Illustrative image. (Israeli Defense Forces)
Over a dozen people were killed when an Israeli strike hit the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near the coastal city of Sidon in southern Lebanon late on November 18 in the deadliest such attack since a ceasefire brokered by the United States entered into effect around a year ago.
The strike targeted “terror operatives” at a Hamas training facility, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement, adding that the “military compound” was used by the group for training “in order to plan and carry out terrorist attacks against IDF troops and the State of Israel.”
The military also said that it took steps to mitigate harm to civilians in the strike, including by using “a precision munition, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence.”
“The IDF is operating against Hamas’s entrenchment in Lebanon, and will continue to operate against Hamas terrorists wherever they operate,” the military added.
Hamas, from its side, denied in a statement that it has any military installations in the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.
Describing the deadly strike as a “brutal assault,” Hamas said that “claims that the targeted location was a ‘training compound affiliated with the movement’ are pure fabrications and lies.”
“There are no military installations in the Palestinian camps in Lebanon,” it added.
According to the group, the targeted site was “an open sports field frequented by the youth of the camp,” and that “those targeted were a group of young boys” on the field at the time.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said that 13 people were killed and at least four others were wounded as a result of the Israeli strike.
Hezbollah initiated a confrontation with Israel a day after the October 7 surprise attack of 2023 to support Hamas and other Palestinian groups in Gaza. Hamas carried out multiple attacks against the IDF from Lebanon during the confrontation, which ended with the U.S.-brokered ceasefire that entered into effect on November 27 of last year.
Israel has been launching strikes against Hezbollah on a regular basis since the start of the ceasefire, citing “violations” by the group.
Targets belonging to Hamas and other Palestinian groups in Lebanon have also been targeted. Still, the strike on Ain al-Hilweh represented an unprecedented escalation since the start of the ceasefire.
Earlier on November 18, two Israeli drone strikes were reported in southern Lebanon — one in the town of Bint Jbeil, the other in the town of Blida. Each of the two strikes killed one person, according to Lebanese media.
In a statement issued the next day, the IDF said that the first strike in Bint Jbeil killed a member of Hezbollah who was involved in restoring the group’s infrastructure and that the second strike, in Blida, killed another member who was identified collecting intelligence on Israeli forces.
The actions of both Hezbollah members “constituted a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” according to the military.
Multiple recent reports from Hebrew, Arab and Western media said that Israel was moving closer to a new war on Hezbollah, which is said to be rearming.
The latest wave of strike is a clear indication of this, as the IDF began escalating against Lebanon in the past by targeting Palestinian groups to test the waters. This was the case when Hamas senior leader Saleh al-Arouri was assassinated in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of Hezbollah, in January of last year. What followed was an escalation of strikes on Hezbollah.
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israel is a genocidal country and the west is complicit in its crimes.
israel is a waste of space. they will never learn anything. israel is a national psychosis nation
occupied palestine is the correct term. all that regional oil and gas !
well well what a surprise. the tiny hats tiny brains sacrificing children to satan again
israel has entered an endless cycle of murdering regional inhabitants and receiving retaliation. trump spent more then 94 billion us taxpayer dollars on this zionist crap this year alone while destroying the us economy through inflation. let the zionists and multi-national oil companies fight their own battles with their own money. americans have no reason to fund the self chosen people who also murder christians to steal their land.
i see the tiny hats tiny brains are still stuck filling their empty souls with child sacrifices to satan
the zionists and elements of the uk have become the us deep state. their intent is to control the us government through ngo-s, covid, biological weapons, aipac and immigration using political parties to divert the monetary and military resources of the usa into a tool of conquest for globalism as we see in israeli expansion.
the word terrorist is an israeli term for nations where usury laws prohibit charging interest. venezuela is just one example. lindsey gahram has falsely claimed that hezbollah is operating there. liars have no limits