In south Lebanon, IDF chief says 'main combat arena is here'

Hezbollah fires missile at southern port of Ashdod as IDF strikes launchers in Lebanon

No injuries in overnight attack, which sets off sirens in Tel Aviv due to falling interceptor debris; home in Misgav Am hit by rocket; Lebanese reel from major Israeli strikes

Israel and Hezbollah continued to exchange fire into Friday, despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement of peace talks with Lebanon, which had continued to reel from major Israeli strikes two days earlier.

There was no immediate response to the Israeli announcement from Lebanon, which had repeatedly proposed talks to end the war, or from Hezbollah. Netanyahu said that talks would focus on disarming Hezbollah and “establishing peaceful relations” between the countries.

Negotiations are expected to begin next week at the State Department in Washington, according to a person familiar with the plans. The talks are to be handled on the American side by US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa, and on the Israeli side by Israel’s Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter, according to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the delicacy of the situation.

A Lebanese diplomatic official familiar with the developments said that the country has not yet appointed someone to lead talks from Beirut. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun is keen to have a temporary ceasefire when talks commence in parallel with those between the United States and Iran, mediated by Pakistan. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Israel’s announcement came hours after it had warned of escalation and said that it had killed an aide and nephew of Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem, Ali Yusuf Harshi.

Later Thursday, Hezbollah said its fighters were engaged in clashes with Israeli soldiers in the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil, from which the Israel Defense Forces has sought in recent days to clear the Iran-backed terror group’s operatives and infrastructure.

Hezbollah, in a statement, said it used light arms and RPG fire against Israeli soldiers who were advancing in the town, as well as rocket barrages on other troops in the area.

The IDF did not report casualties among Israeli forces on Thursday.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir toured the town’s outskirts earlier in the day, saying, “Our main combat arena is here in Lebanon.”

“The objective defined for you is the removal of the direct threat to the residents of the north, which you are carrying out with determination,” he told troops, according to remarks published by the army.

Following the visit to Bint Jbeil, the IDF said Zamir approved new battle plans for the fighting against Hezbollah.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, continued to target Israel, including firing a missile at the southern port city of Ashdod early Friday morning, one of the deepest attacks attempted by the terrorist organization amid the current fighting.

There were no reports of injuries. The Home Front Command for the first time issued an early warning for the missile attack, around two minutes before sirens sounded in the port city.

Sirens were also activated in Tel Aviv and surrounding towns in central Israel due to the interception of the missile and fear of falling fragments, according to the military.

The IDF had warned in a statement hours earlier that Hezbollah was planning to fire rockets beyond northern Israel.

Shortly before the attack on Ashdod, the military said the Israeli Air Force struck some 10 rocket launchers in Lebanon that were used to fire at northern Israel in the preceding hours, adding that it was continuing to operate to locate and destroy additional launchers.

Hezbollah’s rocket fire continued on Friday morning, with one projectile striking a home in the border community of Misgav Am. Local authorities and rescue services said damage was caused, but there were no injuries.

‘Searching all day’

Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, earlier stated that continued Israeli attacks on Lebanon would bring “explicit costs and STRONG responses,” while insisting that a two-week ceasefire in the Iran war extended to Lebanon. Israel and the US have disputed that claim, although US President Donald Trump said Thursday that he had asked Israel to scale back attacks on Lebanon to ensure negotiations between Washington and Tehran are successful.

Israeli strikes on Wednesday, without warning, killed more than 300 people and wounded over 1,800 others, according to the Lebanese health ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians. Several strikes hit densely packed commercial and residential areas during rush hour. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called the attacks “barbaric.”

Defense Minister Israel Katz said Thursday that more than 200 Hezbollah operatives were killed. Among the targets of the strikes, according to the IDF, were Hezbollah command centers and other military infrastructure, including intelligence headquarters and offices used by Hezbollah to plan attacks on IDF troops and Israeli civilians; infrastructure of Hezbollah’s rocket and naval units; and assets of the terror group’s elite Radwan Force and aerial unit.

In Beirut on Thursday, people continued to wait anxiously on the ragged edges of search and rescue work, shielding their faces from the dust. Exhausted firefighters sat on a charred car amid collapsed buildings.

Lebanese Civil Defense spokesperson Elie Khairallah told The Associated Press that a wounded woman was found alive overnight in the seaside neighborhood of Ain Mreisseh, and a man was found alive in his collapsed apartment building in the southern suburbs.

Mohammad Chehab, a Syrian man from Deir el-Zour, said that six of his 10 family members had been found dead in a destroyed building.

“They’ve been searching all day,” for the rest, he said.

At hospitals, survivors and doctors described the carnage, while relatives gathered to identify bodies.

Abdul Rahman Mohammad, a Syrian who lost five relatives in the Hay al-Sellom neighborhood, waited at Rafik Hariri Hospital to retrieve the bodies of his mother, two sisters, brother and brother-in-law.

“They were struck without any warning. This is Israeli brutality,” he said.

Dr. Mohamad El Zaatari, director of the public hospital, said that it had treated 45 wounded people, including 10 cases in intensive care.

At the Makassed hospital, Rabee Koshok lay on a bed.

“I thought I was dead. What happened?” he recalled. “A big flash of light struck my face and eyes, and I found someone flying over and landing next to me. He was dead.”

Koshok had been in the commercial district of Corniche al Mazraa when a strike hit a nearby building.

Dr. Wael Jarrosh said that the hospital received around 70 wounded patients within 10 minutes of the blasts. Two people died and five remained hospitalized, including three in intensive care.

“This has destroyed us psychologically,” the doctor said.

Lebanon alleges ‘blatant violation’ of international law

Netanyahu earlier had said that strikes would proceed “with force, precision and determination.” The IDF accused Hezbollah members of moving out of the terror group’s main areas of influence in southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, and blending into civilian areas.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said that his country would file an urgent complaint with the UN Security Council, calling the attacks a “blatant violation” of international and humanitarian law.

In a cabinet session earlier Thursday, the Lebanese government announced a plan to demilitarize Beirut and deploy an increased level of security patrols.

Even before the renewed war, Lebanon’s government had sought Hezbollah’s disarmament. The issue has inflamed tensions among Lebanese who are deeply divided over the terror group and its arsenal.

Melhem Khalaf, a reformist legislator representing Beirut, was critical of Israel’s strikes, but also of Hezbollah for dragging Lebanon back into war.

“All the targeted areas are safe residential Lebanese areas,” Khalaf said, while watching a bulldozer clear rubble. “What we are witnessing is a massacre against civilians.”

More than a million people have been displaced by the war, many from the south and Dahiyeh. Israel’s military has issued warnings for the population to leave those areas, followed by heavy bombardment.

Israel has also launched a ground invasion in the border region. The death toll in Lebanon has reached 1,739, the health ministry said, with 5,873 wounded.

Meanwhile, the main border crossing between Lebanon and Syria returned to service Thursday, five days after the IDF warned of plans to strike it, alleging that Hezbollah was using it to smuggle military equipment. Lebanese and Syrian authorities denied the claim.

More than 200,000 people have fled to Syria from Lebanon since the war resumed.