Arab states strongly condemned Israel for the escalating hostilities with Hezbollah, which have intensified to levels unseen in nearly a year.

The war erupted after Hamas and other Palestinian militants launched the unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, drawing in Hezbollah and other Iran-backed groups.

Israel said it killed a “large number” of Hezbollah militants when it hit about 1,600 sites in southern and eastern Lebanon, including a “targeted strike” in Beirut in what the Israeli military called “Operation Northern Arrows.”

Hezbollah said Ali Karake, its third-in-command, was alive and had moved to safety after a source said the strike on the capital targeted him.

The group said early Tuesday it had launched “volleys” of missiles at Israeli military sites, after state media reported new raids in eastern Lebanon.

People in Israel’s coastal city of Haifa were seen running for cover on Monday when air raid sirens sounded.

Lebanon’s health ministry said the strikes killed 492 people, including 35 children and 58 women, and wounded 1,645 others. Health Minister Firass Abiad said “thousands of families” had been displaced.

Explosions near the ancient city of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon sent smoke billowing into the sky.

“We sleep and wake up to bombardment… that’s what our life has become,” said Wafaa Ismail, 60, a housewife from the southern village of Zawtar.

‘Most Difficult Week for Hezbollah’

Global powers urged Israel and Hezbollah to step back from the brink of all-out war, as the violence shifted from Israel’s southern border with Gaza to its northern frontier with Lebanon.

France and Egypt called on the United Nations Security Council to intervene, while Iraq requested an urgent meeting of Arab states on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

Israeli army chief Herzi Halevi said the strikes hit combat infrastructure Hezbollah had been building for two decades.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant called Monday “a significant peak” in the operation.

“This is the most difficult week for Hezbollah since its establishment – the results speak for themselves,” he said.

“Entire units were taken out of battle as a result of the activities conducted at the beginning of the week in which numerous terrorists were injured.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was acting to change the “security balance” in the north.

Hezbollah Wave of Rockets

Hezbollah, which has been trading near-daily fire with Israel in support of Hamas, said it was in a “new phase” of confrontation.

The group said it launched rockets at Israeli military sites near Haifa and two bases in retaliation for Israeli strikes on the south and the Bekaa.

The attack came after an Israeli strike on southern Beirut on Friday killed its elite Radwan Force commander, Ibrahim Aqil, and coordinated communications device blasts that Hezbollah blamed on Israel killed 39 people and wounded almost 3,000 on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Since the cross-border exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah began in October, tens of thousands of people on both sides have fled their homes.

An Israeli military official, who cannot be further identified under military rules, said the operation seeks to “degrade threats” from Hezbollah, push them back from the border, and then to destroy infrastructure.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati urged the United Nations and world powers to deter what he called Israel’s “plan that aims to destroy Lebanese villages and towns.”

‘Full-Fledged War’ Nearing

US President Joe Biden, whose country is Israel’s main ally and weapons supplier, said Washington was “working to de-escalate in a way that allows people to return home safely.”

The Pentagon said it was sending a small number of additional US military personnel to the Middle East after thousands were deployed earlier alongside warships, fighter jets, and air defense systems.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity at the UN General Assembly, said that Washington opposed an Israeli ground invasion targeting Hezbollah and had “concrete ideas” on how to de-escalate the crisis.

G7 foreign ministers said in a joint statement that “no country stands to gain” from escalating conflict, warning of “unimaginable consequences” if a regional war broke out.

EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell warned that Israel and Hezbollah were “almost in full-fledged war,” ahead of a gathering of world leaders at the United Nations.

UN chief Antonio Guterres was “gravely alarmed” by civilian casualties in Lebanon, his spokesman said.

The United Nations peacekeeping force in south Lebanon warned “any further escalation of this dangerous situation could have far-reaching and devastating consequences.”

Qatar, a mediator in Gaza ceasefire talks, said Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon “puts the region on the brink of the abyss,” while Turkey said the strikes threatened “chaos” and Jordan urged an immediate end to the escalation “before it is too late.”

The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the strikes and ordered Palestinian medical staff in Lebanon to provide support for the wounded.

Iran’s newly elected president, Masoud Pezeshkian, accused Israel of seeking “to create this wider conflict.”

Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity.

Of the 251 hostages also seized by militants, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,455 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN has described the figures as reliable.

The post Nearly 500 Dead in Israeli Strikes on Hezbollah Strongholds in Lebanon appeared first on The Defense Post.

Israel has not commented on the attacks that killed 37 people and wounded nearly 3,000 over two days but has said it will widen the scope of its war in Gaza to include the Lebanon front.

“Such terrorist acts, that are undoubtedly due to the desperation and successive failures of the Zionist regime, will soon be met with a crushing response from the resistance front,” Guards commander General Hossein Salami said in a message to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, quoted by state media.

The resistance front led by Iran includes Tehran-backed groups across the Middle East, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthi rebels, and Shiite armed groups in Iraq as well as Palestinian militant group Hamas.

In April, Iran fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel, after it bombed an annex of the Iranian embassy in Damascus, killing seven Revolutionary Guards, two of them generals.

Most were intercepted by allied air forces or Israel’s own air defenses.

The post Iran Warns Israel of ‘Crushing Response’ to Lebanon Device Blasts appeared first on The Defense Post.

The Iran-backed group blamed Israel for the first wave of blasts on Tuesday, vowing revenge and stoking fears of all-out war in the region.

“The new wave of walkie-talkie explosions… killed nine people and wounded more than 300,” the health ministry said in a statement.

A source close to the Iran-backed group said walkie-talkies used by its members exploded in its Beirut stronghold during the funerals of Hezbollah members killed in Tuesday’s blasts.

“A number of walkie-talkies exploded in Beirut’s southern suburbs,” the source said, with Hezbollah-affiliated rescuers confirming devices had exploded inside two cars in the area.

The explosions caused panic, according to an AFP photographer covering the funerals.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported “pagers” and “devices” had also exploded in Hezbollah strongholds in the east and south, with AFP correspondents hearing explosions in those regions.

A hospital source in the eastern city of Baalbek told AFP 25 people had been wounded after walkie-talkies exploded.

The post Lebanon’s Hezbollah in Disarray After Second Wave of Device Blasts appeared first on The Defense Post.

These bring to at least 11 the number of schools in Gaza to be struck since July 6, killing around 150 people, based on a tally of tolls previously given by officials in the Hamas-run territory.

“The number of martyrs in the massacre of the Hassan Salameh and Al-Nasr schools’ bombing has risen to 30. Dozens were also wounded,” civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.

Bassal said most of the dead and wounded were women and children.

He said the schools were housing Palestinians displaced from their homes in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas militants.

Israel’s military confirmed the strike targeting the two schools.

“The schools were used by Hamas’ Al-Furqan Battalion as a hiding place for its terrorist operatives and as command centres,” the military said in a statement.

On Saturday, a similar Israeli strike hit another school compound in Gaza City, killing at least 17 people, according to the civil defense agency.

The Israeli military has repeatedly accused Hamas of using civilian facilities as command and control centers or to hide their commanders and militants. The Palestinian group denies the accusation.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, resulting in the death of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Militants also seized 251 people, 111 of whom are still held hostage in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 39,583 people, according to the territory’s health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths.

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“Three Syrian children” were killed “in an enemy raid that targeted farmland in the village of Umm Toot,” the National News Agency (NNA) said.

It also said an “enemy” drone strike had targeted a motorcycle on the Kfar Tebnit road elsewhere in south Lebanon, killing two Syrians.

A Lebanese security source, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media, told AFP the two Syrians were “civilians” who worked nearby and had been swimming in the area.

The NNA said that “eyewitnesses reported that the motorbike was carrying two people and that when a number of citizens tried to approach the bike… it was subjected to a second strike.”

Hezbollah said it launched rounds of “Katyusha rockets” at northern Israel in response to the Israeli strikes.

The group in separate statements mentioned both “the death of two civilians” in Kfar Tebnit and “the horrible massacre in Umm Toot village” as reasons for the retaliatory fire.

The United Nations children’s agency said that “more children are at risk as long as the violence continues.”

“The killing of three more children by an airstrike today as they were reportedly playing in front of their home in south Lebanon is horrific,” UNICEF said on social media platform X.

