BEIRUT — Israel on Wednesday launched what it described as the most intense wave of bombings in Lebanon so far in its month-long war against Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed group, just as a ceasefire between the United States and Israel, on the one hand, and Iran, on the other, came into force.
The strong escalation — with more than 100 airstrikes in just 10 minutes — marked the announcement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Lebanon would be left out of the truce agreed with Iran.
Just after lunch time, fighter jets hit the Lebanese capital, Beirut, and other parts of the country, with many strikes in densely populated areas and without any prior warning.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said dozens of people were killed and hundreds injured in the bombings, with many still trapped under the rubble. The sound of ambulances crisscrossing the city echoed across Beirut as plumes of thick, acrid smoke rose over the horizon.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun accused Israel of committing a “massacre” after Wednesday’s attacks.
The Israeli army also renewed broad evacuation orders for much of southern Lebanon, a region that the country invaded and signaled it intended to occupy in recent weeks.
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The war began last month after Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in solidarity with Iran. According to Lebanese officials, the conflict has killed more than 1,500 people in Lebanon and displaced well over a million residents. In Israel, at least two civilians have died in Hezbollah attacks, and about 10 Israeli soldiers have been killed in combat in Lebanon, according to Israeli officials.
Netanyahu’s announcement, made on Wednesday morning, contradicted a statement by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, a key mediator of the truce with Iran, that the two-week suspension of hostilities would also extend to the small Mediterranean country.
Lebanese leaders said on Wednesday they were involved in diplomatic efforts to also secure a truce for Lebanon, but it remains unclear whether this will be possible.
For weeks, Israeli officials have publicly rejected initiatives by the Lebanese government to hold direct talks on a ceasefire — a significant gesture considering that the two countries do not maintain formal diplomatic relations.
Earlier on Wednesday, before the deadly wave of Israeli attacks, Aoun said there were efforts underway to ensure that any “regional peace includes Lebanon.”
Both the Lebanese Armed Forces and Hezbollah have warned the hundreds of thousands of displaced people in the south of the country not to return to their homes, amid continued Israeli attacks.
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Many, however, were already on the road trying to return.
“My family insisted on going south at dawn, as soon as the ceasefire was announced,” said Lara Kanj, 34, who had fled to Beirut from the southern city of Kfar Melki.
“We want the Israelis to leave our land. We want to go back to living the life we had before the war. We are tired of it,” he said.
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Like many Lebanese, Kanj said she was confused about whether or not Lebanon was included in the ceasefire agreement, but expressed cautious optimism.
“We just need to wait a little longer,” she said.
Mohanad Hage Ali, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, said the prevailing feeling in Lebanon is that Washington has effectively given Israel carte blanche, with Israeli officials showing little interest in a political solution to their demand to disarm Hezbollah, resorting instead to the use of force.
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“The US is focused on Iran and doesn’t have the ‘bandwidth’ to deal with the rest,” said Hage Ali. “Meanwhile, the Israeli response to any problem is more and more attacks.”
Even if Israel’s bombing campaign and expanded land invasion weaken Hezbollah, analysts warn that the conflict could prolong — and, with it, the risk of internal instability in Lebanon.
The majority of those displaced are Shiite Muslims, Hezbollah’s central base of support, whose presence in communities that host them has heightened sectarian tensions.
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The day’s events left the Lebanese, already exhausted by war, in a state of uncertainty and anxiety.
In the coastal village of Jadra, south of Beirut, Amir Hattoum, a father of two, said he was struggling to survive. Displaced from the southern suburbs of Beirut, he said he pays US$500 a month in rent, an amount he cannot afford.
With little savings and airstrikes looming, he said he tries not to think too much about the future.
“I’m taking it day by day,” Hattoum said. “It’s exhausting.”
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