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.

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The military said that “approximately 20 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon” shortly before 5:00 am (0200 GMT), followed by a barrage of “approximately 85 projectiles” launched from Lebanon after 6:00 am (0300 GMT).

“Hundreds of thousands of people had to take refuge in bomb shelters at that time across northern Israel,” military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told AFP.

The military in an earlier statement said the rocket fire sparked fires, while Israel’s medical emergency service said at least four people suffered “shrapnel injuries,” three of whom in the area of the northern Israeli city of Haifa.

Israel’s civil defense agency has ordered all schools in the country’s north closed following the rocket fire, the latest escalation in nearly a year of cross-border exchanges throughout the Gaza war.

When you see sirens sounding alerts, picture this.

This is the result of one of Hezbollah’s indiscriminate missile and rocket launches at Israel. This time, they hit a children’s playground. pic.twitter.com/DJJwAhnORA

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) September 20, 2024

Educational activities would not be permitted across northern Israel until at least Monday at 6:00 pm (1500 GMT), the military’s Home Front Command said, affecting “hundreds of thousands of children” according to Shoshani.

“In Haifa, a lot of school are closed… and offices are empty,” said resident Patrice Wolff, who works in the medical industry.

He told AFP there was “more and more pressure” coming from Hezbollah as well as from Israeli forces on the Lebanese group.

The military said it launched strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon in response to the rocket fire.

Shoshani said the military had hit a range of targets over the past day, mostly “rockets launchers and rocket launcher barrels.”

The Israeli strikes were meant “to prevent a larger-scale attack,” the military spokesman told an online press briefing.

A steady escalation in hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah has stoked fears of all-out war.

Israeli officials this week have signaled their intention to turn the focus of military operations from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip to the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon.

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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.

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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.

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The son of Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Ammar was among the dead, a source close to the group told AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

The source had earlier said the son of another Hezbollah lawmaker, Hassan Fadlallah, was also killed, but later confirmed that the son was alive but injured.

The blasts “killed nine people, including a girl,” minister Firass Abiad said in a casualty update.

“About 2,800 people were injured, about 200 of them critically” with injuries mostly reported to the face, hands, and stomach, he added.

The 10-year-old daughter of a Hezbollah member was killed in east Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley when his pager exploded, her family and a source close to the group said.

Iran’s ambassador to Beirut was also wounded in a pager explosion but his injuries were not serious, state media reported.

In neighboring Syria, 14 people were wounded “after pagers used by Hezbollah exploded,” Britain-based war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Israeli military said it had “no comment,” when contacted by AFP about the pager blasts.

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Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have been trading near-daily cross-border fire, with the Lebanese militant group saying it is acting in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas in the ongoing war in Gaza.

“We have enough forces to deal with Gaza and we should concentrate on what is going on in the north,” Gantz said, speaking in Washington at a Middle East forum where he also said Iran and its proxies were “the real issue.”

“The time of the north has come and actually I think we are late on this,” the former army chief and centrist politician added.

Gantz said Israel had made a mistake in evacuating much of the north of the country as hostilities with Hezbollah flared following the October 7 Hamas attack that triggered the Gaza war.

“In Gaza, we have crossed a decisive point of the campaign,” he said. “We can conduct anything we want in Gaza.”

“We should seek to have a deal to get out our hostages but if we cannot in the coming time, a few days or few weeks, or whatever it is, we should go up north.”

“We are capable of… hitting the state of Lebanon if needed,” he said.

“The story of Hamas is old news,” he added, saying instead that “the story of Iran and its proxies all around the area and what they are trying to do is the real issue.”

Gantz left Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s government in June over its lack of a post-war plan for Gaza.

The October 7 Hamas attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, including some hostages killed in captivity, official Israeli figures show.

Militants seized 251 hostages during the attack, 97 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has so far killed at least 40,972 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

The UN human rights office says most of the dead are women and children.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant also referred to the situation on the Lebanese border Sunday during a tour of the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, telling troops “we are preparing for anything that may happen in the north.”

“The shift of the center of gravity can happen quickly and can also involve you in a short period of time,” Gallant said, according to a statement issued by his office.

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Lockheed Martin announced Thursday that it had secured a deal with Cairo for the C-130J-30 variant at the Egypt International Airshow 2024.

According to the company, the acquisition will enhance the Egyptian Air Force’s tactical airlift capabilities, allowing it to better support missions across North Africa.

“Welcoming Egypt to the C-130J Super Hercules global fleet is an honor that truly represents the longstanding partnership between our two nations and with Lockheed Martin,” Lockheed VP Rod McLean said.

With this purchase, Egypt will become the 23rd foreign operator of the C-130J and the 7th in the Middle East/North Africa region.

Proven Capabilities

Lockheed’s C-130 is a powerful military transport aircraft equipped with four turboprop engines.

Its J-30 variant offers an impressive payload capacity of 44,000 pounds (19,958 kilograms), enough to carry up to 124 fully-equipped soldiers.

It boasts a maximum speed of 410 miles (659 kilometers) per hour and an operational range of 1,700 nautical miles (3,148 kilometers).

