The Israeli military said Tuesday that troops have started “ground raids” in villages in southern Lebanon, after militant group Hezbollah said it had targeted “enemy soldiers” at the countries’ border.
A Lebanese security official said Israel had also conducted at least six strikes on south Beirut after Israel’s army ordered residents in the Hezbollah stronghold to evacuate.
Despite international calls for de-escalation, Israel earlier vowed to keep fighting Hezbollah and sealed part of the border after killing the Iran-backed group’s leader.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant warned the battle was not over even after the massive strike on Beirut that killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Friday, dealing the group a seismic blow.
The military said troops backed by airstrikes and artillery launched ground raids “a few hours ago” targeting militant group Hezbollah “in villages close to the border”.
Israel informed its main weapons supplier Washington of the incursions, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told journalists.
US President Joe Biden earlier on Monday indicated he opposed an Israeli ground operation.
“We should have a ceasefire now,” he said.
Hezbollah fighters were “ready if Israel decides to enter by land”, the group’s deputy leader Naim Qassem said in a first televised address since Nasrallah’s death.
In a statement, Hezbollah said it “targeted” Israeli troops carrying out “movements” in orchards near the border, with a source close to the group saying the soldiers were “right on the border”.
There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah following the Israeli army’s announcement of the ground raids, but the group’s al-Manar television reported the Israeli statement announcing the raids on its Telegram channel.
Lebanon’s national army, dwarfed by Hezbollah’s military power, was “repositioning” troops farther from the border, a military official told AFP.
World leaders have urged de-escalation, with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric saying: “We do not want any sort of ground invasion.”
– Hezbollah ‘targets’ troops –
Earlier this month, Israel launched a wave of deadly air strikes aimed at Hezbollah across Lebanon, the latest of which killed 95 people on Monday, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
On Monday evening, the Israeli military called on people in three districts of southern Beirut to evacuate.
“You are located near interests and facilities belonging to the terrorist Hezbollah group,” Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee said.
“For your safety and the safety of your family members, you must evacuate the buildings immediately and stay away from them.”
AFP correspondents in the capital heard explosions and saw a flash around ground level.
As Israel announced its ground raids, Syria’s official news agency SANA said the country’s air defence systems were intercepting “hostile targets” in the Damascus area.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has carried out hundreds of strikes on Syria in recent years.
– ‘Everyone is afraid’ –
He said the killing of Nasrallah was “an important step, but it is not the final one”.
Hezbollah began low-intensity strikes on Israeli troops a day after its Palestinian ally Hamas staged its unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, which triggered Israel’s devastating assault on the Gaza Strip.
The border clashes rapidly escalated this month.
On Monday, the Israeli army declared an area of the border strip a “closed military zone”.
Israel’s strikes on Lebanon have killed hundreds of people over the past week and forced up to a million to flee their homes, according to Lebanese officials.
Hezbollah and other groups launched rockets, drones and some missiles at Israel over the same period, causing some injuries but no deaths.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Iran, which backs Hamas, Hezbollah and other armed groups, of plunging “our region deeper… into war”.
“There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach,” Netanyahu warned.
Iran has said Nasrallah’s killing would bring about Israel’s “destruction”, though the foreign ministry said Monday that Tehran would not deploy any fighters to confront Israel.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati called for a ceasefire based on a recent US-French proposal, urging “an end to the Israeli aggression against Lebanon”.
Earlier on Monday, an Israeli strike hit a building in central Beirut, with an armed Palestinian group saying it had killed three of its members.
The strike, the first in the city centre in years, sparked panic.
Central Beirut resident Kahier Bannout, 42, said it was “supposed to be a safe area — not a war zone”.
“Everyone is afraid.”
Lebanon’s Health Minister Firass Abiad said more than 1,000 people have been killed since September 17.
UN refugee agency chief Filippo Grandi said: “Well over 200,000 people are displaced inside Lebanon”, while more than 100,000 have fled to neighbouring Syria.
– ‘Little time’ –
France on Monday evening said it was deploying a naval ship to Lebanon as a “precaution” in case it decided to evacuate French citizens.
Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, the first high-level diplomat to visit Beirut since the Israeli strikes intensified, said “there is still hope” for a ceasefire, “but there is little time”.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said diplomacy was the best path forward for the region.
Washington “will continue to work… to advance a diplomatic resolution” for the Israel-Lebanon border, and for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release deal, he said.
The United States, Qatar and Egypt tried for months to broker such a deal, which Netanyahu’s domestic critics accused him of obstructing.
In Gaza, AFP journalists said the number of Israeli air strikes has dropped significantly in recent days.
A UN Satellite Centre assessment issued Monday said “two-thirds of the total structures in the Gaza Strip have sustained damage” in nearly a year of war.
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.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,615 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.
