Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Oct 2: Israel has lost at least 8 soldiers on Wednesday as its army crossed the border and entered into Lebanon for combat with Hezbollah on land amidst escalating tension in West Asia with Iran launching missiles at Israel as thousands of sirens sounded across the country and civilians rushed for shelter.
In response to the attacks, Israel vowed retaliation against Iran and said the attack on Israel was a response to the killings of Guards commander and other leaders. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had targeted “three military bases” around Israeli commercial hub Tel Aviv. Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said Tehran’s “action is concluded unless the Israeli regime decides to invite further retaliation.”
The Israeli military reported that its combat losses in southern Lebanon rose to eight on Wednesday during clashes with Hezbollah fighters after crossing the border to target the group’s positions. “The IDF announced that seven more soldiers have fallen,” it said in a statement, following the earlier announcement of the first soldier’s death in Lebanon.
Lebanon’s army said Israeli soldiers made a brief incursion into the country’s south Wednesday, after militant group Hezbollah reported clashes with Israeli troops in two areas. “Israeli enemy forces breached the Blue Line by approximately 400 metres (yards) into Lebanese territory” in two areas, “then withdrew a short time later”, an army statement on X said, referring to the demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel.
Several missiles fired by Iran hit inside Israeli air force bases but did not cause any casualties or damage, the military said Wednesday, without specifying which bases. “During the Iranian attack yesterday (Tuesday), several missiles fell within Israeli air force bases. No offensive infrastructure or capabilities located on IAF (Israel Air Force) bases were damaged,” the military said, adding that no casualties or damage to aircraft were reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to make Iran “pay the price” for firing more than 180 ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday. Israel and its key ally, the US, managed to intercept most of the missiles launched by Iran and have warned that they will retaliate. The Iranian officials, however, claimed that their Fattah missiles hit 90 per cent of the intended targets which were military bases.
US President Joe Biden backed their ally Israel and stated, “The attack appears to have been defeated and ineffective, and this is a testament to Israeli military capability and the US military.” He added, “Make no mistake, the United States is fully, fully, fully supportive of Israel.”
Iran had stated that their attack was entirely defensive and was a response to Israeli killings of militant leaders and strikes in Lebanon. Israel also continued its attacks on Lebanon on Tuesday which resulted in the deaths of fifty-five individuals and left 156 others injured, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
A military spokesperson said Israel had begun ground invasions into Lebanon and would also continue to launch strikes across the Middle East in response to Iran’s attacks. Israeli Air Force chief said: “We have the ability to reach and attack any point in the Middle East. And any of our enemies who have not understood this until now, will understand it soon.”
The Iranian attack came after the Israeli military subsequently announced its bombarding on Hezbollah camps in Lebanon’s Beirut. Israel has repeatedly bombarded Beirut’s southern suburbs since last week, a densely-populated Hezbollah bastion where Israel says it is targeting sites belonging to the group.
The U.N. Security Council has scheduled an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss the escalating conflict in the Middle East. The UN Chief Antonio Guterres reported to the Security Council a week ago about the troubling situation in Lebanon, noting that conditions have significantly deteriorated since then. He emphasised the need to respect Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, asserting that the Lebanese government must regain control over all weapons within the country.
Germany told its citizens to leave Iran immediately in the wake of the recent developments. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called a virtual meeting of G7 leaders on Wednesday to discuss the crisis in the Middle East, after Iran launched a direct attack on Israel.
“Italy will continue to work for a diplomatic solution, also in its capacity as rotating president of the G7. I have called a meeting at the leader level for this afternoon,” she told ministers, according to a government source.