Hezbollah has traded almost daily fire with Israeli forces in support of ally Hamas since the Palestinian militant group’s October 7 attack on Israel triggered war in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military said 40 projectiles fired from Lebanon were initially identified Tuesday, followed by a further 10 later in the day.

The air force launched strikes against parts of south Lebanon where it said there were Hezbollah sites, including a “terrorist cell” in the Yarin area, which is close to Umm Toot.

AFP footage shows Israel’s Iron Dome defense system intercepting rockets over the border and smoke billowing above the Lebanese village of Kfar Kela following an Israeli strike.

Sirens warning of incoming fire blared overnight in northern Israel, the military said, with no reports of casualties.

In Lebanon, the cross-border violence since October has killed 511 people, mostly fighters but also including at least 104 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, 17 soldiers and 13 civilians have been killed, according to authorities.

The violence, largely restricted to the border area, has raised fears of all-out conflict between the foes, who last went to war in the summer of 2006.

The post Lebanon Media Says 3 Children Among 5 Dead in Israeli Strikes appeared first on The Defense Post.

Israel’s military said its aircraft had targeted “terrorists” operating around the Al-Jawni school in Nuseirat, central Gaza.

The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, which condemned the strike as an “odious massacre,” said 50 injured were taken to hospital from the school.

Some 7,000 people were sheltering in the school at the time of the attack, the Hamas government press office said. Dozens of people scrambled through the rubble after the strike to find survivors.

The press office said the school was run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, and most of the casualties were “children, women, and elderly.”

“This is the fourth time they have targeted the school without warning,” said one woman, Samah Abu Amsha, who told how some children were killed as they read the Koran in a class when the missile hit.

“Shrapnel flew at me inside the classroom and the children were injured,” she told AFP.

Hamas called the attack “a new massacre and crime committed by this criminal enemy as part of its war of genocide against our Palestinian people.”

The Israeli military said in a statement it “struck several terrorists operating in structures located in the area of UNRWA’s Al-Jawni school.”

“This location served as a hideout and operational infrastructure from which attacks against IDF troops operating in the Gaza Strip were directed and carried out,” it added, insisting that “steps were taken in order to mitigate the risk of harming civilians.”

‘No Place Is Safe’

Israel has agreed to meetings with mediators on a ceasefire initiative but has kept up its offensive in the territory that started on October 7 after the Hamas attack on southern Israel.

UNRWA said two of its workers were killed in a strike at Al-Bureij, also in central Gaza, early Saturday. The agency has a major food warehouse in the district.

The Al-Aqsa hospital said nine other bodies were brought to its morgue from the strike.

The UN agency said 194 of its workers have now been killed since the war started.

A UNRWA spokesperson said that since the war began, more than half of the agency’s facilities have been hit, and many were shelters. “As a result at least 500 people sheltering in those facilities have been killed,” the spokesperson told AFP.

Paramedics said 10 people, including three journalists, died in another strike on a house in Nuseirat on Saturday.

“Absolutely no place in the Gaza Strip is safe,” said civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal.

The war began with the October 7 attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

Hamas militants also seized hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza including 42 the military says are dead.

In response, Israel has carried out a military offensive that has killed at least 38,098 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas-run health ministry there.

The post Hamas in Gaza Says 16 Killed in Strike on UN School appeared first on The Defense Post.

Over recent weeks, Moscow has concentrated its firepower on the eastern industrial region of Donetsk, which the Kremlin claims is part of Russia.

AFP journalists at the scene of the strike saw residents picking through debris next to a deep crater and residential buildings shredded by the blast wave.

“Five were killed and 41 wounded,” the regional governor Vadym Filashkin said.

“Among the wounded are four children: a boy of 12 years old, and girls of 9, 11, and 13 years old,” he added on social media.

Filashkin said two Russian-fired Iskander-M missiles destroyed and damaged several homes in Pokrovsk, which had a pre-war population of around 61,000.

“This is one of the largest hostile attacks on civilians in recent times. Its final consequences are yet to be determined,” Filashkin added.

Nikolay Kurilov said he was watering flowers in his garden when one of the projectiles landed less than 500 meters (about a third of a mile) away.

“And boom. I almost fell over,” the 70-year-old recounted to AFP.

