The Israeli military is preparing for the next stage of its operation in Lebanon after launching a wave of air strikes against Hezbollah targets on Monday morning, the military chief of the general staff Herzi Halevi said.
“Essentially, we are targeting combat infrastructure that Hezbollah has been building for the past 20 years. This is very significant. We are striking targets and preparing for the next phases,” he said in a statement, Reuters and Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Halevi gave no further details, adding that he would “elaborate shortly”.
Having struck parts of southern and eastern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut, Halevi said the Israeli army was now “preparing for the next phases” of its operation.
Thousands of Lebanese have already fled southern Lebanon after the Israeli army issued an evacuation warning.
Tensions are rising on the ground in Lebanon amid concerns over whether Israel intends a ground invasion of its neighbour. So far, military strikes have been conducted from the air, following last week’s remote attacks carried out by Israel to detonate hand-held pagers and walkie-talkies within Lebanon.
Lebanon’s health minister Firas Abiad said that 274 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon, including 21 children and 31 women. More than 1,000 people have been injured, the health minister added.
Abiad said Israeli air strikes targeted “hospitals, medical centres and ambulances”. At least two ambulances were damaged and destroyed, and one member of Lebanon’s civil defence was injured by Israeli air strikes on Monday.
These figures are in addition to the dozens killed and thousands injured last week when pagers and walkie-talkies were detonated inside Lebanon in what is widely attributed to have been an Israeli attack attempting to target Hezbollah operatives.
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