What you need to know about Israel’s attacks on Lebanon

Lebanon said on Thursday (9), a day after an intense wave of Israeli airstrikes, that more than 200 people were killed in the bombing. The attacks, which targeted the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia, put severe pressure on the fragile truce between the United States, Israel and Iran.

Wednesday’s attacks (8) added to a sad toll of deaths in Lebanon, where more than 1,500 people have been killed and more than 1 million displaced since the start of the war against Iran, according to Lebanese authorities.

At least two civilians have been killed in Israel in Hezbollah attacks, and around 10 Israeli soldiers have died, according to Israeli officials.

Why is Israel bombing Lebanon?

Shortly after Israel and the United States began war with Iran on February 28, Hezbollah, in solidarity with Iran, fired rockets from southern Lebanon toward Israel. This triggered the current offensive against Hezbollah, with which Israel has clashed for decades.

Israel has since invaded much of southern Lebanon and signaled it plans to occupy the area. For weeks, Israeli officials have publicly rejected attempts by the Lebanese government to begin direct negotiations on a ceasefire.

On Wednesday, Israel said Hezbollah, whose traditional stronghold is on the southern outskirts of Beirut, had relocated to other parts of the city. This increased the possibility of further attacks in areas that Israel had not yet reached.

Is Lebanon part of the ceasefire or not?

This is a point of contention.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan, the country that brokered the truce with Iran, said the agreement covers the fighting in Lebanon. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi agrees. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says otherwise.

“I insisted that the temporary ceasefire with Iran did not include Hezbollah, and we continued to bomb it hard,” Netanyahu said in a televised address on Wednesday.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt also stated that Lebanon is not part of the agreement.

Britain and France condemned Israel’s intensified attacks and said Lebanon should be included in the truce. Failure to do so “will destabilize the entire region,” said Yvette Cooper, the British foreign minister. She described Israel’s attacks as “deeply damaging.”

Jean-Noël Barrot, French foreign minister, told France Inter radio: “Iran must stop terrorizing Israel through Hezbollah.” But he added that Lebanon should not be the “scapegoat” of an Israeli government that is “frustrated because a ceasefire has been reached between the United States and Iran.”

A huge number of Lebanese remain displaced, not knowing whether they will be able to return home.

What happened on Wednesday?

Lebanon’s health minister said the death toll from the attacks had reached 203, with more than 1,000 injured. It was the deadliest day for the country since the start of the war.

Israeli forces claimed to have carried out more than 100 airstrikes in just 10 minutes. Sirens sounded across Beirut, and thick smoke rose over the city’s skyline. Residential buildings were reduced to rubble, and rescue teams struggled to reach people trapped beneath the ruins.

The Israeli army claimed to have killed the personal secretary of Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem. The secretary, Ali Yusuf Harshi, “played a central role in the management and security” of Kassem’s office, according to the military.

How did Iran and Hezbollah respond?

Hezbollah condemned the attacks, saying it had a “natural and legal right to resist the occupation and respond to its aggression.” On Thursday morning, the group again fired rockets towards Israel.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, in a statement carried by Iranian state media, threatened military retaliation if Israel’s attacks on Lebanon were not “immediately halted.”