“And about 15 minutes later, there was another boom. We started calling relatives,” he said.

Russian forces have been advancing towards Pokrovsk over recent months, since they captured the fortress town of Avdiivka in February.

Filashkin said separately that a 62-year-old man had been killed in a Russian attack on the town of Kurakhove, south of Pokrovsk.

“The Russians dropped a guided aerial missile on the town and an infrastructure facility was damaged,” he said, without elaborating.

Filashkin also said that Russian forces had killed a 63-year-old civilian in the town of Toretsk, where Moscow’s troops have stepped up attacks following a protracted lull.

Russia claimed to have annexed Donetsk in late 2022, along with three other regions of Ukraine it had partially occupied.

Parts of Donetsk have been controlled by Kremlin-backed separatists since 2014.

The post Russian Strike in East Ukraine Kills Five, Wounds Dozens appeared first on The Defense Post.

Warring parties were increasingly “pushing beyond boundaries of what is acceptable — and legal,” United Nations rights chief Volker Turk told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

They are showing “utter contempt for the other, trampling human rights at their core,” he said. “Killings and injuries of civilians have become a daily occurrence. Destruction of vital infrastructure a daily occurrence.”

“Children shot at. Hospitals bombed. Heavy artillery launched on entire communities. All along with hateful, divisive, and dehumanising rhetoric.”

The UN rights chief said his office had gathered data indicating that last year, “the number of civilian deaths in armed conflict soared by 72 percent.”

“Horrifyingly, the data indicates that the proportion of women killed in 2023 doubled and that of children tripled, compared to the year prior,” he said.

In the Gaza Strip, Turk said he was “appalled by the disregard for international human rights and humanitarian law by parties to the conflict” and “unconscionable death and suffering.”

Since the war erupted after Hamas’ unprecedented attack inside Israel on October 7, he said “more than 120,000 people in Gaza, overwhelmingly women and children, have been killed or injured … as a result of the intensive Israeli offensives.”

“Since Israel escalated its operations into Rafah in early May, almost one million Palestinians have been forcibly displaced yet again, while aid delivery and humanitarian access deteriorated further,” he said.

Dwindling Funds

Turk also pointed to a range of other conflicts, including in Ukraine, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Syria.

And in Sudan, in the grips of a more than year-long civil war, he warned the country “is being destroyed in front of our eyes by two warring parties and affiliated groups … (who have) flagrantly cast aside the rights of their own people.”

Such devastation comes as funding to help the growing numbers of people in need is dwindling.

“As of the end of May 2024, the gap between humanitarian funding requirements and available resources stands at $40.8 billion,” Turk said.

“Appeals are funded at an average of 16.1 per cent only,” he said.

“Contrast this with the almost $2.5 trillion in global military expenditure in 2023, a 6.8 percent increase in real terms from 2022,” Turk said, stressing that “this was the steepest year-on-year increase since 2009.”

“In addition to inflicting unbearable human suffering, war comes with a hefty price tag,” he said.

The post UN Sees Tripling of Children Killed in Conflict in One Year appeared first on The Defense Post.

In mid-April, Israel faced a barrage of 330 unguided missiles and explosive-laden drones launched from Iran. Remarkably, an ad hoc coalition led by the United States intercepted 99 percent of these threats.

This extraordinary feat, achieved by military assets from the US, Israel, Jordan, Britain, France, Qatar, UAE, and Kuwait, highlights the power of cooperative defense in saving lives.

This coalition’s efforts ensured that thousands of children in Israel were spared the horrors of war, showcasing that military resources can indeed be used for the protection of society rather than its destruction. However, while this success is celebrated, the plight of children in Gaza remains dire.

Children in Gaza

Since October 7, Israel has responded to the attack by Hamas with relentless force. Their military has dropped at least 75,000 tons of explosives on the Gaza Strip and turned the infrastructure to rubble.

It has left entire neighborhoods in ruins, with more than 35,000 people killed, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The claim of precision in these attacks often falls short of reality, as the destruction is widespread and indiscriminate.

Drawing from my experience as an infantryman in the conflict in Southeast Asia decades ago, I can attest to the indiscriminate nature of such bombardments. One 500-pound bomb can create massive craters and devastation, leaving no room for the illusion of precision.

