SEVERAL civilians were killed in Israeli bombing of the ancient city of Tyre in southern Lebanon yesterday, despite warnings from Iran to stop attacking the country.
The bombing, a continuation of the ongoing genocide in the region, followed Israel’s issuing of city-wide forced ‘displacement orders’, for the entire city a few hours earlier.
The Israeli airstrikes and artillery shelling of multiple villages, towns, and around Tyre caused casualties and widespread damage to civilian property.
Warplanes attacked the public housing area in Tyre, shortly after the Israeli army issued an explicit threat to residents of the city, including the Christian quarter and the surrounding camps and neighbourhoods.
Earlier, Israeli warplanes struck the towns of Bayt al-Sayyad and al-Abbasiya, while artillery shelling targeted the towns of Srifa and Frun.
At least two followed airstrikes against the city of Nabatieh, along with another strike on Kfar Rumman.
The continued bombardments underscore an intensification of Israeli military operations across southern Lebanon, with civilian infrastructure and residential zones bearing the brunt.
The Israeli military continued to strike southern Lebanon a day after Iran called for the attacks to stop and threatened a ‘severe response’ if they didn’t.
Meanwhile, in the Israeli Knessett (parliament) the fanatical security minister Ben-Gvir called for Lebanese women and youth to be kidnapped as means of putting pressure on the Hezbollah resistance movement.
He made his proposal during a security cabinet meeting yesterday, urging officials to adopt more aggressive measures against Hezbollah as discussions focused on expanding Israel’s military invasion in Lebanon.
‘Let’s start thinking outside the box about Hezbollah,’ Ben-Gvir said, adding that conquering territory and killing many Hezbollah fighters, but also abducting their women and youth and imprisoning them is ‘what hurts them the most.’
Several cabinet members reportedly voiced support for intensifying military raids in Lebanon despite a ceasefire announced by the United States earlier this year.
Calls for escalation were echoed by other Israeli officials during the cabinet meeting. Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf urged finance minister Bezalel Smotrich to increase military funding, saying he should ‘open his pockets’ for the armed forces and artillery units.
Israel’s minister of military affairs, Israel Katz, also backed expanding military operations, saying: ‘the prime minister (Netanyahu) made an important decision to attack, and we must expand the armaments even further.’
Lebanese Defence Minister Michel Menassa said earlier this week that Israeli forces carried out approximately 3,500 attacks and hundreds of controlled explosions since the ceasefire was announced on April 17.
According to Lebanese authorities, around 1.2 million people have been displaced nationwide as a result of the ongoing hostilities.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry says at least 3,637 people have been killed since the latest phase of the conflict began in March, including more than 800 deaths recorded after the April ceasefire announcement.
Israeli officials say Hezbollah attacks have also caused casualties on the Israeli side. At least 34 Israelis, most of them soldiers, have been killed since March, including 18 deaths reported since April 17.
