Israel Strikes 1,300 Targets in Lebanon as Hundreds Are Killed

(Bloomberg) - Israel said a campaign of air strikes hit 1,300 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, where health officials said 356 people were killed Monday as escalation between the two sides is stoking international concern about the eruption of a full-on war.

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The attacks wounded more than 1,246 people, including women and children, according to the health ministry. Israeli medics said eight people were wounded in northern Israel as a result of Hezbollah's own assaults.

Daniel Hagari, chief spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces, said many of those killed in the air attacks in Lebanon were Hezbollah "terrorists." In New York, Danny Danon, Israel's United Nations ambassador, said in an interview that "Hezbollah has placed rocket launchers in private homes and other civilian facilities" and Israel had urged those nearby "to move away from those locations."

Israel targeted dozens of towns in southern Lebanon, including Tyre and Bint Jbeil, Lebanese media said, while Jbeil in the north — some 170 kilometers (106 miles) from the border — reported its first missile hit.

The two sides have been exchanging cross-border rocket fire almost daily since Israel's war with Hamas erupted last October, but the conflict has stepped up in the past week. The US is urging restraint and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has spoken to Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant several times in recent days, stressing "the importance of achieving a diplomatic solution," the Pentagon said.

The US will send a "small number" of additional troops to the Middle East, Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said without elaborating,

Israel is focusing on the aerial campaign to degrade Hezbollah's military capabilities, an Israeli military official said, indicating a ground invasion isn't imminent.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he would prefer using diplomacy to stop Hezbollah's attacks, but such efforts are failing. His cabinet made the return of tens of thousands of civilians displaced from Israel's north by the threat of attacks a primary war objective last week, while Gallant has said the military's focus should shift from Gaza and Hamas to the northern front and Hezbollah.

Both Hezbollah and Hamas are sponsored by Iran and considered terrorist organizations by the US.

"I want to clarify Israel's policy: we do not wait for the threat, we are ahead of it," Netanyahu said on Monday, predicting "complicated days" ahead.

In a video message to the Lebanese people, he added: "The IDF has warned you to get out of harm's way. I urge you – take this warning seriously."

Netanyahu is scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly at its summit in New York this week, though his travel itinerary hasn't yet been finalized.

Danon, the envoy to the UN, said Netanyahu is scheduled to land in the US on Thursday morning, "speak at the UN on Friday morning and to head back to Israel Saturday night. Now, it can change, because we will follow the events in Israel."

Bomb Shelters

In northern Israel, hundreds of thousands of people rushed to bomb shelters after 150 projectiles were fired early on Monday. Hezbollah has access to a new type of rocket that can reach as far as 100 kilometers and carry 170 kilograms of explosives in its warhead, the group said on its Telegram channel over the weekend.

Hezbollah said it targeted Israeli army sites north of Haifa as sirens sounded, including in civilian areas. Israeli police reported a house being hit and rockets falling in several locations in the Lower Galilee.

Until last week, Israel and Hezbollah largely focused their strikes on military targets and those near the border area. Yet Israel has grown increasingly frustrated with its inability to stop Hezbollah's missile and drone attacks, or enable its displaced civilians from the north to return home.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Hezbollah and Lebanon blamed Israel for blowing up thousands of pagers and walkie talkies mostly used by members of the group. The two-day operation in Lebanon killed at least 39 people, including civilians and children, and injured thousands. Israel didn't confirm or deny responsibility.

Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on the UN and world powers to act quickly to stop Israel and Hezbollah "falling into the unknown."

Hezbollah is a Shiite militant group that, like Hamas, Iran has trained and funded. It is considered the most powerful non-state actor in the Middle East, with tens of thousands of missiles and fighters at its disposal. It's also a political party with substantial support in Lebanon.

Sinwar Whereabouts

Also on Monday, an Israeli military spokesperson said it's possible Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar has been wounded or killed in air strikes on Gaza, after local media reported he has recently been incommunicado.

"Regarding what has surfaced over the last day about Sinwar, I do not rule it out nor do I confirm it," Daniel Hagari said.

The Israeli government says Sinwar masterminded the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the ongoing war in Gaza. Last month, he was promoted to succeed the group's political head, Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran, and is now the point-man for long-deadlocked truce talks mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt.

The US has said that a cease-fire in Gaza will help calm regional tensions. Israel's government says it cannot wait for a truce in the Palestinian territory before neutering the threat of Hezbollah.

Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostage with its attack on Oct. 7. Israel's subsequent air and ground offensive has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, which doesn't differentiate between combatants and civilians.

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