On Thursday, southern Lebanon witnessed a day full of Israeli attacks, which extended from the early hours of dawn until the evening, and were divided between air strikes, artillery shelling, bombings, ground incursions, shooting, sound bombs and explosive materials dropped by drones, while the attacks affected a large number of towns in the districts of Nabatieh, Bint Jbeil, Marjayoun, Tyre, and Hasbaya.
The Lebanon Debate correspondent reported that the escalation began shortly after 2 a.m., when Israeli warplanes launched raids targeting Ali Al-Taher Heights and Doha Kafr Rumman, in conjunction with heavy artillery shelling that targeted Ali Al-Taher Heights and Dabsha Hill, after the artillery had targeted Doha Kafr Rumman and Wadi Al-Saluki from the Toulin side.
The bombing was accompanied by a sweep with machine guns in the vicinity of Zawtar al-Sharqiya and Mifdoun, while flare bombs were thrown over al-Mansouri and the homes of al-Siyad.
The escalation continued as the morning hours progressed, as Israeli artillery targeted the town of Al-Mansouri and the outskirts of the towns of Hula and Shebaa, before Israeli forces carried out a bombing operation inside the town of Majdal Zun at around 9 am.
Less than half an hour later, artillery again targeted Masha’ al-Mansouri, then the bombing moved to the town of Talusah, while Houla was again subjected to artillery shelling at approximately 10 am.
During the afternoon hours, the attacks expanded. The Lebanon Debate correspondent reported that Israeli artillery bombed the town of Bani Hayyan with shells that he said were phosphorus, which led to the outbreak of fires inside the town, without immediate information about casualties.
At 3:14 p.m., Al-Mansouri was again subjected to artillery shelling, while about 40 minutes later, an Israeli drone dropped two sound bombs over the town of Hadada.
The most notable field development was recorded around 4 p.m., when an Israeli force penetrated the Dubey area, west of Mays al-Jabal. The incursion coincided with artillery shelling that targeted a number of homes and heavy sweeping with machine guns, which led to a fire breaking out in the area.
The bombing did not stop by evening, as Israeli artillery targeted the town of Talusah and the outskirts of the town of Baraashit, coinciding with the throwing of a sound bomb over Al-Mansouri.
At 6:23 p.m., an Israeli drone dropped explosive materials on the Dabsha area, concluding a continuous series of attacks that were distributed over dozens of points over more than 16 hours.
According to the information available until the preparation of this news, no casualties were reported as a result of these attacks, while the fires and material damage resulting from the bombing remained under field monitoring.
This escalation comes as an extension of the high military pace witnessed in the south over the past days, especially in the vicinity of Ali Al-Taher Heights, Doha Kafr Rumman, Deir Saryan, Al-Mansouri and Houla, where air strikes, artillery shelling, incursions and bombing operations were repeated. Israeli raids on August 15 led to 11 deaths in southern Lebanon, the highest toll in one day since the truce that entered into force in June.
A few days ago, UNIFIL recorded a very high level of Israeli military activity, announcing that it had monitored 455 projectiles fired by Israeli forces towards southern Lebanon and 97 violations of Lebanese airspace during one weekend, in one of the highest levels of bombing in months.
The UNIFIL leadership also stressed on August 11 that Resolution 1701 still constitutes the basic framework for stability in southern Lebanon, in light of the continuing violations and intense military activity on both sides of the Blue Line.
The repeated Israeli focus on Ali Al-Taher Heights is of particular importance, after the region was subjected in recent days to a successive series of raids and artillery shelling, in parallel with military operations in towns located south of the Litani and along the border axes. Field reports on Thursday morning confirmed that Ali Al-Taher and Doha Kafr Rumman were again subjected to heavy raids and bombardment.
As for the incursion into the Dubey area, west of Mays al-Jabal, it comes after a series of Israeli ground movements that the border area witnessed in recent days, including Mays al-Jabal, Khiam, Hula and other towns, in addition to bombing and demolition operations inside Lebanese areas.
Thus, Thursday was not limited to one axis or one type of operations, but rather witnessed a mixture of raids, shelling, incursions, bombings, and the use of drones, which made the scope of the attacks extend from the vicinity of Nabatieh to the villages of the border strip, at a time when all eyes remained focused on the coming hours for fear of further expansion of the escalation.
