up military action against Hezbollah.

Israel has said its goal is to ensure the safe return of Israelis to northern Israel.

Hezbollah, an ally of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, says its attacks on northern Israel aim to support Palestinians under Israeli fire in the Gaza Strip.

Mr. Nasrallah said on Sept. 19 that the Lebanese front would not stop “before the halt of the aggression on Gaza.”

This story was reported by Reuters. Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.