According to Lockheed, the “unmatched” capabilities of its Super Hercules fleet have made it an in-demand tactical airlifter with over 2,500 deliveries worldwide.

It has also reportedly surpassed more than three million flight hours across 63 nations.

“Always evolving, continually innovating, and ready for what’s next, the Super Hercules leads the charge by setting standards and shaping the future of tactical airlift missions,” the company stated.

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“This afternoon, a drone attacked a pick-up, killing three people, including a child,” Osman Anwar, the district governor of Chwarta, where the attack took place, told AFP.

The driver was identified as “a regular citizen, a farmer,” but the identity of the two other passengers was not known due to the severity of their burns, Anwar said, adding that the strike targeted the vehicle near the village of Harmeleh.

Turkey has maintained dozens of military bases in northern Iraq for the past quarter of a century as part of its campaign against militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The leftist group has waged an on-off insurgency against Turkey since 1984, and is blacklisted as a “terrorist organization” by Ankara and its Western allies.

Thursday’s strike comes a day after a similar attack on a car in the autonomous region that also killed three people, a father and his two teenaged sons aged 18 and 14, according to Kamaran Osman, a human rights officer from the Community Peacemaker Teams organization.

The Turkish defense ministry on Tuesday said its forces had launched air strikes on the PKK in the mountains of northern Iraq, claiming to have killed “numerous” militants.

Iraq’s federal government in Baghdad discreetly outlawed the PKK as a “banned organization” in March, and last month agreed a military cooperation deal with Ankara that will see joint training and command centers set up in the fight against the militants.

On August 23, a drone strike that officials in the Kurdish region blamed on Turkey killed two women journalists working for PKK-funded outlets.

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Joint Operations Command spokesperson Major General Tahseen Al-Khafaji revealed in a televised interview that Baghdad has officially signed a procurement contract with France, though he did not say how much exactly it is paying.

He said the purchase is for an air force fleet that covers all Iraqi operational zones as the country sets its sights on increasing its aerial power.

Formerly known as the Eurocopter EC725 Caracal, the H225M is designed to enable military forces to deploy “wherever and whenever needed.”

It has a maximum speed of 324 kilometers (201 miles) per hour, a climb rate of 3.6 meters (11.8 feet) per second, and an operational range of 1,482 kilometers (921 miles).

Apart from tactical transport, the helicopter can support special operations, combat search and rescue, and medical evacuation.

US Troops’ Pending Withdrawal

Earlier this year, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani demanded foreign troops in the country leave immediately amid soaring tensions in the region.

Sudani was allegedly being pressured by his Iran-aligned cabinet members, who wanted American troops out of the country.

He said the end of the international coalition “is a necessity for the security and stability of Iraq” and also for preserving constructive bilateral relations between Iraq and the coalition countries.

Though many analysts doubted that Baghdad would go through with it, Iranian news agency Tasnim revealed that Iraq’s foreign minister will visit Washington next month to finalize the decision.

Once American troops are out, Iraq is expected to address resurgence and terrorism in the country on its own.

Middle East analyst Ryan Bohl told Breaking Defense that the procurement of new tactical helicopters would certainly provide Iraqi units with greater mobility to combat non-state actors like ISIS.

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The announcement comes after Iran and its regional allies vowed retaliation for the killings of a Hamas leader in Tehran and a Hezbollah commander in Beirut, fueling fears of a broader Middle East conflict.

“The Department of Defense continues to take steps to mitigate the possibility of regional escalation by Iran or Iran’s partners and proxies,” deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said in a statement.

“Since the horrific Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, the Secretary of Defense has reiterated that the United States will protect our personnel and interests in the region, including our ironclad commitment to the defense of Israel.”

The aircraft carrier strike group led by the USS Abraham Lincoln will replace one helmed by the USS Theodore Roosevelt in the region, Singh said.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has also ordered additional ballistic missile defense-capable cruisers and destroyers to the Middle East and areas under US European Command, as well as a new fighter squadron to the Middle East.

Israel killed Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut on Tuesday, a move it said was a response to deadly rocket fire last week on the annexed Golan Heights.

Hours later, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in the Iranian capital – an attack on which Israel has not yet commented.

A source close to Hezbollah told AFP that Iranian officials met in Tehran on Wednesday with representatives of the so-called “axis of resistance,” a loose alliance of Tehran-backed groups hostile to Israel, to discuss their next steps.

“Two scenarios were discussed: a simultaneous response from Iran and its allies or a staggered response from each party,” said the source, who had been briefed on the meeting, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

In April, Iran carried out its first direct attack on Israeli soil, firing a barrage of drones and missiles after a strike blamed on Israel killed Revolutionary Guards at Tehran’s consulate in Damascus.

American forces helped defend Israel against the attack.

“As we have demonstrated since October and again in April, the United States’ global defense is dynamic and the Department of Defense retains the capability to deploy on short notice to meet evolving national security threats,” Singh said.

“The United States also remains intently focused on de-escalating tensions in the region and pushing for a ceasefire as part of a hostage deal to bring the hostages home and end the war in Gaza.”

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