Israel’s army chief, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, instructed soldiers on Wednesday to be ready for a possible ground offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon, as the Israeli air force conducted numerous deadly strikes across the country.
“We are striking all day, both to prepare the ground for your potential entry and to continue hitting Hezbollah,” Halevi told a tank brigade, according to a military statement.
Lebanon’s health minister reported that Wednesday’s airstrikes had killed 51 people and injured 223, including casualties in mountainous areas beyond Hezbollah’s usual strongholds.
Hezbollah claimed it had targeted Israel’s Mossad agency on the outskirts of Tel Aviv earlier that day, marking the first time the group had launched a ballistic missile in nearly a year, amid ongoing cross-border clashes linked to the Gaza conflict.
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In response, Israel announced it had hit 60 Hezbollah intelligence sites among hundreds of targets across Lebanon.
This escalation follows Monday’s deadly air raids, which resulted in over 558 fatalities — marking the bloodiest day of violence since Lebanon’s civil war (1975-90).
Nour Hamad, a 22-year-old student from Baalbek in eastern Lebanon, spoke about the intense fear of the past week. “We’ve spent four or five sleepless nights, unsure if we’d wake up the next morning,” she said.
In Tel Aviv, sirens blared following Hezbollah’s missile launch. One resident, Hedva Fadlon, 61, said: “The pressure and tension are real… No one should live like this.”
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby expressed concern over Hezbollah’s attack on Tel Aviv, but stressed there was “still time for diplomacy to de-escalate tensions and prevent an all-out war.”
Israel’s military confirmed it had struck over 280 Hezbollah targets across Lebanon on Wednesday, including 60 linked to Hezbollah’s intelligence. Two reserve brigades have also been called up for operational duties in the northern region.
The UN Security Council planned an emergency meeting in New York on Wednesday, as Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of the crisis’ gravity.
The UN’s International Organization for Migration also reported that 90,000 people had been displaced in Lebanon since Monday, adding to the growing humanitarian crisis.
The surge in violence came after Israel’s extensive airstrikes on Hezbollah positions in Lebanon. Hezbollah later confirmed that Israeli strikes had killed one of its rocket force commanders, Ibrahim Kobeissi, in Beirut.
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At the UN General Assembly, Guterres cautioned that Lebanon was on the brink, warning against the country becoming “another Gaza.”
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden reiterated that a full-scale war “is not in anyone’s interest,” while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu postponed his departure for New York, where he is expected to address the General Assembly.
In defiance of international calls for restraint, Netanyahu vowed to continue Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah, declaring: “Anyone who has a missile in their living room and a rocket in their home will not have a home.”
Iran, Hezbollah’s main backer, condemned Israel’s strikes. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stated that the loss of Hezbollah commanders would not cripple the group.
Although clashes along the Israel-Lebanon border have occurred frequently over the past year, the violence escalated significantly last week, following coordinated explosions of communication devices that Hezbollah blamed on Israel, killing 39 people and injuring nearly 3,000.
The ongoing war in Gaza, which began with Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, remains unresolved. Analysts believe that progress in Gaza ceasefire negotiations is crucial to halting the escalation in Lebanon.
Netanyahu has faced criticism for allegedly stalling ceasefire talks in Gaza, with accusations that he is prolonging the conflict to placate far-right members of his coalition.
The war has already claimed over 41,495 lives in Gaza, with most casualties being civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, which the UN has deemed reliable.
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