MOSCOW, March 2. /TASS/. The Israeli army has launched offensive operations against military formations of the Shia group Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israel Defense Forces Chief-of-Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir announced.
TASS has compiled the main information about the situation.
Israeli shelling and retaliatory strikes
- In the early morning hours of March 2, northern Israel came under shelling attacks from Lebanon.
- Hezbollah claimed responsibility, stating that the projectiles were fired at Israeli territory in response to the assassination of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
- Following this, the Israeli Air Force began delivering massive strikes on Lebanese territory.
- IDF Chief-of-Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir approved plans for further operations and instructed troops to prepare for continuous offensive and defensive actions.
- After the shelling from Lebanon, Zamir said that the IDF was prepared for such a scenario.
- At least 31 people were killed and 149 others were injured in the first wave of Israeli airstrikes on Lebanese territory, the country's Health Ministry said in a statement on its X page.
Lebanese prime minister’s statement
- Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam slammed the attack on Israel from Lebanese territory, calling it an "irresponsible move," according to a statement on his X page.
- He also stated that he "will not allow Lebanon to be dragged into another gamble" and promised to "take measures to protect the Lebanese people."
Hezbollah chief’s statement
- The Shia group Hezbollah will not leave the battlefield and will continue its resistance, following the instructions of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on February 28 in an airstrike on Iran, the organization's Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem said in an address to his supporters in connection with the assassination of the Iranian supreme leader.
Start of offensive operation
- The Israeli army has launched offensive operations against Hezbollah military formations in Lebanon, Israel Defense Forces Chief-of-Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said.
Deaths of Hezbollah members
- The Israel Defense Forces said that it had struck a location in Beirut where a senior Hezbollah official was staying.
- The strike was delivered "some time ago," it added.
- According to the Ynet portal, the strike targeted Beirut’s Dahieh neighborhood.
- Israeli warplanes delivered another strike on Beirut’s southern neighborhood, not warning the population. According the Al-Markaziya, the air raid targeted the al-Madi neighborhood, killing Khalil Harb, a commander of the Hezbollah armed wing.
- Missiles were also fired at the Al Raya stadium, no damage or casualties were immediately reported.
- Mohammad Raad, head of Hezbollah’s Loyalty to the Resistance parliamentary faction and deputy secretary-general of the movement, was killed an Israeli raid on the Haret Hreik neighborhood in southern Beirut in the morning.
Mobilization of reservists in Israel
- The IDF intends to call up 100,000 reservists in connection with the situation around Iran, the army press service reported.
- Israel has mobilized reservists for actions in Lebanon and possibly Syria, but not for a ground operation in Iran, Andrey Kartapolov, chairman of the defense committee of the Russian State Duma, or lower house of parliament, told the Rossiya-1 television channel.