The children of Gaza live under this constant threat, with their lives and futures hanging in the balance.

Defense Coalition

Amid this chaos, a solution is evident but being overlooked: deploying the same successful defense coalition (minus Israel) to protect the children of Gaza.

This isn’t a mere fantasy; it’s a method with a proven track record. With nations like France, the UK, and regional powers involved, we possess the capability to create a defensive shield that could save countless innocent lives in Gaza.

Condemnations and protests from afar are insufficient. It is imperative for President Joe Biden to spearhead a coalition that takes tangible action.

Establishing a defensive shield over Gaza, particularly in areas like Rafah, could be a lifesaving measure for many children. This initiative is not just a moral duty but a practical step toward safeguarding the future of these children.

Act Now

“Peace through strength” can transcend being a military slogan; it can be a genuine effort to protect the vulnerable. The children in Gaza and Tel Aviv alike deserve safety and a chance to dream of a peaceful future. It’s time for the international community to act with the same resolve and unity that protected Israel’s children.

Even the threat of the US leading this action would be enough to topple Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s ruling coalition and bring this war to an end.

We must not wait for more destruction and more lost lives. Let us act now, leveraging the successful model of defense coalition to build a shield over Gaza. Together, we can create a safer world for all children caught in the crossfire of conflict.

Richard Fitzpatrick has had a diverse and successful career as a high-tech entrepreneur, four-term Michigan State Representative, CEO of a publicly traded corporation, highly decorated combat veteran serving in Vietnam and Cambodia, accredited angel investor, and national leader in palliative care, digital health, and natural medicines.

He has now retired to a home overlooking the Muskegon River in Northern Michigan.

The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of The Defense Post.

The Defense Post aims to publish a wide range of high-quality opinion and analysis from a diverse array of people – do you want to send us yours? Click here to submit an op-ed.

The post A Bold Defense Strategy That Could End the Gaza Conflict Overnight appeared first on The Defense Post.

The fragile Horn of Africa nation, which has battled an Islamist insurgency for over 16 years, has a history of defense cooperation with Turkey, hosting its largest overseas military base and training facility.

The alleged strikes on March 18 hit a farm near Bagdad village in the southern Lower Shabelle region, killing nearly two dozen people and injuring 17 others, mostly children, the rights group said.

Residents told Amnesty “the drone strikes followed heavy ground fighting” between Al-Shabaab jihadists and Somali security forces, the watchdog said.

Investigators interviewed 12 people, including victims, their relatives, and witnesses, and analyzed satellite imagery and photos of weapon fragments to establish the use of Turkish-manufactured bombs and TB-2 drones.

Mohamed Ali Deerey, who lost his younger brother and nine-year-old nephew in the attack, told Amnesty he hurried to the farm as soon as he heard the first blast, just before the second strike claimed the lives of more people.

“The scene was chaotic. There were screams, blood, and bodies all over the ground,” he said.

Another person, who lost six members of their family, said they were “horrified.”

“This is inhumane. This is a massacre.”

Amnesty said all five families affected by the strikes belonged to “the marginalised Gorgaarte clan”.

“In Somalia, civilians have borne the brunt of suffering in war far too often. These horrific deaths must not be overlooked,” said Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty’s regional director for east and southern Africa.

“The Somali and Turkish governments must investigate these deadly strikes as a war crime, and put an end to reckless attacks on civilians.”

Defense Deal

Somalia’s government said it had conducted an operation targeting Al-Shabaab in the same area but did not mention any civilian deaths.

“More than 30 (militants) were killed during an operation jointly carried out by the Somali national armed forces and international partners,” the ministry of information said in a statement on March 19.

It said 24 jihadists “were killed in the operation in the Baldooska area while 15 others had been killed in an airstrike on Bagdad.”

Amnesty said it had requested further details from the Somali and Turkish governments but had not received any response.

The two governments signed a maritime defense deal in February this year.

Turkey is among several nations training Somali soldiers to take over from an African Union peacekeeping mission, whose troops are set to leave by the end of the year.

Although Al-Shabaab was forced out of Mogadishu by an AU force in 2011, the jihadists retain a strong presence in rural Somalia and have carried out numerous attacks against political, security, and civilian targets.

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